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diff --git a/16658.txt b/16658.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8700331 --- /dev/null +++ b/16658.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4560 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Piano and Song, by Friedrich Wieck + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Piano and Song + How to Teach, How to Learn, and How to Form a Judgment of + Musical Performances + +Author: Friedrich Wieck + +Translator: Mary P. Nichols + +Release Date: September 5, 2005 [EBook #16658] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PIANO AND SONG *** + + + + +Produced by David Newman, Sigal Alon and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +PIANO AND SONG + +_HOW TO TEACH, HOW TO LEARN,_ + +AND + +HOW TO FORM A JUDGMENT OF MUSICAL +PERFORMANCES. + +Translated from the German + +OF + +FRIEDRICH WIECK. + +BOSTON: +LOCKWOOD, BROOKS, & COMPANY. +1875. + + + +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by + NOYES, HOLMES, AND COMPANY, +In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. + +_Cambridge:_ +_Press of John Wilson and Son._ + + + + +TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. + + +FRIEDRICH WIECK, the author of the work a translation of which is here +offered to the public, was during his long life a distinguished teacher +of music. He died in the autumn of 1873. He was the father and teacher +of the celebrated pianist, Clara Wieck, now Fr. Dr. Clara Schumann, +widow of the renowned composer Robert Schumann, who was also a pupil of +Wieck. His second daughter, Fraeulein Marie Wieck, is well known in +Germany as an artistic performer on the piano-forte. + +I have translated this little book, with the belief that a knowledge of +the author's views will be no less valuable in America than in his own +country; and with the hope that it may find readers who will be glad to +receive the suggestions of so experienced a teacher. + +In illustration of his method, in addition to the two Etudes, already +published by F. Whistling, Leipzig, a number of piano exercises, &c., +selected from the literary remains of Wieck, by his daughter Marie +Wieck and his pupil Louis Grosse, are, it is said, about to be +published. + +I have omitted in the translation a few portions on the composition and +management of the opera, on the giving of concerts, and on the +construction of the piano, thinking that they would be of little +interest or practical value to the general public. + +MARY P. NICHOLS. + + + + +PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. + + +I here present to the musical public a book written in a style of my +own, not a scientific and systematically well-arranged treatise. This no +reasonable man would expect of an old music-master, who, in his long +practice in the realm of tones, could not arrive at learned and too +often fruitless deductions. Nature made me susceptible to that which is +good and beautiful; a correct instinct and a tolerable understanding +have taught me to avoid the false and the vicious; a desire for +increased knowledge has led me to observe carefully whatever I met with +in my path in life; and I may say, without hesitation, that I have +endeavored, according to my ability, to fill the position to which I +have been called. This is no vain boast, but only the justifiable +assertion of a good conscience; and this no man needs to withhold. For +these reasons, I have been unwilling to refrain from giving to the world +a true expression of my opinions and feelings. I trust they will meet +with a few sympathizing spirits who are willing to understand my aims; +but I shall be still more happy if, here and there, a music-teacher will +adopt the views here set forth, at the same time carefully and +thoughtfully supplying many things which it did not enter into my plan +to explain more in detail. Abundant material lay spread out before me, +and even increased upon my hands while I was writing. Art is indeed so +comprehensive, and every thing in life is so closely connected with it, +that whoever loves and fosters it will daily find in it new sources of +enjoyment and new incitements to study. The most experienced teacher of +art must be a constant learner. + +I have always held and still hold the opinions advanced in this work, +and I have neglected no opportunity to impress them upon my pupils. + +I may be allowed to mention here, with some satisfaction, my daughters +Clara and Marie; and, among numerous other pupils, I speak with equal +pleasure of the estimable Herr Waldemar Heller, of Dresden, and Prof. +E.F. Wenzel, of Leipzig. I have always enjoyed their affection and +gratitude, and I feel a pride that they continue to defend and to teach +the principles which they have received from me. + +This is not the first time that I have appeared as an author. The +"Signale fuer die musikalische Welt," as well as the "Neue Zeitschrift +fuer Musik," have published numerous essays from my pen under various +titles. The approval which they met with, at the time of their +appearance, has induced me to undertake this larger work. Several of +those earlier writings are included in this book, but in a partially +altered form. The frequently recurring character, the teacher Dominie, +originated with these essays; I need hardly say that he represents my +humble self. Those who are otherwise unacquainted with me will through +him understand my character, and will moreover see that a man of such +caustic brevity can be, by no means, a master of polished style. May +this last acknowledgment appease all those critics whose hair is made to +stand on end by my inelegant mode of writing. I will make no further +apology for my style. I have often availed myself of the dialogue form, +because it was conducive to brevity; not less frequently I have made use +of the form of the epistle and of personal discourse, as being more +congenial to my individual manner than that of a serious treatise. I +have also undertaken to say something about singing! A piano-teacher, if +he is possessed of mind and talent, as I suppose him to be, whether he +teaches the elements or occupies himself with more advanced instruction, +should understand the art of singing; he, at least, should show a warm +interest in it, and should have an earnest love for it. When I speak in +general of singing, I refer to that species of singing which is a form +of beauty, and which is the foundation for the most refined and most +perfect interpretation of music; and, above all things, I consider the +culture of beautiful tones the basis for the finest possible touch upon +the piano. In many respects, the piano and singing should explain and +supplement each other. They should mutually assist in expressing the +sublime and the noble, in forms of unclouded beauty. My book will make +this evident to many; but whether it will succeed with all, I doubt. Not +a few will even be found who will lay aside my book with contempt, and +who will scorn the zeal of the "man of the past age." I am quite +prepared for this: it is the fashion at present to undervalue the old +times and their defenders; but I shall continue to be conservative, +until the "men of the future" shall be able to show me results which +shall excel those of the past, or at least shall equal them. + +And now I commend my little book to the public, trusting that it will +instruct the willing, correct the erring, incite the indolent, and +chastise those who wilfully persist in the wrong. + +THE AUTHOR. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + CHAP. + + I. ON ELEMENTARY PIANO-FORTE INSTRUCTION + + II. AN EVENING ENTERTAINMENT AT HERR ZACH'S + + III. MANY STUDENTS OF THE PIANO AND FEW PLAYERS + + IV. A CONVERSATION WITH MRS. SOLID, AND FOUR LESSONS TO HER + DAUGHTER + + V. ON THE PEDAL + + VI. THE SOFT-PEDAL SENTIMENT + + VII. A MUSICAL TEA-PARTY AT THE HOUSE OF JOHN SPRIGGINS + + VIII. SINGING AND SINGING-TEACHERS + + IX. THOUGHTS ON SINGING + + X. VISIT AT MRS. N.'S + + XI. SECRETS + + XII. THOUGHTS ON PIANO-PLAYING + + XIII. ON MUSICAL TALENT + + XIV. EXTRAVAGANCES IN SINGING AND PIANO-PLAYING + + XV. CONCLUSION + + + + +PIANO AND SONG. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +ON ELEMENTARY PIANO-FORTE INSTRUCTION. + + +You ask, my dear friend, for some particular information about my piano +method, especially with regard to my mode of elementary instruction, +which differs essentially from that in common use. + +I give you here the main points; and, if you place confidence in my +experience of forty years, and if you will supply those details which I +have omitted, your own varied experience as a thoughtful, talented, and +earnest piano-teacher will enable you to understand my theory, from the +following dialogue between my humble self under the title of Dominie, my +friend, and the little Bessie:-- + +DOMINIE. My dear friend, how have you managed to make piano-playing so +utterly distasteful to little Susie? and how is it that the instruction +which you have given her for the last three years actually amounts to +nothing? + +FRIEND. Well, I will tell you how I have proceeded. First I taught her +the names of the keys, that was pretty dull work for her; then I made +her learn the treble notes, which was a difficult matter; after that I +taught her the bass notes, which puzzled her still more; then I +undertook to teach her a pretty little piece, which she hoped to perform +for the delight of her parents. Of course she constantly confused the +bass and treble notes, she could not keep time, she always used the +wrong fingers and could not learn it at all. Then I scolded her,--she +only cried; I tried a little coaxing,--that made her cry worse; finally +I put an end to the piano lessons, and she begged me never to begin them +again; and there you have the whole story. + +DOMINIE. You certainly might have begun more judiciously. How is it +possible for a child to climb a ladder when not only the lower rounds, +but a great many more, are wanting? Nature makes no leaps, least of all +with children. + +FRIEND. But did she not begin to climb the ladder at the bottom? + +DOMINIE. By no means. She certainly never was able to reach the top. I +should say, rather, that she tumbled down head foremost. To speak +mildly, she began to climb in the middle; and even then you tried to +chase her up, instead of allowing her, carefully and quietly, to clamber +up one step at a time. Bring me your youngest daughter, Bessie, and I +will show you how I give a first lesson. + +DOMINIE. Bessie, can you say your letters after me? so,--_c_, _d_, _e_, +_f_. + +BESSIE. _c_, _d_, _e_, _f_. + +DOMINIE. Go on,--_g_, _a_, _b_, _c_. + +BESSIE. _g_, _a_, _b_, _c_. + +DOMINIE. Once more: the first four again, then the next four. That's +right: now all the eight, one after the other, _c_, _d_, _e_, _f_, _g_, +_a_, _b_, _c_. + +BESSIE. _c_, _d_, _e_, _f_, _g_, _a_, _b_, _c_. + +DOMINIE. (_after repeating this several times_). That's good: now you +see you have learned something already. That is the musical alphabet, +and those are the names of the white keys on the piano-forte. Presently +you shall find them out, and learn to name them yourself. But, first, +you must take notice (I strike the keys in succession with my finger, +from the one-lined _c_ to the highest treble) that these sounds grow +higher and become sharper one after the other; and in this way (I +strike the keys from one-lined _c_ to the lowest bass) you hear that +the sounds grow lower and heavier. The upper half, to the right, is +called the treble; the lower half is the bass. You quite understand now +the difference between the high sharp tones and the low deep ones? Now +we will go on. What you see here, and will learn to play upon, is called +the key-board, consisting of white keys and black ones. You shall +presently learn to give the right names both to the white keys and the +black; you see there are always two black keys and then three black keys +together, all the way up and down the key-board. Now put the fore-finger +of your right hand on the lower one of any of the two black keys that +are together, and let it slip off on to the white key next below it; now +you have found the key called _c_; what is the name of the next key +above it? Say the whole musical alphabet. + +BESSIE. _c_, _d_, _e_, _f_, _g_, _a_, _b_, _c_. + +DOMINIE. Well, then, that key is called _d_. + +BESSIE. Then this one must be _e_. + +DOMINIE. And now comes _f_. Anywhere on the key-board you can find _f_ +just as easily, if you put your finger on the lowest of any three black +keys that are together, and let it slip off on to the white key next +below it. If you remember where these two keys, _f_ and _c_, are, both +in the treble and the bass, you can easily find the names of all the +other keys. Now what is the next key above _f_? + +BESSIE. _g_, and then _a_, _b_, _c_. + +DOMINIE. Now we will say over several times the names of the keys, +upwards and downwards, and learn to find them skipping about in any +irregular order. At the end of the lesson we will try them over once +more, and before the next lesson you will know the names of all the +white keys. You must practise finding them out by yourself; you can't +make a mistake, if you are careful to remember where the _c_ and the _f_ +are. + +I told you that the sounds this way (I strike the keys upward) grow +higher, and this way (I strike them downwards) they grow lower. So you +see no tones are just alike: one is either higher or lower than the +other. Do you hear the difference? Now turn round so as not to see the +keys; I will strike two keys, one after the other; now which is the +highest (the sharpest), the first or the second? (I go on in this way, +gradually touching keys nearer and nearer together; sometimes, in order +to puzzle her and to excite close attention, I strike the lower one +gently and the higher one stronger, and keep on sounding them, lower +and lower towards the bass, according to the capacity of the pupil.) I +suppose you find it a little tiresome to listen so closely; but a +delicate, quick ear is necessary for piano-playing, and by and by it +will become easier to you. But I won't tire you with it any more now, we +will go on to something else. Can you count 3,--1, 2, 3? + +BESSIE. Yes, indeed, and more too. + +DOMINIE. We'll see; now keep counting 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, as evenly and +regularly as you can. (I lead her to count steadily, and strike at the +same time a chord in three even quarter-notes.) Now we'll see if you can +count evenly by yourself. (I count 1 of the chord with her, and leave +her to count 2 and 3 by herself; or else I count with her at 2, and let +her count 1 and 3 alone; but I am careful to strike the chord promptly +and with precision. Afterwards I strike the chord in eighth-notes, and +let her count 1, 2, 3; in short, I give the chord in various ways, in +order to teach her steadiness in counting, and to confine her attention. +In the same way I teach her to count 1, 2, 1, 2; or 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; at +the same time telling her that music is sometimes counted in triple +time, and sometimes in 2/4 or 4/4 time.) Now, Bessie, you have learned +to count very well, and to know the difference in the tones. It is not +every child that learns this in the first lesson. If you don't get tired +of it, you will some time learn to be a good player. As soon as you are +rested, I will tell you about something else, that you will have to +listen to very carefully. + +BESSIE. But I like it, and will take pains to listen just as closely as +I can. + +DOMINIE. When several tones are struck at the same time, if they sound +well together, they make what we call a chord. But there are both major +and minor chords: the major chord sounds joyous, gay; the minor, sad, +dull, as you would say; the former laugh, the latter weep. Now take +notice whether I am right. (I strike the chord of C major; then, after a +short pause, that of C minor; and try, by a stronger or lighter touch, +to make her listen first to the major and then to the minor chords. She +usually distinguishes correctly; but it will not do to dwell too long +upon these at first, or to try to enforce any thing by too much talk and +explanation.) Now I will tell you that the difference in the sounds of +these chords is in the third, counted upwards from the lower note _c_, +and depends upon whether you take it half a tone higher or lower, _e_ +or _e_ flat. I shall explain this better to you by and by, when you come +to learn about the tonic, the third, the fifth or dominant, the octave, +and so on. (It is advantageous and psychologically correct to touch +occasionally, in passing, upon points which will be more thoroughly +taught later. It excites the interest of the pupil. Thus the customary +technical terms are sometimes made use of beforehand, and a needful, +cursory explanation given of them.) That is right; you can tell them +pretty well already; now we will repeat once more the names of the keys, +and then we will stop for to-day. Just see how many things you have +learned in this lesson. + +BESSIE. It was beautiful! + +DOMINIE. I hope you will always find it so. + +BESSIE. When may I have another lesson? + +DOMINIE. Day after to-morrow; at first, you must have at least three +lessons a week. + +BESSIE. What shall I do in the next lesson? + +DOMINIE. I shall repeat all that I have taught you to-day; but I shall +teach you a great deal of it in a different way, and every time I shall +teach it to you differently, so that it shall always be interesting to +you. In the next lesson we will begin to play, first on the table, and +at last on the piano. You will learn to move your fingers lightly and +loosely, and quite independently of the arm, though at first they will +be weak; and you will learn to raise them and let them fall properly. +Besides that, we will contrive a few exercises to teach you to make the +wrist loose, for that must be learned in the beginning in order to +acquire a fine touch on the piano; that is, to make the tones sound as +beautiful as possible. I shall show you how to sit at the piano and how +to hold your hands. You will learn the names of the black keys and the +scale of C, with the half-step from the 3d to the 4th and also that from +the 7th to the 8th, which latter is called the leading note, which leads +into C. (This is quite important for my method, for in this way the +different keys can be clearly explained.) You will learn to find the +chord of C in the bass and the treble, and to strike them with both +hands together. And then in the third or fourth lesson, after you know +quite perfectly all that I have already taught you, I will teach you to +play a little piece that will please you, and then you will really be a +player, a pianist. + +FRIEND. From whom have you learned all this? It goes like the +lightning-train. + +DOMINIE. A great many people can learn _what_ is to be taught; but +_how_ it is to be taught I have only found out by devoting my whole +mind, with real love and constant thought, to the musical improvement +and general mental development of my pupils. The advancement will +unquestionably be rapid, for it proceeds step by step, and one thing is +founded upon another; the pupil learns every thing quietly, +thoughtfully, and surely, without going roundabout, without any +hindrances and mistakes to be unlearned. I never try to teach too much +or too little; and, in teaching each thing, I try to prepare and lay the +foundation for other things to be afterwards learned. I consider it very +important not to try to cram the child's memory with the teacher's +wisdom (as is often done in a crude and harsh way); but I endeavor to +excite the pupil's mind, to interest it, and to let it develop itself, +and not to degrade it to a mere machine. I do not require the practice +of a vague, dreary, time and mind killing piano-jingling, in which way, +as I see, your little Susie was obliged to learn; but I observe a +musical method, and in doing this always keep strictly in view the +individuality and gradual development of the pupil. In more advanced +instruction, I even take an interest in the general culture and +disposition of the pupil, and improve every opportunity to call forth +the sense of beauty, and continually to aid in the intellectual +development. + +FRIEND. But where are the notes all this time? + +DOMINIE. Before that, we have a great deal to do that is interesting and +agreeable. I keep constantly in view the formation of a good technique; +but I do not make piano-playing distasteful to the pupil by urging her +to a useless and senseless mechanical "practising." I may perhaps teach +the treble notes after the first six months or after sixty or eighty +lessons, but I teach them in my own peculiar way, so that the pupil's +mind may be kept constantly active. With my own daughters I did not +teach the treble notes till the end of the first year's instruction, the +bass notes several months later. + +FRIEND. But what did you do meanwhile? + +DOMINIE. You really ought to be able to answer that question for +yourself after hearing this lesson, and what I have said about it. I +have cultivated a musical taste in my pupils, and almost taught them to +be skilful, good players, without knowing a note. I have taught a +correct, light touch of the keys from the fingers, and of whole chords +from the wrist; to this I have added the scales in all the keys; but +these should not be taught at first, with both hands together. The pupil +may gradually acquire the habit of practising them together later; but +it is not desirable to insist on this too early, for in playing the +scales with both hands together the weakness of the fourth finger is +concealed, and the attention distracted from the feeble tones, and the +result is an unequal and poor scale. + +At the same time, I have in every way cultivated the sense of time, and +taught the division of the bars. I have helped the pupils to invent +little cadences with the dominant and sub-dominant and even little +exercises, to their great delight and advantage; and I have, of course, +at the same time insisted on the use of the correct fingering. You see +that, in order to become practical, I begin with the theory. So, for +instance, I teach the pupil to find the triad and the dominant chord of +the seventh, with their transpositions in every key, and to practise +them diligently; and to make use of these chords in all sorts of new +figures and passages. But all this must be done without haste, and +without tiring the pupil too much with one thing, or wearing out the +interest, which is all-important. + +After that, I teach them to play fifty or sixty little pieces, which I +have written for this purpose. They are short, rhythmically balanced, +agreeable, and striking to the ear, and aim to develop gradually an +increased mechanical skill. I require them to be learned by heart, and +often to be transposed into other keys; in which way the memory, which +is indispensable for piano playing, is unconsciously greatly increased. +They must be learned _perfectly_ and played well, often, according to +the capacity of the pupil, even finely; in strict time (counting aloud +is seldom necessary) and without stumbling or hesitating; first slowly, +then fast, faster, slow again, _staccato_, _legato_, _piano_, _forte_, +_crescendo_, _diminuendo_, &c. This mode of instruction I find always +successful; but I do not put the cart before the horse, and, without +previous technical instruction, begin my piano lessons with the +extremely difficult acquirement of the treble and bass notes. In a word, +I have striven, as a psychologist and thinker, as a man and teacher, for +a many-sided culture. I have also paid great attention to the art of +singing, as a necessary foundation for piano-playing. I have devoted +some talent, and at least an enthusiastic, unwearied love to the +subject. I have never stood still; have learned something of teaching +every day, and have sought always to improve myself; I have always been +something new and different, in every lesson and with every child; I +have always kept up a cheerful, joyous courage, and this has usually +kindled the same in my pupil, because it came from the heart. Moreover, +I have never been a man of routine, have never shown myself a pedant, +who is obliged to hold fast to certain ideas and views. + +I have lived up to the century, and have tried to understand and to +advance the age; have heard every thing great and fine in music, and +have induced my pupils also to hear it. I have opposed with +determination all the prejudices and false tendencies of the times, and +never have allowed impatient parents to give advice about my lessons. I +have insisted upon a good and well-tuned instrument for my pupils, and +have endeavored to merit the love and confidence both of my pupils and +of their parents. In fact, I have devoted myself thoroughly to my +calling, and have been wholly a teacher, always fixing my eye on the +true, the beautiful, and the artistic; and in this way have been of +service to my pupils. + +FRIEND. But how do you find parents who sympathize with your ideas and +with your lofty views? + +DOMINIE. I have found that almost all the parents of my pupils have +entered into my views, if not immediately, at least after they had been +present at a few lessons. In the case of those few who would not enter +into them, I have abandoned the lessons; but, nevertheless, I have found +that my time has been fully occupied. My friend, do you not think that +views like these will assist in the training of young and inexperienced +teachers, who are striving for improvement? and do you not think they +will be useful even to those who already possess general mental culture, +and who are animated by an ardent love for their calling? I especially +avoid giving here any exclusive method, a servile following of which +would be entirely contrary to my intentions, and, in fact, contrary to +my method. + +But as for the rest! Alas, all those who do not understand me, or who +choose to misunderstand me, those are the worst!--especially the +ill-natured people, the _classical_ people who bray about music, stride +straight to the notes, and have no patience till they come to Beethoven; +who foolishly prate and fume about my unclassical management, but at +bottom only wish to conceal their own unskilfulness, their want of +culture and of disinterestedness, or to excuse their habitual drudgery. +Lazy people without talent I cannot undertake to inspirit, to teach, +and to cultivate. + +This chapter will, almost by itself, point out to unprejudiced minds my +method of giving more advanced instruction, and will show in what spirit +I have educated my own daughters, even to the highest point of musical +culture, without using the slightest severity. It will, indeed, cause +great vexation to the ill-minded and even to the polite world, who +attribute the musical position of my daughters in the artistic world to +a tyranny used by me, to immoderate and unheard-of "practising," and to +tortures of every kind; and who do not hesitate to invent and +industriously to circulate the most absurd reports about it, instead of +inquiring into what I have already published about teaching, and +comparing it with the management which, with their own children, has led +only to senseless thrumming. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +AN EVENING ENTERTAINMENT AT HERR ZACH'S. + + +DRAMATIS PERSONAE. + +HERR ZACH, _formerly a flute-player, not very wealthy._ +HIS WIFE, _of the family of Tz. (rather sharp-tempered)._ +STOCK, _her son, 17 years old (is studying the piano thoroughly)._ +MR. BUFFALO, _music-master of the family._ +DOMINIE, _piano-teacher (rather gruff)._ +CECILIA, _his daughter, 13 years old (shy)._ + + +ZACH (_to Dominie_). I regret that I was unable to attend the concert +yesterday. I was formerly musical myself and played on the flute. Your +daughter, I believe, plays pretty well. + +DOMINIE. Well, yes! perhaps something more than _pretty well_. We are in +earnest about music. + +MADAME, of the Tz. family (_envious because Cecilia received applause +for her public performance yesterday, and because Mr. Buffalo had been +unable to bring out Stock,--all in one breath_). When did your daughter +begin to play? Just how old is she now? Does she like playing? They say +you are very strict, and tie your daughters to the piano-stool. How many +hours a day do you make her practise? Don't you make her exert herself +too much? Has she talent? Isn't she sickly? + +DOMINIE. Don't you think she looks in good health, madam,--tall and +strong for her years? + +MADAME, of the Tz. family. But perhaps she might look more cheerful, if +she was not obliged to play on the piano so much. + +DOMINIE (_bowing_). I can't exactly say. + +ZACH (_suddenly interrupting, and holding Dominie by the button-hole_). +They say you torment and ill-treat your daughters dreadfully; that the +eldest was obliged to practise day and night. Well, you shall hear my +Stock play this evening, who, some time, by the grace of God, is to take +the place of Thalberg in the world. Now give me your opinion freely (of +course, I was only to praise): we should like very much to hear what you +think about his playing, though perhaps Mr. Buffalo may not agree with +you. + + (_Mr. Buffalo is looking through the music-case and picking out all + the Etudes, by listening to which Dominie is to earn his supper._) + +DOMINIE (_resigned and foreseeing that he shall be bored_). I have heard +a great deal of the industry of your son, Stock. What are you studying +now, Mr. Stock? + +STOCK (_in proud self-consciousness, rather Sophomoric_). I play six +hours a day, two hours scales with both hands together, and four hours +Etudes. I have already gone through the first book of Clementi and four +books of Cramer. Now I am in the Gradus ad Parnassum: I have already +studied the right fingering for it. + +DOMINIE. Indeed, you are very much in earnest: that speaks well for you, +and for Mr. Buffalo. But what pieces are you studying with the Etudes? +Hummel, Mendelssohn, Chopin, or Schumann? + +STOCK (_contemptuously_). Mr. Buffalo can't bear Chopin and Schumann. +Mr. Buffalo lately played through Schumann's "Kinderscenen," that people +are making such a talk about. My mamma, who is also musical, and used to +sing when papa played the flute, said, "What ridiculous little things +are those? Are they waltzes for children? and then the babyish names for +them! He may play such stuff to his wife, but not to us." + +DOMINIE. Well, these "Kinderscenen" _are_ curious little bits for +grown-up men's hands. Your mother is right, they are too short: there +certainly ought to be more of them. But they are not waltzes! + +STOCK. Indeed, I am not allowed to play waltzes at all. My teacher is +very thorough: first, I shall have to dig through all the Gradus ad +Parnassum; and then he is going to undertake a concerto of Beethoven's +with me, and will write the proper fingering over it. I shall play that +in public; and then, as he and my aunt say, "I shall be the death of you +all." + +MR. BUFFALO (_who has overheard him, steps up_). Now, Herr Dominie, how +do you like my method? Perhaps you have a different one? Nevertheless, +that shan't prevent our being good friends. Certainly, if any thing is +to be accomplished in these times, it is necessary to keep at +work,--that is my doctrine. But Stock, here, has unusual patience and +perseverance. He has worked through all Cramer's 96 Etudes in succession +without grumbling. He was wretched enough over them; but his papa bought +him a saddle-horse to ride round on every day, and he revived in the +fresh air. + + (_Herr Zach with his wife and an old aunt are playing cards in the + further room._) + +DOMINIE. But do you not combine the study of musical pieces with the +study of exercises, in order that the cultivation of the taste may go +hand in hand with mechanical improvement? + +MR. BUFFALO. My dear friend, you are too narrow-minded there,--you make +a mistake: taste must come of itself, from much playing and with years. +Your Cecilia played the two new waltzes, and the Nocturne of Chopin, and +Beethoven's trio very nicely. But then that was all drilled into her: we +could tell that well enough by hearing it,--Stock and I. + +DOMINIE. Did it sound unnatural to you,--mannered? and did you think it +wooden, dry, dull? + +MR. BUFFALO. Not exactly that; but the trouble was it sounded _studied_. +The public applauded, it is true; but they don't know any thing. Stock +and I thought-- + +DOMINIE. Do you not think that the taste for a beautiful interpretation +may be early awakened, without using severity with the pupil? and that +to excite the feeling for music, to a certain degree, even in early +years, is in fact essential? The neglect of this very thing is the +reason that we are obliged to listen to so many players, who really have +mechanically practised themselves to death, and have reduced musical art +to mere machinery,--to an idle trick of the fingers. + +MR. BUFFALO. That's all nonsense. I say teach them the scales, to run up +and down the gamut! Gradus ad Parnassum's the thing! Classical, +classical! Yesterday you made your daughter play that Trill-Etude by +Carl Meyer. Altogether too fine-sounding! It tickles the ear, to be +sure, especially when it is played in such a studied manner. _We_ stick +to Clementi and Cramer, and to Hummel's piano-school,--the good old +school. You have made a great mistake with your eldest daughter. + +DOMINIE. The world does not seem to agree with you. + +MADAME, of the Tz. family (_has listened and lost a trick by it, steps +up quickly, and says maliciously_). You must agree that she would have +played better, if you had left her for ten years with Cramer and +Clementi. We don't like this tendency to Schumann and Chopin. But what +folly to talk! One must be careful what one says to the father of such a +child! It is quite a different thing with us. Mr. Buffalo is bound to +our Stock by no bond of affection. He follows out his aim without any +hesitation or vanity, and looks neither to the right nor to the left, +but straightforward. + +DOMINIE. I beg your pardon, madam: you may be right,--from your point of +view. We must be a little indulgent with sensitive people. But will not +your son play to us? + + (_Stock plays two Etudes of Clementi, three of Cramer, and four + from the Gradus, but did not even grow warm over them. The horse + his father gave him has made him quite strong._) + + * * * * * + +I may be asked, "But how did Stock play?" How? I do not wish to write a +treatise: my plan is only to give hints and suggestions. I am not +writing in the interest of Stock, Buffalo, & Co. + +After the playing, we went to supper: the oysters were good, but the +wine left a little sharp taste. My timid daughter did not like oysters; +but she ate a little salad, and at table listened instead of talking. + +A few innocent anecdotes were related at table about horses and balls +and dogs and Stock's future. On taking leave, Madame said +condescendingly to Cecilia, "If you keep on, my dear, one of these days +you will play very nicely." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +MANY STUDENTS OF THE PIANO AND FEW PLAYERS. + + +_(A Letter addressed to the Father of a Piano Pupil)._ + +It is a pity that you have no sons, for a father takes great delight in +his sons; but I agree with you, when you say that, if you had one, you +would rather he should break stones than pound the piano. You say you +have many friends who rejoice in that paternal felicity, and whose sons, +great and small, bright and dull, have been learning the piano for three +years or more, and still can do nothing. You are doubtless right; and, +further, they never will learn any thing. You ask, Of what use is it to +man or boy to be able to stammer through this or that waltz, or +polonaise or mazurka, with stiff arms, weak fingers, a stupid face, and +lounging figure? What gain is it to art? You say, Is not time worth +gold, and yet we are offered lead? And the poor teachers torment +themselves and the boys, abuse art and the piano; and at the end of the +evening, in despair, torment their own wives, after they have all day +long been scolding, cuffing, and lamenting, without success or +consolation. You speak the truth. I have had the same experience myself, +though not to the same degree, and though I did not bring home to my +wife a dreary face, but only a good appetite. But I did not give myself +up to lamentation over piano-teaching. I gathered up courage and rose +above mere drudgery. I reflected and considered and studied, and tried +whether I could not manage better, as I found I could not succeed with +the boys; and I have managed better and succeeded better, because I have +hit upon a different way, and one more in accordance with nature than +that used in the piano schools. I laid down, as the first and most +important principle, the necessity for "the formation of a fine touch," +just as singing-teachers rely upon the culture of a fine tone, in order +to teach singing well. I endeavored, without notes, to make the +necessary exercises so interesting that the attention of the pupils +always increased; and that they even, after a short time, took great +pleasure in a sound, tender, full, singing tone; an acquirement which, +unfortunately, even many _virtuosos_ do not possess. In this way, we +made an opening at the beginning, not in the middle: we harnessed the +horse _before_ the wagon. The pupil now obtained a firm footing, and had +something to enjoy, without being tormented at every lesson with dry +matters to be learned, the advantage of which was not obvious to him, +and the final aim of which he did not perceive. Until a correct touch +has been acquired, it is of no use to talk about a fine singing tone. +How can we expect to arouse an interest by mere toneless tinkling, while +stiff, inflexible fingers are struggling with the notes; while the pupil +sees only his inability to do any thing right, and receives nothing but +blame from the teacher; while, at the same time, so much is to be kept +in mind, and he must be required to observe the time, and to use the +right fingers? Poor, stupid children! Later, after teaching the notes, I +did not fall into the universal error of selecting pieces which were +either too difficult, or such as, though purely musical, were not well +adapted to the piano; but I chose short, easy pieces, without prominent +difficulties, in the correct and skilful performance of which the pupil +might take pleasure. Consequently, they were studied carefully, slowly, +willingly, and with interest, which last is a great thing gained; for +the pupil rejoiced in the anticipation of success. The struggle over +single difficult places destroys all pleasure, palsies talent, creates +disgust, and, what is worse, it tends to render uncertain the +confirmation of the faculty already partially acquired,--of _bringing +out a fine legato tone, with loose and quiet fingers and a yielding, +movable wrist, without the assistance of the arm_. + +You suppose that talent is especially wanting, and not merely good +teachers; for otherwise, with the zealous pursuit of piano-playing in +Saxony, we should produce hundreds who could, at least, play correctly +and with facility, if not finely. Here you are mistaken: we have, on the +contrary, a great deal of musical talent. There are, also, even in the +provincial cities, teachers who are not only musical, but who also +possess so much zeal and talent for teaching that many of their pupils +are able to play tolerably well. I will add further, that the taste for +music is much more cultivated and improved, even in small places, by +singing-societies and by public and private concerts, than was formerly +the case. We also have much better aids in instruction books, etudes, +and suitable piano pieces; but still we find everywhere "jingling" and +"piano-banging," as you express it, and yet no piano-playing. + +Let us consider this aspect of the subject a little more closely. In +the first place, the proper basis for a firm structure is wanting. The +knowledge of the notes cannot afford a proper basis, except in so far as +it is of service in the execution of a piece. Of what use are the notes +to a singer, if he has no attack, and does not understand the management +of the voice? of what use to the piano-learner, if he has no touch, no +tone on the piano-forte. Is this to be acquired by playing the notes? +But how then is it to be learned? + +One thing more. Owing to an over-zeal for education, children are kept +in school from seven to ten hours in a day, and then they are required +to work and commit to memory in their free hours, when they ought to be +enjoying the fresh air. But when are they then to have their piano +lessons? After they have escaped from the school-room, and consequently +when the children are exhausted and their nerves unstrung. What cruelty! +Instead of bread and butter and fresh air, piano lessons! The piano +ought to be studied with unimpaired vigor, and with great attention and +interest, otherwise no success is to be expected. Besides this, much +writing, in itself, makes stiff, inflexible fingers. But when is the +child to find time for the necessary practice of the piano lessons? +Well, in the evening, after ten o'clock for refreshment, while papa and +mamma are in bed! And now, after the school-days are happily over, and +the children have possibly retained their red cheeks, then their +occupations in life lay claim to their time; or, if they are girls, they +are expected to busy themselves with embroidery, knitting, sewing, +crochet, making clothes, house-work, tea parties, and alas! with balls; +and now, too, comes the time for lovers. Do you imagine that the fingers +of pupils sixteen years old can learn mechanical movements as easily as +those of children nine years old? In order to satisfy the present +demands in any degree, the technique should be settled at sixteen. Under +all these circumstances, we find the best teachers become discouraged, +and fall into a dull routine, which truly can lead to no success. + +In conclusion, I beg you to invite the piano teacher, Mr. Strict, to +whom you have confided the instruction of your only daughter, Rosalie, +to pay me a visit, and I will give him particular directions for a +gradual development in piano-playing, up to Beethoven's op. 109 or +Chopin's F minor concerto. But I shall find him too fixed in his own +theories, too much of a composer, too conceited and dogmatic, and not +sufficiently practical, to be a good teacher, or to exert much +influence; and, indeed, he has himself a stiff, restless, clumsy touch, +that expends half its efforts in the air. He talks bravely of etudes, +scales, &c.; but the question with regard to these is _how they are +taught_. The so-called practising of exercises, without having +previously formed a sure touch, and carefully and skilfully fostering it +is not much more useful than playing pieces. But I hear him reply, with +proud and learned self-consciousness: "Music, music! Classical, +classical! Spirit! Expression! Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn!" That is +just the difficulty. Look at his pupils, at his pianists! See how his +children are musically stifled, and hear his daughter sing the classical +arias composed by himself! However, it is all musical! Farewell. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A CONVERSATION WITH MRS. SOLID, AND FOUR LESSONS TO HER DAUGHTER. + + +MRS. SOLID. I should be glad to understand how it is that your daughters +are able to play the numerous pieces which I have heard from them so +correctly and intelligently, without bungling or hesitation, and with so +much expression, and the most delicate shading; in fact, in such a +masterly manner. From my youth upwards, I have had tolerable +instruction. I have played scales and etudes for a long time; and have +taken great pleasure in studying and industriously practising numerous +compositions of Kalkbrenner and Hummel, under their own direction. I +have even been celebrated for my talent; but, nevertheless, I never have +had the pleasure of being able to execute any considerable piece of +music to my own satisfaction or that of others; and I fear it will be +the same with my daughter Emily. + +DOMINIE. In order to give a satisfactory answer to your question, I will +lay before you a few of my principles and opinions in respect to +musical culture, with special reference to piano-playing. Educated +ladies of the present time make greater pretensions and greater demands +than formerly in regard to music and musical execution; and consequently +their own performances do not usually correspond with their more or less +cultivated taste for the beautiful, which has been awakened by their +careful general education. Thus they are aware that they are not able to +give satisfaction, either to themselves or to others; and from this +arises a want of that confidence in their own powers, which should +amount almost to a consciousness of infallibility, in order to produce a +satisfactory musical performance. This confidence has its foundation in +a full, firm, clear, and musical touch, the acquisition of which has +been, and is still, too much neglected by masters and teachers. A +correct mechanical facility and its advanced cultivation rest upon this +basis alone; which, moreover, requires special attention upon our softly +leathered pianos, which are much more difficult to play upon than the +old-fashioned instruments. It is a mistake to suppose that a correct +touch, which alone can produce a good execution, will come of itself, +through the practice of etudes and scales. Even with masters, it is +unusual to meet with a sound, fine, unexceptionable touch, like that of +Field and Moscheles, and among the more recent that of Thalberg, Chopin, +Mendelssohn, and Henselt. + +I will speak now of the selection of pieces. Our ladies are not +contented to play simple music, which presents few difficulties and +requires no involved fingering; and from which they might gradually +advance by correct and persevering study to more difficult pieces. They +at once seize upon grand compositions by Beethoven, C.M. von Weber, +Mendelssohn, Chopin, and others, and select also, for the sake of +variety, the bravoura pieces of Liszt, Thalberg, Henselt, &c. How can +they expect to obtain a command of such pieces, when their early +education was insufficient for our exalted demands in mechanical skill, +and their subsequent instruction has also been faulty and without +method? + +If you were to request me to supply in some degree your own +deficiencies, before I proceed to the further education of your +daughter, I should not begin with the wisdom of our friend Mr. Buffalo: +"Madam, you must every day practise the major and minor scales, in all +the keys, with both hands at once, and also in thirds and in sixths; and +you must work three or four hours daily at etudes of Clementi, Cramer, +and Moscheles; otherwise, your playing will never amount to any thing." + +Such advice has frequently been given by teachers like Mr. Buffalo, and +is still daily insisted on; but we will, for the present, set such +nonsense aside. I shall, in the first place, endeavor to improve your +touch, which is too thin, feeble, and incorrect; which makes too much +unnecessary movement, and tries to produce the tone in the air, instead +of drawing it out with the keys. This will not require a long time, for +I have well-formed, young hands to work upon, with skilful fingers in +good condition. I will employ, for this purpose, several of the short +exercises mentioned in my first chapter, and shall require them to be +transposed into various keys, and played without notes, in order that +you may give your whole attention to your hands and fingers. Above all +things, I wish you to observe how I try to bring out from the piano the +most beautiful possible tone, with a quiet movement of the fingers and a +correct position of the hand; without an uneasy jerking of the arm, and +with ease, lightness, and sureness. I shall certainly insist upon scales +also, for it is necessary to pay great care and attention to passing the +thumb under promptly and quietly, and to the correct, easy position of +the arm. But I shall be content with the practice of scales for a +quarter of an hour each day, which I require to be played, according to +my discretion, _staccato_, _legato_, fast, slow, _forte_, _piano_, with +one hand or with both hands, according to circumstances. This short time +daily for scale-practice is sufficient, provided, always, that I have no +stiff fingers, or unpractised or ruined structure of the hand to +educate. For very young beginners with weak fingers, the scales should +be practised only _piano_, until the fingers acquire strength. + +I should continue in this way with you for two weeks, but every day with +some slight change. After a short time, I would combine with this +practice the study of two or three pieces, suitably arranged for the +piano; for example, Mozart's minuet in E flat, arranged by Schulhoff, +and his drinking-song, or similar pieces. We will, at present, have +nothing to do with Beethoven. You are, perhaps, afraid that all this +might be tedious; but I have never been considered tedious in my +lessons. I wish you, for the present, not to practise any pieces or +exercises except in my presence, until a better touch has been +thoroughly established. You must also give up entirely, for a time, +playing your previous pieces; for they would give you opportunity to +fall again into your faulty mode of playing. I shall also soon put in +practice one of my maxims in teaching; viz., that, merely for the +acquisition of mechanical facility, all my pupils shall be in the habit +of playing daily some appropriate piece, that by its perfect mastery +they may gain a fearless confidence. They must regard this piece as a +companion, friend, and support. I wish you to learn to consider it a +necessity every day, before practising or studying your new piece of +music, to play this piece, even if it is done quite mechanically, two or +three times, first slowly, then faster; for without ready, flexible +fingers, my teaching and preaching will be valueless. + +MRS. SOLID. But what pieces, for instance? + +DOMINIE. For beginners, perhaps one or two of Huenten's Etudes +Melodiques; a little later, one of Czerny's very judicious Etudes from +his opus 740; and for more advanced pupils, after they are able to +stretch easily and correctly, his Toccata, opus 92,--a piece which my +three daughters never give up playing, even if they do not play it every +day. They practise pieces of this description as a remedy for mechanical +deficiencies, changing them every three or four months. In the selection +of these, I aim especially at the practice of thirds, trills, +stretches, scales, and passages for strengthening the fourth finger; and +I choose them with reference to the particular pieces, sonatas, +variations, concertos, &c., which they are at the time studying. +Likewise, in the choice of the latter, I pursue a different course from +that which the teachers alluded to above and others are accustomed to +follow; though I hope my management is never pedantic, but cautious, +artistic, and psychologic. It is easy to see that many teachers, by +giving lessons continually, particularly to pupils without talent, are +led, even with the best intentions, to fall into a mere routine. We find +them often impatient and unsympathetic, especially in the teaching of +their own compositions; and again, by their one-sided opinions and +capricious requirements, by devoting attention to matters of small +importance, and by all sorts of whimsicalities, they contract the +intellectual horizon of their pupils, and destroy their interest in the +lessons. + +MRS. SOLID. Your careful mode of proceeding is certainly extremely +interesting and convincing; but allow me to request an answer to various +objections and considerations which are now and then brought forward, +particularly by teachers. + +DOMINIE. To that I am quite accustomed. The good and the beautiful +never obtain uncontested recognition. No one has ever offered any new +improvement, and fearlessly spoken the truth, without being attacked, +defamed, and despised, or entirely misunderstood. Our age can show many +proofs of this; for example, let us remember homoeopathy and magnetism. +Clara Wieck was not appreciated in Leipzig until she had been admired in +Paris; nor Marie Wieck, because she does not play exactly as her sister +Clara does. The same is the case with my present book, which +relentlessly treads upon the incredible follies and lamentable errors of +the times. I am quite prepared for opposition of any kind. + +MRS. SOLID. I should like to suggest to you that there are other +teachers who have given themselves a great deal of trouble, and who are +very particular; but it is not their good fortune to have daughters like +yours to educate. + +DOMINIE. Have given themselves a great deal of trouble? What do you mean +by that? If they do not take pains in the right way, or at the right +time and place, it is all labor in vain. Of what use is mere unskilful, +stupid industry? For instance, when a teacher, in order to correct a +stiff use of the fingers and wrist, and the general faulty touch of his +pupil, gives some wonderful etude or a piece with great stretches and +arpeggios for the left hand, and gives himself unwearied trouble over +it, it is a proof of abundant painstaking; but it is labor thrown away, +and only makes the imperfect mode of performance the worse. + +And now with regard to my daughters. It has been their fortune to have +had me for a father and teacher: they certainly have talent, and I have +been successful in rousing and guiding it. Envy, jealousy, pride, and +offended egotism have tried as long as possible to dispute this; but at +last the effort is abandoned. They say that it requires no art to +educate such talent as theirs, that it almost "comes of itself." This +assertion is just as false and contrary to experience as it is common, +even with educated and thoughtful people, who belong to no clique. +Lichtenburg says: "It is just those things upon which everybody is +agreed that should be subjected to investigation." Well, I have made a +thorough investigation of these accusations, with regard to my three +daughters, and all the talented pupils whom I have been able to educate +for good amateurs, and, according to circumstances, for good public +performers. The great number of these suffices for my justification. I +must add, still further, that it is exactly the "great talents" for +singing, or for the piano, who require the most careful, thoughtful, and +prudent guidance. Look around at the multitude of abortive talents and +geniuses! Talented pupils are just the ones who have an irresistible +desire to be left to their own discretion; they esteem destruction by +themselves more highly than salvation by others. + +MRS. SOLID. But it is said that you have been able to educate only your +three daughters, and none others for public performers. + +DOMINIE. Madam, you cannot be serious. If I were to declaim Leporello's +list, you might justly consider it an exaggeration; but if, instead of +replying to you, I should urge you to read what I have written on the +subject, or if I should present your daughter Emily to you, after three +or four years, as a superior performer, you might pardon my vanity and +my ability. I do not possess any magic wand, which envy and folly could +not impute to me as an offence. Nevertheless, unless circumstances were +very adverse, I have, at all events, been able in a short time to +accomplish for my pupils the acquisition of a good, or at least an +improved, musical touch; and have thus laid a foundation, which other +teachers have failed to do by their method, or rather want of method. +But you have something else on your mind? + +MRS. SOLID. You anticipate me. I was educated in Berlin, and in that +capital of intelligence a taste prevails for opposition, negation, and +thorough criticism. How can you educate artists and _virtuosos_, when +you yourself are so little a _virtuoso_? You are not even a composer or +learned contrapuntist. A teacher of music wins much greater +consideration, if he himself plays concertos and composes pretty things, +and if he can calculate and give vent to his genius in double and triple +fugues, and in inverse and retrograde canons. You cannot even accompany +your pupils with the violin or flute, which is certainly very useful and +improving. + +DOMINIE. The egotist is seldom capable of giving efficient instruction: +that lies in the nature of the case. Even a child will soon perceive +whether the teacher has a sole eye to its interest, or has other and +personal aims in view. The former bears good fruits, the latter very +doubtful ones. I will say nothing about the stand-point of those +egotistical teachers whose first aim is to bring themselves into +prominence, and who at the same time are perhaps travelling public +performers and composers. They are, it may be, chiefly occupied with +double and triple fugues (the more inverted the more learned), and they +consider this knowledge the only correct musical foundation. At the same +time, they often possess a touch like that of your brother, Mr. Strict, +mentioned in my third chapter, and are utterly devoid of true taste and +feeling. While pursuing their fruitless piano lessons, which are quite +foreign to their customary train of thought, they regard their +occupation only as a milch cow; and they obtain the money of sanguine +parents, and sacrifice the time of their pupils. You may try such +agreeable personages for yourself: I could wish you no greater +punishment. + +And now I will speak of the violin and the flute. I have never availed +myself of those expedients; it is a method which I have never learned. I +will describe for your amusement a few interesting incidents, which I +had an opportunity to witness in a not inconsiderable city, while on a +journey with my daughters. The teacher with the flute was a gentle, +quiet, mild musician; he was on very good terms with his pupil, and +indulged in no disputes; every thing went on peaceably, without passion, +and "in time." They both twittered tenderly and amicably, and were +playing, in celebration of the birthday of an old aunt who was rather +hard of hearing, a sonata by Kuhlau, which was quite within the power of +both. The old aunt, who, of course, could hear but little of the soft, +flute tones, and the light, thin, modest, square piano, kept asking me: +"Is not that exquisite? what do you think of it?" I nodded my head and +praised it, for the music was modest and made no pretension. + +I will pass next to the violin. The possessor of this was a type of +presumption, vulgarity, and coarseness, and understood how to make an +impression on his pupils and their parents by the assumption of +extraordinary ability. He consequently enjoyed a certain consideration. +He was, moreover, a good musician, and played the violin tolerably in +accompanying the piano, in Beethoven's opus 17 and 24. In this portrait +you have a specimen of the violinist as a piano teacher. Of course he +understood nothing of piano-playing, and took no interest in Wieck's +rubbish about beauty of tone; he cared only for Beethoven. He now and +then tried to sprawl out a few examples of fingering, in a spider-like +fashion; but they were seldom successful. His pupils also possessed the +peculiar advantage of playing "in time," when they did not stick fast +in the difficult places. At such times he always became very cross and +severe, and talked about "precision;" in that way instilling respect. +His pupils did not jingle, but they had a peculiarly short, pounding +touch; and floundered about among the keys with a sort of boldness, and +with resolute, jerking elbows. They certainly had no tone, but the +violin was therefore heard the better; and after each performance we +might have heard, "Am I not the first teacher in Europe?" + +MRS. SOLID. You certainly have shown up two ridiculous figures. + +DOMINIE. True; but I leave it to every one to make themselves +ridiculous. + +MRS. SOLID. I am very glad that you have furnished me here with the +criticisms of which I stand in need; for I might otherwise have been in +danger of supplying you with an example at the next soiree, perhaps at +the banker's, Mr. Gold's. But, as I should like to hear your answer, I +will listen to, and report to you, what is said in a certain though not +very numerous clique, who are opposed to you and your labors. + +DOMINIE. Those people would act more wisely, if they were to study my +writings; in which I will make any corrections, if there is any thing +that I can add to them, for the advantage of truth, right, and beauty. + +And now allow me, Miss Emily, since you are pretty well advanced, and +are not quite spoiled, to show you in a few lessons how to study these +variations by Herz (Les Trois Graces, No. 1, on a theme from "The +Pirates"). They are not easy; but I will teach them in a way that shall +not weary you or give you a distaste for them. I have intentionally +chosen these variations, because they do not lay claim to great musical +interest; and, consequently, their mode of performance, their execution, +gives them their chief value. Moreover, they possess the disadvantage +for teaching that they are of unequal difficulty, and require, +therefore, the more skill on the part of the teacher to compensate for +this. + +_First Lesson._ Miss Emily, these are very clear, graceful variations, +which require an extremely nice, delicate execution; and, especially, a +complete mechanical mastery of their various difficulties. Although +these variations may seem to you too easy, I am governed in the +selection of them by the maxim that "what one would learn to play finely +must be below the mechanical powers of the pupil." The theme of the +Italian song, which is the basis of these variations, is very well +chosen, and you must take great pains to execute it as finely as +possible, and to produce a singing effect upon the piano-forte. After +the piece is thoroughly learned, you will be greatly aided in the +production of this imitation of singing by the careful and correct use +of the pedal which raises the dampers. The theme does not offer great +mechanical difficulties; but it requires a loose, broad, full, and yet +tender touch, a good _portamento_, and a clear and delicately shaded +delivery; for you must remember that "in the performance of a simple +theme the well-taught pupil may be recognized." + +EMILY. But you do not begin at the beginning: there is an introduction +to the piece. + +DOMINIE. Perhaps we shall take that at the last: I can't tell yet when. +A great many things in my instruction will seem to you misplaced: it may +be that the final result will restore to me the approval which I desire. + +EMILY. Do you always give such a preliminary description before you +begin a piece with a pupil? + +DOMINIE. I like to do so; for I wish to create an interest in the piece, +and to state in connection my principles and views about music and +piano-playing. Now we will try the theme, first quite slowly; and then +the first easy variation, with the last bars at the end of it, which +introduce the theme once more, and which should be played very clearly +and smoothly. We will then take from the introduction only the right +hand, and study the most appropriate fingering for it. I never write +this out fully; but only intimate it here and there, in order not to +interfere with the spontaneous activity of the learner. We will also +take a few portions for the left hand from the finale. In these you must +carefully observe the directions which are given for its performance, +and try to execute every thing correctly and clearly; for a careless +bass is prejudicial to the very best playing in the treble. + +My lesson is now at an end; for we have taken up a good deal of time at +the beginning with the scales, and passing the thumb under correctly, +with the different species of touch, and the appropriate exercises for +these. I do not wish you yet to practise the first variation with both +hands together, for you do not yet strike the skipping bass evenly +enough and with sufficient precision; and you might accustom yourself to +inaccuracies, especially as your left hand has, as usual, been +neglected, and is inferior to the right in lightness and rapidity. We +shall find this a hindrance; for the object is not to practise much, but +to practise correctly. Therefore play these passages first slowly, then +quicker, at last very fast; then slow again, sometimes _staccato_, +sometimes _legato_, _piano_, and also moderately loud; but never when +the hands and fingers are fatigued, therefore not too continuously; but +many times in the course of the day, and always with fresh energy. At +present, you need not play _fortissimo_, or with the pedal: for in that +way you might be led into a tramping style, with a weak, stiff touch, +and a habit of striking at the keys with straight fingers; and that I do +not like. We will look for the true and the beautiful in a very +different treatment of the piano; and, first of all, in a clear, +unaffected, healthy performance, free from any forced character. + +_Second Lesson._ Transposition of the triads and dominant chord in their +three positions, and in various kinds of measure; and practice of these, +with careful attention to a correct touch and loose wrist; cadences on +the dominant and sub-dominant; practice of the skipping bass in the +theme, and in the first and third variations, with practice in striking +and leaving the chords, observing carefully the precise value of the +notes. You must attend also to striking them not too forcibly or too +feebly, and take special care with regard to the fourth and fifth +fingers, which do not easily give the tone with so full a sound as the +other three fingers. Now we will try the theme with both hands together, +and consider the correct expression, and likewise the _piano_ and +_forte_, as well as the nicest _crescendo_ and _diminuendo_. We will +then take the first easy variation, of which you have already acquired a +mastery: we will play it exactly _a tempo_ and with the bass chords, +which should usually be given _staccato_, and which must be played with +delicacy and flexibility; but it will be well for you to practise first +the bass part once alone, in order that you may hear whether all the +tones sound evenly. Now the first variation will go pretty well with +both hands together; with increasing mastery of it, the requisite +shading in the right hand can be produced. As your right hand is not yet +tired, play to me now several times, first slowly and then faster, the +passages which I gave you from the introduction. When the right hand +becomes a little fatigued, take a portion from the finale for the left +hand. You may also try over the adagio; but I recommend for your special +practice the part for the right hand in the third variation. You cannot +make a mistake about it, if you do not try to play it too fast, and if +you carefully observe the fingering indicated. Now I will play the theme +to you, as nearly as possible as I heard the famous tenor Rubini sing +it. You see I place the fingers gently upon the keys and avoid raising +them too high, in order not to injure the nice connection of the tones, +and to produce a singing tone as far as possible. At the end of the +lesson you will play the theme to me once more.... I perceive you play +it with too much embarrassment, and not freely enough. It will go still +better two days hence, if you play it frequently during that time, +slowly, and become quite accustomed to it. In addition, you will +practise industriously every thing which we have gone through, +especially the first variation; but you must always do it with interest, +and never with weariness. Of course you will practise _without notes_ +all the little exercises for the touch, and for the fourth and fifth +fingers, and the cadences. + +_Third Lesson._ Other little exercises; trills, scales with shading for +one hand alone and for both together; the skipping basses, &c. We will +begin to-day with the bass part of the second variation. You observe +that often there are even eighth notes in the treble, while in the bass +there are even triplet eighth notes. In order to play these properly +together, even with only mechanical correctness, it is necessary that +the left hand shall acquire a perfectly free and independent movement, +and shall bring out the bass with perfect ease. You must pay special +attention to any weak notes, and accustom yourself not to give the last +triplet, in each bar, and the last note of this triplet, too hurriedly, +too sharply, or with too little tone. Notice how much difficulty this +equal playing of the triplets occasions to the right hand, which moves +in even eighth notes. While you play the left hand, I will play the +right: you must listen as little as possible to my playing, and preserve +your own independence. You must learn to play this variation entirely by +yourself with both hands together; but we must not be too much in a +hurry about it, and must give time to it. All restless urging, all +hurry, leads to inaccuracies in playing. You have learned enough for +to-day; but you may play the other variations, with the whole finale, +straight through, that you may not get into the habit of stopping at the +difficult passages which you have already learned. + +_Fourth Lesson._ New exercises for striking stretches, and for the +extension of the hand and fingers; but this must be done prudently, +that the sound touch, which is always of the first importance, shall not +be endangered. Besides this, the repetition of the exercises learned in +the preceding lessons; but all to be played with a certain shading and +delicacy. We will to-day begin at the beginning, with the introduction. +I will now make amends for my want of regularity, and show you that I +can begin at the beginning, like other people; but all in good time. +To-day, in those portions of which you have acquired a mastery, we will +give particular attention to the expression, and to the correct use of +the pedal. If what I suggest to you with regard to the shading at any +place does not entirely correspond to your understanding of the piece, +or to your feeling, you must at once express your difference of opinion, +and ask me for the reason of my view. You, perhaps, do not like to play +this place _crescendo_, but _diminuendo_. Very well; only play it finely +in your own way; it will also sound very well so. I proposed the +_crescendo_ there, because the feeling grows more intense; perhaps, in +the next lesson, you will acknowledge that I was right. This place I +should play a very little slower, though without a striking +_ritardando_; then a little faster here; do you think it ought to be +played _crescendo_ or _diminuendo_? We must try in this variation to +present nicely shaded little pictures. Here you might use more energy +and decision. This place you should play merely with a correct +mechanical execution, but without special expression; for we require +shadow, in order that the succeeding idea, eminently suggestive of the +theme, shall be brought out with more brilliancy. In general, the whole +must be made to sound natural, without musical pretension, and as if it +were the production of the moment; and should not create a distorted, +overdrawn effect, or exhibit modern affectation. + +Each piece that I undertake to teach you will give me an opportunity to +talk to you a great deal about the correct expression in playing, and +about its innumerable beauties, shades, and delicacies; while I shall +pay constant attention to the production of a beautiful singing tone. +The next piece will be Chopin's Notturno in E flat; for your touch has +already gained in fulness, and is now unobjectionable. + +This is the tyranny with regard to correct execution, which stupidity +and folly have taxed me with having exercised towards my daughters. +"Expression must come of itself!" How cheap is this lazy subterfuge of +the followers of routine, and of teachers wanting in talent! We see and +hear a great many _virtuosos_, old and young, with and without talent, +renowned and obscure. They either play in an entirely mechanical manner +and with faulty and miserable touch, or else, which is less bearable, +they strut with unendurable affectation and produce musical +monstrosities. In order to conceal their indistinct mode of execution, +they throw themselves upon the two pedals, and are guilty of +inconceivable perversions. + +But let us proceed with your instruction. You already play your piece +intelligently, with interest and enthusiasm, and without any of the +modern, empty affectations. If any other passage should occur to you at +the _fermata_ in the second part, which shall lead appropriately to the +dominant, try it; and combine it, perhaps, with that which is written. +You may make two passing shakes upon the four final sixteenth notes; but +you must play them very distinctly and clearly, and the last one weaker +than the first, in order to give it a delicate effect, as is done by +singers. With light variations of this kind, it is allowable to +introduce various ornaments, provided they are in good taste and nicely +executed. The case is quite different in the performance of the +compositions of Beethoven, Mozart, Weber, and others, where reverence +for the composer requires a stricter interpretation, although even this +is sometimes carried to a point of exaggeration and pedantry. Now try +the first variation once more. That is better: you already play the +skipping bass with more precision, more briskly and evenly. We begin to +perceive the correct speaking tone in the bass, and a certain delicacy +and freedom in the treble. You need not play both hands together in the +second variation, which is the most difficult, until the next lesson. +To-day you may first play the bass alone, while I play the treble; and +afterwards we will change parts, and you can play the treble while I +play the bass. But we will not go farther than the fourth variation. I +have not much more to say about this piece. We will begin next a +beautiful Etude by Moscheles, which I recommend highly to you, in order +to strengthen and give facility to the fourth and fifth fingers: this +may be your companion and friend during the next two or three months. + +MRS. SOLID. Your very careful mode of instruction assures me that Emily +will acquire a mastery of these variations, and will learn to perform +them finely. + +DOMINIE. She will be able, after a week or two, to execute this piece +with understanding and confidence, and to play it to her own +satisfaction and that of others; while her awakened consciousness of its +beauties and of her ability to interpret it will preserve her interest +for it. + +The objection is quite untenable "that children lose their pleasure in a +piece, if they are obliged to practise it until they know it." Do people +suppose that it gives more pleasure, when the teacher begins in a +stupid, helpless way, and tries to make the pupil swallow several pieces +at once, while he continually finds fault and worries them, than when +the pupil is enabled to play a few short, well-sounding exercises, with +perfect freedom and correctness, and to take delight in his success? or +when afterwards, or perhaps at the same time, he is conscious that he +can play one piece nicely and without bungling, while it is all +accomplished in a quiet and pleasant manner? + +MRS. SOLID. Do you pursue the same course with longer and more difficult +pieces? + +DOMINIE. Certainly, on the same principle. + +MRS. SOLID. But, if you are so particular about every piece, and always +take so much pains to improve the touch, it will be a long time before +Emily will be able to execute several long pieces and can learn other +new ones beside. + +DOMINIE. Do you wish your daughter to learn to jingle on the piano, in +order to become musical? or shall she grow more musical by learning to +play finely? I am sure the latter is your wish, as it is mine: +otherwise, you would be contented with an ordinary teacher. You must +consider that, when she has made a beginning, by learning to play one +piece thoroughly and quite correctly, the following pieces will be +learned more and more quickly; for she will have acquired a dexterity in +playing, as you may observe with yourself and with every one. To be able +to drum off fifty pieces in an imperfect manner does not justify the +expectation that the fifty-first piece will be learned more easily or +better; but to attain a perfect mastery of four or five pieces gives a +standard for the rest. + +In this way, and by mechanical studies, such as I have begun with Emily, +the greatest ease in reading at sight is gradually developed, in which +all my pupils excel, when they have remained long enough under my +instruction, and in which my daughters are pre-eminent. But for this it +is necessary to continue to study single pieces, industriously and +artistically, and with great exactness; for otherwise the practice of +reading at sight, which often amounts to a passion, leads very soon to +slovenliness in piano-playing and to more or less vulgar machine-music. + +MRS. SOLID. I am more and more convinced that a style of instruction +which is illogical, intermittent, superficial, and without method, can +lead to no good result, or at least to nothing satisfactory, even with +extraordinary talents; and that the unsound and eccentric manifestations +and caricatures of art, which cause the present false and deplorable +condition of piano-playing, are the consequence of such a prevalent mode +of instruction. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +ON THE PEDAL. + + +I have just returned exhausted and annihilated from a concert, where I +have been hearing the piano pounded. Two grand bravoura movements have +been thundered off, with the pedal continually raised; and then were +suddenly succeeded by a soft murmuring passage, during which the +thirteen convulsed and quivering bass notes of the _fortissimo_ were all +the time resounding. It was only by the aid of the concert programme +that my tortured ears could arrive at the conclusion that this confusion +of tones was meant to represent two pieces by Doehler and Thalberg. + +Cruel fate that invented the pedal! I mean the pedal which raises the +dampers on the piano. A grand acquisition, indeed, for modern times! +Good heavens! Our piano performers must have lost their sense of +hearing! What is all this growling and buzzing? Alas, it is only the +groaning of the wretched piano-forte, upon which one of the modern +_virtuosos_, with a heavy beard and long hanging locks, whose hearing +has deserted him, is blustering away on a bravoura piece, with the pedal +incessantly raised,--with inward satisfaction and vain self-assertion! +Truly time brings into use a great deal that is far from beautiful: +does, then, this raging piano revolutionist think it beautiful to bring +the pedal into use at every bar? Unhappy delusion. + +But enough of this serious jesting. Hummel never used the pedal. He was +an extremist; and, in his graceful, clear, elegant, neat, though not +grand playing, often lost fine effects, which would have been produced +by the correct and judicious use of the pedal; particularly on the +instruments of Stein, Brodmann, Conrad Graff, and others then in use, +which were usually lightly leathered, and had a thin, sharp tone. The +use of the pedal, of course always allowing it to fall frequently with +precision, was especially desirable in the upper treble, in cases where +the changes of the harmony were not very frequent; for the tone of those +instruments, although sweet and agreeable, had not much depth, and the +action had but little strength and elasticity. But on our instruments, +frequently too softly leathered, which have a full tone, and are so +strong and penetrating, especially in the bass, it is enough to endanger +one's sense of hearing to be subjected to such a senseless, incessant, +ridiculous, deafening use of the pedal; frequently, moreover, combined +with a hard, stiff touch, and an unsound, incorrect technique. A musical +interpretation in any degree tolerable is out of the question. You +cannot call that art, it cannot even be called manual labor: it is a +freak of insanity! + +A few words to the better sort of players. The foot-piece to the right +on the piano-forte raises the dampers, and in that way makes the tones +resound and sing, and takes from them the dryness, shortness, and want +of fulness, which is always the objection to the piano-forte, especially +to those of the earlier construction. This is certainly an advantage; +the more the tone of the piano-forte resembles singing, the more +beautiful it is. But, in order not to injure the distinctness and +detract from the clear phrasing of the performance, a very skilful and +prudent use of the pedal is necessary in rapid changes of harmony, +particularly in the middle and lower portion of the instrument. + +You all use the pedal too much and too often, especially on large, fine +concert pianos of the new construction, which, with their heavy +stringing, have in themselves a fuller, more vibrating tone; at least +you do not let it fall frequently enough, and with precision. You must +listen to what you are playing. You do not play for yourselves alone; +frequently you play to hearers who are listening for the first time to +the pieces you are performing. Try a few passages without pedal,--for +instance, those in which the changes of the harmony succeed each other +rapidly, even in the highest treble,--and see what repose, what serene +enjoyment, what refreshment is afforded, what delicate shading is +brought out. Or at first listen, and try to feel it in the playing of +others; for your habit is so deeply rooted that you no longer know when +and how often you use the pedal. Chopin, that highly gifted, elegant, +sensitive composer and performer, may serve as a model for you here. His +widely dispersed, artistic harmonies, with the boldest and most striking +suspensions, for which the fundamental bass is essential, certainly +require the frequent use of the pedal for fine harmonic effect. But, if +you examine and observe the minute, critical directions in his +compositions, you can obtain from him complete instruction for the nice +and correct use of the pedal. + +By way of episode to my sorrowful lecture on the pedal, we will take a +walk through the streets some beautiful evening. What is it that we hear +in almost every house? Unquestionably it is piano-playing; but what +playing! It is generally nothing but a continual confusion of different +chords, without close, without pause; slovenly passages, screened by the +raised pedal; varied by an empty, stiff, weak touch, relying upon the +pedal for weight. We will escape into the next street. Oh, horrors! what +a thundering on this piano, which, by the way, is sadly out of tune! It +is a grand--that is, a long, heavy--etude, with the most involved +passages, and a peculiar style of composition, probably with the title +"On the Ocean," or "In Hades," or "Fancies of the Insane;" pounded off +with the pedal raised through the most marvellous changes of harmonies. +Finally, the strings snap, the pedal creaks and moans; conclusion,--_c_, +_c_ sharp, _d_, _d_ sharp resound together through a few exhausted bars, +and at last die away in the warm, soft, delicious air. Universal +applause from the open windows! But who is the frantic musician who is +venting his rage or this piano? It is a Parisian or other travelling +composer, lately arrived with letters of recommendation, who has just +been giving a little rehearsal of what we may expect to hear shortly in +a concert at the "Hotel de Schmerz." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE SOFT-PEDAL SENTIMENT. + + +You exclaim: "What is that?--a sentiment for the soft pedal! a sentiment +of any kind in our times! most of all, a musical sentiment! I have not +heard of such a thing in a concert-room for a long time!" + +When the foot-piece to the left on the piano is pressed down, the +key-board is thereby moved to the right; so that, in playing, the +hammers strike only two of the three strings, in some pianos only one. +In that way the tone is made weaker, thinner, but more singing and more +tender. What follows from this? Many performers, seized with a piano +madness, play a grand bravoura piece, excite themselves fearfully, +clatter up and down through seven octaves of runs, with the pedal +constantly raised,--bang away, put the best piano out of tune in the +first twenty bars,--snap the strings, knock the hammers off their +bearings, perspire, stroke the hair out of their eyes, ogle the +audience, and make love to themselves. Suddenly they are seized with a +sentiment! They come to a _piano_ or _pianissimo_, and, no longer +content with one pedal, they take the soft pedal while the loud pedal is +still resounding. Oh, what languishing! what soft murmuring, and what a +sweet tinkling of bells! what tenderness of feeling! what a soft-pedal +sentiment! The ladies fall into tears, enraptured by the pale, +long-haired young artist. + +I describe here the period of piano mania, which has just passed its +crisis; a period which it is necessary to have lived through, in order +to believe in the possibility of such follies. When, in the beginning of +this century, the piano attained such conspicuous excellence and +increased power, greater technical skill could not fail to be called +out; but, after a few years, this degenerated into a heartless and +worthless dexterity of the fingers, which was carried to the point of +absurdity and resulted in intellectual death. Instead of aiming to +acquire, before all things, a beautiful, full tone on these +rich-sounding instruments, which admit of so much and such delicate +shading, essential to true excellence of performance, the object was +only to increase mechanical facility, and to cultivate almost +exclusively an immoderately powerful and unnatural touch, and to improve +the fingering in order to make possible the execution of passages, +roulades, finger-gymnastics, and stretches, which no one before had +imagined or considered necessary. From this period dates the +introduction of _virtuoso_ performances with their glittering +tawdriness, without substance and without music, and of the frightful +eccentricities in art, accompanied by immeasurable vanity and +self-conceit,--the age of "finger-heroes." It is indeed a melancholy +reflection, for all who retain their senses, that this charlatanry is +made the solitary aim of numberless ignoble performers, sustained by the +applause of teachers and composers equally base. It is sad to see how, +engaged in artificial formalisms and in erroneous mechanical studies, +players have forgotten the study of tone and of correct delivery, and +that few teachers seek to improve either themselves or their pupils +therein. Otherwise they would see and understand that, on a good piano, +such as are now to be found almost everywhere, it is possible with +correct playing, founded on a right method, to play, without external +aids, _forte_, _fortissimo_, _piano_, _pianissimo_,--in a word, with +every degree of shading, and with at least formal expression; and that +this style of playing, with the requisite mechanical skill, sounds far +more pure, and is more satisfactory than when a feeling is affected +through the crude, unskilful, and absurd use of the pedal, especially of +the soft pedal of which we are now speaking. This affectation only gives +one more proof of our unhealthy, stupid, and unmusical infancy in piano +performances. A good-natured public, drummed up and brought together by +patient persuasion and by urgent recommendations, of which _virtuosos_ +can obtain an abundance (for the tormented cities which they have +visited cannot otherwise get rid of them), attend these concerts and +listen to dozens of such inexperienced piano-players. One plays exactly +like another, with more or less faulty mechanical execution; and none of +them are able, with all their thumping and caressing of the keys, to +bring out from the instrument a broad, healthy, full, and beautiful +tone, delicately shaded and distinct even to the softest _pp._ But, +instead of this, they fall into a pedal sentiment; _i.e._, they play +with outside pretension, and with intrinsic emptiness. + +You unworthy performers, who have so disgusted the artistic public with +piano-playing that they will no longer listen to fine, intelligent, +sensible artists, whose dignity does not permit them to force +themselves into the concert-hall, or to drag people into it from the +streets! you base mortals, who have exposed this beautiful art to shame! +I implore you to abandon the concert platform, your battle-field! Hack +at the piano no longer! Find positions on a railroad or in a factory. +There you may perhaps make yourselves useful; while by the lessons you +give (for it usually comes to that, after you have travelled all over +the world) you will only ruin our young people, now growing up with +promising talent for piano-playing, and will produce successors like +yourselves, but not artists. + +I must whisper one thing more in your ear. I will say nothing about +simple truthfulness, about tenderness and sincerity of feeling, or +wholesome refinement, about poetry, inspiration, or truly impassioned +playing. But, if your ears are not already too much blunted, you should +be able to discover, at least in a very few minutes, on any instrument, +unless it is of the worst sort, or has already been battered to pieces +by you, how far you can carry the _pianissimo_ and _fortissimo_, and +still preserve the tone within the limits of beauty and simplicity. You +will thus be able to interpret a piece with at least superficial +correctness, without mortally wounding a cultivated ear by exaggerations +and by maltreatment of the instrument and its two pedals. + +This style of playing has nevertheless found its numerous defenders and +admirers in our century, which has made every thing possible. This +senseless enslavement and abuse of the piano has been said to be "all +the rage;" a fine expression of our piano critics to justify insane +stamping and soft-pedal sentimentality. + +How far what I have here said relates to our modern errors in singing, +and how far it may be applied to them, I leave to the intelligence of my +readers and to my explanations in subsequent chapters. + +To return to my theme: I have still one word on this subject for +rational players. Even they use the soft pedal too much and too often, +and at unsuitable places; for instance, in the midst of a piece, without +any preparatory pause; in melodies which require to be lightly executed; +or in rapid passages which are to be played _piano_. This is especially +to be noticed with players who are obliged to use instruments of a +powerful tone and stiff, heavy action, on which it is difficult to +insure a delicate shading in _piano_ and _forte_. For this reason, a +sensible and experienced teacher, whose sole aim is the true and the +beautiful, should make the attainment of an elastic touch and +well-grounded style of playing an indispensable requirement. I prefer +that the soft pedal should be used but seldom, and, if the pedal which +raises the dampers is used at the same time, it must be only with the +greatest nicety. The soft pedal may be used in an echo; but should be +preceded by a slight pause, and then should be employed throughout the +period, because the ear must accustom itself gradually to this tender, +maidenly, sentimental tone. There must again be a slight pause before +the transition to the usual more masculine tone, with the three strings. +The soft pedal is, moreover, most effective in slow movements with full +chords, which allow time to bring out the singing tone, in which +consists the advantage of the stroke of the hammers on two strings +alone. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +A MUSICAL TEA-PARTY AT THE HOUSE OF JOHN SPRIGGINS. + + +I once more introduce my readers to the scenes of my active, musical +life, with an invitation to accompany me to a musical tea-party. My +object is, in a short and entertaining manner, to remove very common +prejudices; to correct mistaken ideas; to reprove the followers of mere +routine; to oppose to malicious cavilling the sound opinions of an +experienced teacher; to scourge dogmatic narrow-mindedness; and in this +way to advance my method of instruction. + + * * * * * + +DRAMATIS PERSONAE. + +JOHN SPRIGGINS _(jovial and narrow-minded, a member of +an ancient musical family)._ +MRS. SPRIGGINS _(irritable, envious, and malicious)._ +LIZZIE, _their daughter, 13, years old (lively and pert)._ +SHEPARD, _her piano-teacher (very laborious)._ +DOMINIE, _a piano-master (very stern)._ +EMMA, _his daughter, a pianist (silent and musical)._ + + +MRS. SPRIGGINS (_to Dominie_). So this is your daughter who is to give a +concert to-morrow? She is said to have less talent than your eldest +daughter. With her, they say, nothing requires any labor. + +DOMINIE. You must ask my eldest daughter herself about that. I have +hitherto held the opinion that both of them played correctly, musically, +and perhaps finely, and yet both differently: that is the triumph of a +musical education. But this cheap comparative criticism is already too +thoroughly worn out. Pray what else have you on your mind? + +MRS. S. Have you not yet sent your younger daughter to school? They say +your eldest could neither read nor write at fourteen years of age. + +DOMINIE. My daughters always have a private teacher in the house, in +connection with whom I instruct them in music, in order that their +literary education shall occupy fewer hours, and that they shall have +time left for exercise in the open air to invigorate the body; while +other children are exhausted with nine hours a day at schools and +institutes, and are obliged to pay for this with the loss of their +health and the joyousness of youth. + +MRS. S. It is very well known that your daughters are obliged to play +the whole day long. + +DOMINIE. And not all night too? You probably might explain their skill +in that way. I am astonished that you have not heard that too, since +you have picked up so many shocking stories about me and my daughters. + +MRS. S. (_dismisses the subject, and asks suddenly_). Now just how old +is your daughter Emma? + +DOMINIE. She is just sixteen years and seven weeks old. + +MRS. S. Does she speak French? + +DOMINIE. Oui, elle parle Francais, and in musical tones, too,--a +language which is understood all over the world. + +MRS. S. But she is so silent! Does she like to play? + +DOMINIE. You have given her no opportunity to speak, she is certainly +not forth-putting. For the last two years she has taken great pleasure +in playing. + +MRS. S. You acknowledge, then, that formerly you had to force her to it? + +DOMINIE. In the earlier years of her natural development, as she was a +stranger to vanity and other unworthy motives, she certainly played, or +rather pursued her serious studies, chiefly from obedience and habit. +Does your daughter of thirteen years old always practise her exercises +without being required to do so? Does she like to go to school every +day? Does she always sew and knit without being reminded of it? + +MRS. S. (_interrupting_). Oh, I see you are quite in love with your +daughters! But they say you are terribly strict and cruel in the musical +education of your children; and, in fact, always. + +DOMINIE. Do you suppose I do this from affection? or do you infer it, +because they have proved artists, or because they look so blooming and +healthy, or because they write such fine letters, or because they have +not grown crooked over embroidery, or because they are so innocent, +unaffected, and modest? or-- + +MRS. S. (_irritably_). We will drop that subject. But I must give you +one piece of good advice. Do not make your daughter Emma exert herself +too much, as you have done with your eldest daughter. + +DOMINIE. If that is so, Mrs. Spriggins, it seems to have agreed with her +very well. + +MRS. S. (_vehemently_). But she would have been better-- + +DOMINIE. If she had not played at all? That I can't tell exactly, as I +said yesterday. Well, you are satisfied now with Emma's state of health? + +MRS. S. It is of no use to advise such people as you. + +DOMINIE. I have always devoted myself to my business as a teacher, and +have daily taken counsel with myself about the education of my +daughters, and of other pupils whom I have formed for artists; and, it +must be acknowledged, I have done so with some ability. + +MRS. S. (_not attending to him, but turning to Emma_). But does it not +make your fingers ache to play such difficult music? + +DOMINIE. Only when her teacher raps her on the knuckles, and that I +never do. + + (_Emma looks at the parrot which is hanging in the parlor, and + strokes the great bull-dog._) + +JOHN SPRIGGINS (_entering with his daughter Lizzie_). Herr Dominie, will +you be so good as to hear our daughter Lizzie play, and advise us +whether to continue in the same course. Music is, in fact, hereditary in +our family. My wife played a little, too, in her youth, and I once +played on the violin; but my teacher told me I had no talent for it, no +ear, and no idea of time, and that I scraped too much. + +DOMINIE. Very curious! He must have been mistaken! + +JOHN S. But I always was devotedly fond of music. My father and my +grandfather, on our estate, often used to play the organ for the +organist in church, and the tenants always knew when they were playing. +My father used often to tell that story at table. Ha, ha! It was very +droll! + +DOMINIE. Curious! + +JOHN S. Well, to return to my violin. I gave it up after a year, because +it seemed rather scratchy to me, too. + +DOMINIE. Curious! Probably your ear and your taste had become more +cultivated. + +JOHN S. Afterwards, when I accepted an office, my wife said to me, "My +dear, what a pity it is about your violin." So I had it restrung, and +took a teacher. It seems as if it were only yesterday. + +DOMINIE (_casting down his eyes,--the servant brings ice_). That was very +curious! + +JOHN S. But the government horn-player thought he could not get on in +duets with me. + +DOMINIE. Curious! So you were obliged to play only solos? But to return +to your daughter. Will you be good enough to play me something, Miss +Lizzie? + +MRS. S. (_condescendingly, in a low voice_). She is a little timid and +embarrassed at playing before your daughter Emma. + +EMMA. You really need not be so. + +MRS. S. Bring "Les Graces" by Herz, and Rosellen's "Tremolo." + +LIZZIE. But, mamma, I have forgotten that piece by Herz, and I have not +learned the "Tremolo" very well yet. That is always the way with me. Mr. +Shepard says I may console myself: it was always the same with his other +scholars. He says I shall finally make my way. But Mr. Shepard is so +strict. Are you very strict, Herr Dominie? + +MRS. S. Why, my child, you have heard me say so before. Herr Dominie is +the very strictest--but (_playfully_) he will not acknowledge it. + +DOMINIE. There is one thing you must allow, Mrs. Spriggins,--that my +pupils always take pleasure in my lessons; and that must be the case +because their progress is evident and gives them delight, and every +thing is developed in the most natural way. + +MRS. S. (_less sharply_). We won't discuss that; but how are your +daughters able to play so many pieces to people, and moreover without +notes, if they have not been obliged to practise all day long, and if +you have not been very cruel with them, while my Lizzie cannot play a +single thing without bungling? + +DOMINIE. Allow me, madam, it must be the fault of Mr. Shep-- + +MRS. S. No, no! you must excuse me, but we don't permit any reflections +on our Mr. Shepard: he is very particular and unwearied. + +DOMINIE. It does not depend entirely upon that, but-- + +JOHN S. Upon my honor, it is marvellous to see how talented pupils +always seem to flock to _you_. It is easy to teach such! Ha, ha! You +must not forget, however, that my grandfather played on the organ. Now, +Lizzie, sit down and play something. + + (_She chooses a cavatina from "The Pirates," with variations. The + introduction begins with _e_ flat in unison. Lizzie strikes _e_ in + unison and the same in the bass, and exclaims: "There, mamma, + didn't I tell you so? I don't remember it now." Mr. Shepard enters, + steps up hastily, and puts her finger on _e_ flat._) + +SHEPARD. Pardon me, Herr Dominie, I will only set her going: it makes +her a little confused to play before such connoisseurs; she loses her +eyesight. Don't you see, Lizzie, there are three flats in the signature? + +JOHN S. Courage now! Aha! Lizzie can't get at the pedal, the bull-dog +is lying over it. John, take him out. + + (_After the removal of the bull-dog, Lizzie plays as far as the + fourth bar, when she strikes _c_ sharp instead of _c_, and stops._) + +MRS. S. Never mind, begin again. Herr Dominie is pleased to hear that: +he has gone through it all with his own children. + + (_Lizzie begins again at the beginning, and goes on to the eighth + bar, where she sticks fast._) + +SHEPARD. Don't make me ashamed of you, Lizzie. Now begin once more: a +week ago it went quite tolerably. + + (_Lizzie begins once more, and plays or rather scrambles through + it, as far as the eighteenth bar; but now it is all over with her, + and she gets up._) + +DOMINIE. Skip the introduction, it is too difficult: begin at once on +the theme. + +JOHN S. (_to his wife_). We will go away and leave the gentlemen alone. +By and by, gentlemen, we will talk about it further over a cup of tea. + + (_Lizzie refuses to play._) + +DOMINIE. Mr. Shepard, let Lizzie play a few scales or some chords; a few +finger exercises, or some easy dance without notes. + +SHEPARD. She has nothing of that kind ready. You see I always take up +one piece after another, and have each one played as well as I can; she +repeats the difficult parts, I write the proper fingering over them, and +am very particular that she does not use the wrong fingers. I have taken +a great deal of pains, and quite worn myself out over the lessons. +Lizzie does the same, and practises her pieces two hours a day; +but--but-- + + (_Lizzie goes away with Emma._) + +DOMINIE. Mr. Shepard, with the best intentions in the world, you will +never accomplish your end. Even if Miss Lizzie is only to play as an +amateur, and is not intended for any thing higher, for which in fact she +has not sufficient talent, you must pay some attention beforehand to the +acquirement of a correct tone, and get rid of this robin-red-breast +touch; and you must then endeavor, by scales and exercises of every +kind, to give to her hands and fingers so much firmness, decision, and +dexterity, that she can master her pieces, at least with a certain +distinct tone and a tolerable touch. You are not less in error in the +choice of her pieces, which are far too difficult,--a fault of most +teachers, even with the most skilful pupils. The pieces which your +pupils are to execute should be below their mechanical powers; for, +otherwise, the struggle with difficulties robs the player of all +confidence in the performance, and gives rise to stumbling, bungling, +and hurry. The mechanical powers should be cultivated by studies and +exercises, in preference to pieces, at least to those of certain famous +composers, who do not write in a manner adapted to the piano; or who, at +any rate, regard the music as of more importance than the player. This +may apply even to Beethoven, in the higher grade of composition; for his +music is full of danger for the performer. The only course which can +ever lead to a sure result, without wearying both pupil and parent, and +without making piano-playing distasteful, is first to lay a foundation +in mechanical power, and then to go on with the easier pieces by Huenten +and Burgmueller. If you try to produce the mechanical dexterity essential +for piano performance by the study of pieces, except with the most +careful selection, you will waste a great deal of time and deprive the +pupil of all pleasure and interest; and the young Lizzie will be much +more interested in the hope of a husband than in the satisfaction of +performing a piece which will give pleasure to herself and her friends. +There can be no success without gradual development and culture, without +a plan, without consideration and reflection,--in fact, without a +proper method. How can there be any good result, if the pupil has to try +at the same time to play with a correct touch, with the proper +fingering, in time, with proper phrasing, to move the fingers rightly, +to gain familiarity with the notes, and to avoid the confusion between +the treble and the bass notes,--and in fact has to struggle with every +thing at once? And what vexations! what loss of time without success! + + (_Shepard listened with attention, and a light seemed to dawn upon + him._) + + (_Dominie and Shepard go in to tea._) + +MRS. S. Well, gentlemen, have you come to any conclusion? Is not Lizzie +a good pupil? She is obliged to practise two hours every day, however +tired she may be. Do you think we should continue in the same course, +Herr Dominie? + +SHEPARD. Herr Dominie has called my attention to some points which will +be of use to me. + +DOMINIE. Only a few trifles. + +JOHN S. After tea will not Miss Emma play to us? + +EMMA. The piano is very much out of tune, some of the keys stick, the +action is too light, and the instrument generally is not calculated for +the successful execution of any thing. + +JOHN S. I beg your pardon: it was considered by everybody a very fine +instrument when we bought it, sixteen years ago. We had a great bargain +in it at the time, for we purchased it of a neighbor who had improved it +very much by use. Mr. Shepard will confirm what I say, Miss. + + (_Emma bows her head thoughtfully, and looks at Shepard + suspiciously._) + +JOHN S. My violin has very much improved during the last twenty years. +On my honor, if Lizzie were a boy, she should learn to play on the +violin, to keep it in the family. Ha, ha, ha! + +DOMINIE. That would be curious! + + (_Dominie wishes to take leave with his daughter._) + +MRS. S. (_condescendingly_). I hope you will come to see us again soon. +The next time Lizzie will play you Rosellen's "Tremolo;" and Miss Emma +must play us a piece too. + +DOMINIE. You are extremely kind! (_Takes leave._) + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +SINGING AND SINGING-TEACHERS. + + +_(A Letter to a Young Lady Singer.)_ + +MY DEAR MISS ----,--You are endowed with an admirable gift for singing, +and your agreeable though not naturally powerful voice has vivacity and +youthful charm, as well as a fine tone: you also possess much talent in +execution; yet you nevertheless share the lot of almost all your sisters +in art, who, whether in Vienna, Paris, or Italy, find only teachers who +are rapidly helping to annihilate the opera throughout Europe, and are +ruling out of court the simple, noble, refined, and true art of singing. +This modern, unnatural style of art, which merely aspires to superficial +effects, and consists only in mannerisms, and which must ruin the voice +in a short time, before it reaches its highest perfection, has already +laid claim to you. It is scarcely possible to rescue your talent, +unless, convinced that you have been falsely guided, you stop entirely +for a time, and allow your voice to rest during several months, and +then, by correct artistic studies, and with a voice never forced or +strong, often indeed weak, you improve your method of attack by the use +of much less and never audible breathing, and acquire a correct, quiet +guidance of the tones. You must also make use of the voice in the middle +register, and strengthen the good head-tones by skilfully lowering them; +you must equalize the registers of the voice by a correct and varied use +of the head-tones, and by diligent practice of _solfeggio_. You must +restore the unnaturally extended registers to their proper limits; and +you have still other points to reform. Are you not aware that this +frequent tremulousness of the voice, this immoderate forcing of its +compass, by which the chest-register is made to interfere with the +head-tones, this coquetting with the deep chest-tones, this affected, +offensive, and almost inaudible nasal _pianissimo_, the aimless jerking +out of single tones, and, in general, this whole false mode of vocal +execution, must continually shock the natural sentiment of a cultivated, +unprejudiced hearer, as well as of the composer and singing-teacher? +What must be the effect on a voice in the middle register, when its +extreme limits are forced in such a reckless manner, and when you expend +as much breath for a few lines of a song as a correctly educated singer +would require for a whole aria? How long will it be before your voice, +already weakened, and almost always forced beyond the limits of beauty, +shall degenerate into a hollow, dull, guttural tone, and even into that +explosive or tremulous sound, which proclaims irremediable injury? Is +your beautiful voice and your talent to disappear like a meteor, as +others have done? or do you hope that the soft air of Italy will in time +restore a voice once ruined? I fall into a rage when I think of the many +beautiful voices which have been spoiled, and have dwindled away without +leaving a trace during the last forty years; and I vent my overflowing +heart in a brief notice of the many singing-teachers, whose rise and +influence I have watched for twenty years past. + +The so-called singing-teachers whom we usually find, even in large +cities and in musical institutions, I exempt from any special criticism, +for they would not be able to understand my views. They permit soprano +voices to sing scales in all the five vowels at once; begin with _c_ +instead of _f_; allow a long holding of the notes, "in order to bring +out the voice," until the poor victim rolls her eyes and grows dizzy. +They talk only of the fine chest-tones which must be elicited, will have +nothing to do with the head-tones, will not even listen to them, +recognize them, or learn to distinguish them. Their highest principle +is: "Fudge! we don't want any rubbish of Teschner, Miksch, and Wieck. +Sing in your own plain way: what is the use of this murmuring without +taking breath? For what do you have lungs if you are not to use them? +Come, try this aria: 'Grace,' 'grace!' Produce an effect! Down on your +knees!" + +There are again others who allow screaming,--"the more the better,"--in +order to produce power and expression in the voice, and to make it +serviceable for public performances. They may, indeed, require the +singing of _solfeggio_, and prattle about the requisite equality of the +tones; and they consequently make the pupil practise diligently and +strongly on the two-lined _a_, _b_ flat, _b_, where kind Nature does not +at first place the voice, because she has reserved for herself the slow +and careful development of it. As for the unfortunate gasping medium +voices, which are still less docile, and which sigh in the throat, and +after all can only speak, such teachers postpone the cultivation of +these to the future, or else they exclaim in a satisfied way, "Now we +will sing at sight! Hit the notes! Let us have classical music!" Of +these, also, I forbear to speak. + +And as for the singing-teachers, whose business it is to educate the +voice for "the opera of the future," I am really unable to write about +them. In the first place, I know nothing about "the future," the unborn; +and, in the second place, I have more than enough to do with the +present. + +And now I come to those who honestly wish to teach better, and who in a +measure do so. But even they are too pedantic: with prejudiced views, +they pursue one-sided aims. Without looking around to the right or to +the left or forwards, and without daily learning, reflecting, and +striving, they run in a groove, always ride their particular hobby, cut +every thing after one pattern, and use up the time in secondary matters, +in incredible trifles. For the formation of a fine tone, not a minute +should be lost, particularly with lady singers, who are not strong, and +usually cannot or ought not to sing more than twenty days in a month, +and who surely ought to be allowed to use their time in a reasonable +manner. Moreover, these are the teachers whom it is most difficult to +comprehend. Though they use only seven tones, they are plunged in +impenetrable mysteries, in incomprehensible knowledge and a multitude of +so-called secrets, out of which, indeed, nothing can ever be brought to +light. For this, however, they do not consider themselves to blame, not +even their hobby-horses; but, as they say, "the higher powers." We will, +for once, suppose that three-fourths of the measures which they are +accustomed to employ in their treatment of the voice and of the +individual are good and correct (the same is true of many +piano-teachers); but the remaining fourth is sufficient to ruin the +voice, or to prevent its proper development, and therefore nothing +correct is to be gained. There are other teachers who never can get +beyond the formation of the tone, and are lost in the pursuit of +_perfection_,--that "terrestrial valley of tears." Truly a beautiful +country, but which is only to be found in Paradise! + +Others, instead of thinking, "I will try for the present to do better +than others have done," so harass and torment the poor mortal voices +with their aim at perfect equality and perfect beauty of tone, the +result often is that every thing becomes unequal and far from beautiful. +Some teachers make their pupils so anxious and troubled that, owing to +their close attention to the tone, and the breath, and the +pronunciation, they sing their songs in an utterly wooden manner, and so +in fact they, too, are lost in optimism and in tears; whereas, for +singing, a happy confidence in the ability to succeed is essential. +Others pursue an opposite course, and are guilty of worse faults, as you +will see if you look around. Some of them have no standard of +perfection, but use up the time in an exchange of ideas with their +pupils, with mysterious and conceited "ifs" and "buts." They are very +positive, but only within the narrow circle of their own ideas. They +make no advance in a correct medium path. Some allow pupils to practise +only _staccato_, and others only _legato_, aiming thereby at nobody +knows what. Some allow them to sing too loud, others too feebly; some +philosophize earnestly about beauty in the voice, and others grumble +about unpleasantness in the same; some are enthusiastic about +extraordinary talents, others fret about the want of talent; some have a +passion for making all the sopranos sing alto, others do just the +reverse; some prefer a shadowy, others a clear voice. They all rest +their opinions upon the authority of some famous screaming-master who +has written a singing-system. Upon like authority, some cultivate +chiefly the deep tones, because it is very fine, and "creates an +effect," for soprano voices to be able suddenly to sing like men, or +rather to growl, and because it is the fashion in Paris. Others, on the +contrary, pride themselves upon the head-tones; but they are none of +them willing to pay much attention to the medium voices: that is too +critical and too delicate a matter, and requires too much trouble, for +the modern art of singing. As a last resort, they bethink themselves of +kind Nature, and lay the blame upon her. + +Well, I will say no more upon this point, but will proceed. Have I not +already, in my piano instructions, insisted on the importance of a +gradual and careful use of every proper expedient to extend, strengthen, +beautify, and preserve the voice? I am thought, however, to infringe +upon the office of the singing-masters, who hold their position to be +much more exalted than that of the poor piano-teacher. Still, I must be +allowed to repeat that voices are much more easily injured than fingers; +and that broken, rigid voices are much worse than stiff, unmanageable +fingers, unless, after all, they amount to the same thing. I demand of +singing-teachers that they show themselves worthy of their position, +and allow no more voices to go to destruction, and that they give us +some satisfactory results. I believe in fact, in my homely simplicity, +that the whole thing may be accomplished without any mystery, without +trading in secrets or charlatanry; without the aid of modern anatomical +improvement, or rather destruction, of the worn-out throat, through +shortening or increasing the flexibility of the palate, through the +removal of the unnecessary glands or by attempts to lengthen the vocal +passage, or by remedying a great many other things in which Nature has +made a mistake, and on which special doctors for the voice, in Paris and +London, are now employed. + +We supply the want of all these by the following little rule:-- + +Three trifles are essential for a good piano or singing-teacher,-- + + _The finest taste, + The deepest feeling, + The most delicate ear,_ + +and, in addition, the requisite knowledge, energy, and some practice. +_Voila tout!_ I cannot devote myself to the treatment of the throat, for +which I have neither time not fitness; and my lady singers are so busy +with the formation of true tone, and in attention to the care and +preservation of their voices, that they only wish to open their mouths +for that object, and not for anatomical purposes. In piano-playing also, +I require no cutting of the interdigital fold, no mechanical +hand-support, no accelerator for the fingers or stretching machine; and +not even the "finger-rack" invented and used, without my knowledge, by a +famous pupil[A] of mine, for the proper raising of the third and fourth +fingers. + +My dear young lady, if the Creator has made the throat badly for +singing, he alone is responsible. I cannot come to his assistance by +destroying the throat with lunar caustic, and then reconstructing it. If +the throat is really worn out, may it not perhaps be owing to the +teacher, and to his mistaken management? + +Nature does many things well, and before the introduction of this modern +fashion of singing produced many beautiful voices: has she all at once +become incapable of doing any thing right? + +We will, then, simply return to the _three trifles_ above-mentioned; +and in these we will live and work "with all our heart, with all our +soul, and with all our mind." + +[A] Reference is here made to Robert Schumann, who, in order to +facilitate the use of the weaker fingers, employed a machine for raising +the fingers artificially, which resulted in loss of power over them, and +necessitated the abandonment of piano-playing.--_Tr._ + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THOUGHTS ON SINGING. + + +Our vocal composers, followed by many singing-teachers and singing +institutions, have almost banished from music the true art of singing; +or, at least, have introduced an unnatural, faulty, and always +disagreeable mode of delivery, by which the voice has been destroyed, +even before it has attained its full development. The consideration of +this fact induces me to communicate some portions from my journal, and +to unite with them a few opinions of the noted singing-master, Teschner, +of Berlin. + + * * * * * + +Must we again and again explain to German composers that, though we do +not require them to compose in Italian, they ought, at least, to learn +to write in German in a manner suited for singing? otherwise, in their +amazing ignorance and infatuation, they will wear out the powers of +opera singers, and torture the public, apparently without a suspicion +that it is possible to write both grand and light operas with true, +characteristic German thoroughness. Even German opera requires a +constant attention to the right use of the voice, and a methodical, +effective mode of singing. It tolerates no murderous attacks on single +male and female voices, or on the full opera company; it is opposed to +that eager searching after superficial effect, which every sincere +friend of the opera must lament. + +Is it, then, so difficult to obtain the requisite knowledge of the human +voice, and to study the scores of Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, Rossini, +Bellini, and Donizetti with a special regard to this? Do our vocal +composers make too great a sacrifice to their creative genius in making +a study of those things which are essential? You consider it mortifying +to inquire of those who understand singing, and you are sensitive about +any disturbance of your vain over-estimate of your own powers; but you +are not ashamed to cause the destruction of man's noblest gift,--the +human voice! If taste, feeling, and a fine ear are, and always must be, +the chief requirements in composing for the great public, I ask you how +you can lay claim to these three trifles, when you constantly violate +them? + +COMPOSER. If Mrs. N. had executed my aria to-day in as earnest and +masterly a style, and with as agreeable a voice, as she did that of +Rossini yesterday, she would have given as much satisfaction; for it is +much more interesting and expressive both musically and harmonically, +and written with more dramatic effect. + +SINGER. You make a mistake, and you always will do so, as long as you +consider the study of the voice as of secondary importance, or, in fact, +pay no attention whatever to it. The latter aria, which is composed with +a regard to the voice, and to the employment of its most agreeable +tones, puts me into a comfortable mood, and gives me a feeling of +success; yours, on the contrary, into one of dissatisfaction and +anticipation of failure. Of what importance is the musical value of a +composition, if it can only be sung with doubtful success, and if the +voice is obliged to struggle with it, instead of having it under +control? You attach less importance to the free, agreeable exercise of +the voice than does the unanimous public. I do not wish to excite +compassion, but to give pleasure by a beautifully developed style of +singing. You pay some attention to adaptability to the piano or the +violin: why are you usually regardless of fitness for the voice? + +Critics have often asked, Why does Jenny Lind sing so coolly? why does +she not sing grand, passionate parts? why does she not select for her +performances some of the later German or even Italian operas? why does +she always sing Amina, Lucia, Norma, Susanna, &c.? In reply to these and +similar questions, I will ask, Why does she wish always to remain Jenny +Lind? why does she endeavor to preserve her voice as long as possible? +why does she select operas in which she may use her pure, artistic, +refined mode of singing, which permits no mannerism, no hypocritical +sentiment, and which possesses an ideal beauty? why does she choose +operas in which she can give the most perfect possible image of her own +personality? why operas in which she may allow the marvellous union of +her powers of song to shine conspicuously, without doing violence to her +voice and forcing its tones, or casting doubt upon her lofty, noble, and +beautiful art? why does she first regard the singing, and only +afterwards the music, or both united? This is the answer to the same +questions which are likewise asked about Henrietta Sontag and all great +singers. Even the passionate Schroeder-Devrient seldom made an exception +to this rule, although she was not independent of the theatres. + +These questions should be an urgent warning to our young female singers +not to sacrifice themselves to any of the modern screaming operas, +unsuited for singing; but to preserve and watch over their voices, and +to guard them from immoderate, continued, and often inartistic exertion; +in fact, to sing always in the voice-register with which nature has +endowed them, and never to shriek; to renounce the present, fashionable, +so-called "singing effects," and the modern scene-screaming, as Jenny +Lind and Henrietta Sontag have always done. Then their voices would +remain useful for the opera, as was formerly the case, from ten to +twenty years; and they would not have to mourn, as is too common, after +a very short time, a feeble, broken voice and departed health. + +Let Jenny Lind and Henrietta Sontag be placed as the finest models +before our young, gifted, ambitious singers. They are to be regarded as +miraculous phenomena; especially in our times, when the modern style of +singing has, for reasons difficult to justify, so widely deviated from +the old school which was so fruitful in brilliant results,--that of +Pistocchi, Porpora, and Bernacchi. What could show more clearly the +destructiveness of our present opera style than the sublime beauty of +their singing, combined with their noble, refined, sound voices, such +as may perhaps still be found among you? + + * * * * * + +The managers of our theatres are in want of tenor singers who can act. +They should consider that tenors who have any voices left have never +learned to act, and tenors who are able to act no longer have any +voices; because, as a rule, they either have studied too little, or have +studied erroneously. Unless the voice has received a correct and fine +culture, the German comic operas lead immediately to destruction of the +voice, especially of the sensitive, easily injured German tenor voice. + +Here I take occasion to remark upon the universal prejudice, that "a +tenor ought to develop the chest-tones as far as possible, that they are +the finest." In tenors, with very few exceptions, this mistaken +treatment has been speedily followed by the loss both of voice and +health. Nicely shaded singing, from _piano_ onwards, is thereby rendered +impossible; and tones which are always forced must remain unpleasant, +even although powers thus laboriously gained may sometimes have a fine +effect in the opera. A tenor who wishes to preserve his voice and not to +scream in the upper tones, who desires always to have a _piano_ at +command and to possess the necessary shading and lightness as well as +elegance and flexibility, should cultivate the _falsetto_, and endeavor +to bring it down as far as possible into the chest-register. This is as +indispensable as is the use of the head-tones for the soprano. When the +_falsetto_ has too striking a resemblance to the chest-voice, and is +even inferior to it in power, it is the result of want of perseverance +and prudence in its cultivation. It ought to be almost imperceptibly +connected with the chest-register by the introduction of the mixed +tones. + + * * * * * + +We shall probably soon be called upon to read an "Address of Young +Female Singers to the Composers of Germany," as follows: "Freedom of +thought! freedom in composition! freedom in the opera! but no +annihilation of the throat! You are hereby notified that we protest +against all operas which are repugnant to the true art of singing; for +it is not in your power to compensate us for the loss of our voices, +although it may be possible for you, after using up our talent as +quickly as possible, to look around for others, with whom you can do the +same. First learn to understand singing, or, rather, first learn to +sing, as your predecessors have done, and as Italian composers still do, +and then we will talk with you again." + + * * * * * + +"What a pedantic outcry about German want of adaptability for singing! +Pray where is there the most singing?" It is, I agree, in Germany. "Is +not singing taught in the public schools? And consider, too, the +innumerable singing clubs, singing societies, and singing institutions!" + +That is just the misfortune which requires a thorough investigation. How +many promising voices do these institutions annually follow to the +grave? Who is it who sing in the schools? Boys and girls from thirteen +to fifteen years old. But boys ought not to be allowed to sing while the +voice is changing; and girls, also from physical reasons, ought not to +sing at all at that age. And what kind of instructors teach singing +here? Our epistolary and over-wise age overwhelms our superintendents +and corporations with innumerable petitions and proposals; but no true +friend of humanity, of music, and of singing, has yet been found to +enlighten these authorities, and to prove to them that the most +beautiful voices and finest talents are killed in the germ by these +unsuitable so-called singing-lessons, especially in the public schools. +Girls' voices may be carefully awakened, and skilfully practised, and +made flexible and musical; but they should be used only in _mezzo-voce_, +and only until the period of their development, or up to the thirteenth +year, or a few months sooner or later. This ought also to be done with +great experience, delicacy, practical knowledge and circumspection. But +where are we to find suitable singing-professors, and who is to pay them +a sufficient salary? Therefore, away with this erroneous instruction of +children in singing! away with this abortion of philanthropy and the +musical folly of this extravagant age! Can such a premature, unrefined, +faulty screaming of children, or croaking in their throats, without +artistic cultivation and guidance, compensate for the later inevitable +hoarseness and loss of voice, and for the destruction of the organs of +singing? + +The tenors who belong to these singing societies and institutions force +out and sacrifice their uncultured voices, and scream with throat, +palate, and nasal tones, in the execution of four-part songs by this or +that famous composer, which are far from beautiful, and which serve only +to ruin the voice. Who was the lady who sang the solo in yonder singing +academy? That girl, a year ago, had a fresh, beautiful, sonorous voice; +but, although she is only twenty years old, it already begins to fail +her, and she screws and forces it, by the help of the chest-tones, up to +the two-lined _a_, without any thing having ever been done for the +adjustment of the voice-registers and for the use of the head-tones, and +without proper direction from a competent superintendent. Instead of +this, he was continually exclaiming: "Loud! forcibly! _con +espressione!_" + +While even the street boys in Italy sing clearly, and often with great +ability, their national songs, so well suited to the voice, and in their +most beautiful language, our northern voices, which are obliged to +contend with the great difficulties of the German language, are +sacrificed in the most cold-blooded and self-satisfied manner in the +schools and singing societies, while all artistic preparation, by which +alone the voice may be preserved and cultivated, is neglected. + +Who are at the head of these institutions and societies? Musicians it is +true; but they are strangers to any special education in singing, or are +not skilful singing-teachers, who understand how to combine methodical +cultivation of the voice with practical execution. Their entire +instruction consists, at most, in hitting the notes and keeping time. +These musicians say: "Whoever joins my society must know how to sing!" +What does that mean? Where are they to learn it? And, even when you have +succeeded in obtaining for your academy a few imprudent but well-taught +singers, does not the preservation of their voices then require the +greatest care and watchfulness? Is that in your power? Have you the +requisite knowledge for it? Are not these few well-educated voices +obliged to sing by the side of singers who have been taught in a wrong +manner, and who have no pure, correct intonation? Then what do these +societies amount to? Do they improve or destroy the voice? They make the +members musical. A fine consolation for the loss of the voice! They +teach them to hit the notes and to keep time. A great comfort after the +voice has been destroyed by false culture! + + * * * * * + +A singing-teacher who has no firm, decided principle, who is constantly +wavering backwards and forwards, and who frequently leads others into +error by his untenable opinions; who cannot quickly discern the special +talent and capacity of his pupils, or discover the proper means to get +rid of what is false or wrong, and adopt the speediest road to success, +without any one-sided theories of perfection; who mistrusts and blames, +worries, offends, and depresses, instead of encouraging; who is always +dissatisfied instead of cordially acknowledging what is good in the +pupil; who at one time rides a high horse instead of kindly offering a +helping hand, and at another time praises as extravagantly as he before +has blamed, and kills time in such ways as these,--he may be an +encyclopaedia of knowledge, but his success will always fall short of his +hopes. Firmness, decision, energy, and a delicate, quick perception; the +art not to say too much or too little, and to be quite clear in his own +mind, and with constant considerate kindness to increase the courage and +confidence of his pupils,--these are requisite above all things for a +singing-master as well as for a piano-teacher. + + * * * * * + +"My singers are to be educated for the public, for the stage, and must +therefore sing loud, study hard, force their execution, and make use of +a great deal of breath. How else will they be able to produce an +effect?" + +_Answer._ What, then, is the effect of your culture? I know of none, +except that they at first are applauded, because they are young and +pretty, and are novelties; because they have good voices, and the +benevolent public wishes to encourage them; and then they disappear in a +year or two without leaving any trace. + +"The singing-teacher can succeed in cultivating not more than one good +voice in twenty, with any noteworthy result. Hence the decadence of the +art of singing." + +_Answer._ Unless some unusual disturbance or sickness occur, all voices +improve till the twenty-fourth year. When this is not the case, it is to +be attributed only to the singing-teacher. + +"Many voices acquire a sharp tone, which is the precursor of decay." + +_Answer._ All voices are, and will remain, more or less tender, if their +culture is correct. + +"Only Jenny Lind and Henrietta Sontag were allowed by the public to give +out their voices naturally and lightly without straining them, and to +sing _piano_ and _pianissimo_, and their celebrity is a justification of +this privilege." + +_Answer._ But how would they have obtained their celebrity, if this were +not the true, correct, and pure mode of singing? + +"Our singers also try the _piano_ and _pianissimo_; but they can +produce no effect on their audiences by it, as you may see every day." + +_Answer._ Good heavens! I should think so! With such a _piano_, with +strained voices, faulty attack, and the use of too much breath,--a +_piano_ which only gurgles in the throat, or deeper! That I do not mean: +I must refer you again to the three trifles mentioned in my eighth +chapter. + +"But some voices have no _piano_, and many singers do not take the right +course to acquire it." + +_Answer._ What a wide-spread, groundless excuse! Here we may see the +error of our times. People look for the fault outside of themselves, and +not in themselves. The inventive power of the age is here truly +astonishing! When, owing to false management, the voice soon degenerates +instead of improving with time, it is the consequence of a faulty +formation of the throat, and of the neglect of London throat brushes! If +such badly educated voices can no longer produce a _piano_, it is owing +to the unskilfulness of nature, and to the false construction of the +necessary organs! If the _piano_ is only a wheeze, the reason is found +in the deficiency of palate, and excess of muscles! If several times in +the month, the worn out, weary voice can only groan and sigh, or cannot +emit a sound, it is the result of a change in the weather, or other +meteorological conditions! If we complain of unpleasant, shrieking +tones, occasioned by the mouth being too widely stretched, then "the +rays of sound take an oblique, instead of a direct course"! If the poor, +strained medium voice, even with the help of a great deal of breath, can +only produce dull, hollow, veiled, and unpleasant tones, that is said to +be a necessary crisis, of which cruel Nature requires a great many in +the course of her development of the voice! Finally, if from long and +forced holding of the chest-tones, they are changed into noises like the +bellowing of calves and the quacking of ducks, and the instructor +finally perceives it, then again we have a crisis! And, alas! no one +thinks of "the three trifles." + + * * * * * + +What occasions the want of success of our singing-teachers, many of whom +are musical, possess a delicate ear, fine culture and feeling, have +studied systems of singing, and exert themselves zealously to teach +rightly? + +They fail in the culture of the tone, which is not to be learned from +books or by one's self, but only from verbal communication. To learn to +produce a clear tone, with a light, free, natural attack; to understand +how to draw forth the sound with the use of no unnecessary breath, and +to cause the sound to strike against the roof of the mouth above the +upper row of teeth; to improve the pronunciation; to adjust the +registers,--these, with many other things, may seem very easy; but to +teach them all in the shortest time, without wearing out the voice and +without falling into errors; to persevere in teaching to the end, even +if the pupil already sings correctly; to know what is still wanting and +how it is to be attained,--all these one must acquire by long and +constant experience. + +When Schroeder-Devrient came from Vienna to Dresden, a young but already +celebrated singer, though at that time wanting in the proper foundation +for singing, she was not a little surprised when Miksch called her +attention to this deficiency. She devoted herself thoroughly to the +primary formation of the tone under the instruction of Miksch, and must +still remember the old master, and his extraordinary practice in this +particular. Miksch learned it from Caselli, a pupil of Bernacchi. He had +just sung as a young tenor, with great applause, in a concert, and +introduced himself to Caselli, who was present, expecting to receive +his approbation; but the latter, instead of commending, assured him +frankly that his mode of singing was false, and that with such misuse +his voice would succumb within a year, unless he adopted a correct +culture of tone. After much hard struggle, the young Miksch renounced +all further public applause, and studied the formation of tone +assiduously and perseveringly with Caselli, after having previously +allowed his over-strained voice a time for rest. + +If a singing-teacher has, by chance, met with a docile pupil, possessed +of a voice of unusual beauty, it frequently happens that the studies are +not pursued with sufficient perseverance; and, perhaps, are continued +only for a few weeks or months, instead of allowing a year or more, +according to circumstances. Richard Wagner agrees with me, when he says, +"Why, then, write operas to be sung, when we no longer have either male +or female singers?" + + * * * * * + +Since modern progress has come to regard "the three trifles" as +belonging entirely to the past, and in their place has proclaimed, +"Boldness, Spirit, Power," two evil spirits have had rule: they go hand +in hand, ruin the voice, wound the cultivated ear, and provide for +us--only empty opera houses. One of these evils has been frequently +alluded to by me. It is "the expenditure of a great deal too much +breath." The finest voices are obliged to practise with full breath +until they shriek, and the result is mere sobbing, and the heavy drawing +of the breath, just at the time when the tone should still be heard. +Even if every thing else could be right, in such a culture of the tone, +which must very shortly relax the muscles of the voice, that one thing, +in itself, would be sufficient to destroy all promise of success. + +The second evil endangers even the male voice, which is able to endure +much ill-treatment; while the female voice is quickly forced by it into +a piercing shrillness, or is driven back into the throat, soon to be +entirely exhausted, or is, at least, prevented from attaining a natural, +fine development. This second evil is the reckless and destructive +straining of single tones to their extreme limits, even to perfect +exhaustion. The poor singer urges and squeezes out the voice, and +quivers to the innermost marrow, in order that the two requirements of +"Boldness" and "Power" may be satisfied. But the "Spirit" is still +wanting, which should be shown in a light and well-shaded delivery. The +effect of extreme shading, however, is accomplished in a single +"romanza." The unfortunate, misdirected singer, who must aim at effect, +lays out so much force on single tones, or even on whole lines, and +that, too, in the best register of his voice (the other registers do not +permit this), that the succeeding tones are forced to retire powerless +into the throat; and the beautiful, fresh, youthful tenor or bass voice +concludes with exhausted groaning and mere speaking tones. The "romanza" +is now at an end, and certainly "Boldness, Spirit, and Power" have +worked in union. The task is executed the better, because a rude +accompaniment has probably sustained the singer in a most striking +manner, and has completed the total effect. + +By such management, to which I must emphatically add the continual +holding of the tones, even in the _forte_, voices are expected "to come +out," to be developed, inspired, and made beautiful. What healthy ear +can endure such enormities in tone formation, such tortures in singing? +These, then, are the modern contributions for the embellishment of art! +A curse on these evil spirits! If my feeble pen shall assist in bringing +such singing-teachers to their senses, and shall help to save only a +few of our fine voices, I shall consider my mission fulfilled, and the +aim of this book, so far as it concerns singing, accomplished. + + * * * * * + +I have heretofore combated many prejudices, both in earnest and in +sport, successfully and unsuccessfully; but one I find very +obstinate,--it has pursued me incessantly for years. A piano-player, +with a rigid, strained, and vicious touch, proceeding from the arm, may +play a great deal, but his playing is thoroughly vulgar and without +beauty. He feels this himself, and the playing of my pupils pleases him +better. He wishes me to change his style to their better manner; but he +still continues to pound, to bang, to exaggerate, and to play in his own +way, and only wishes his style to be improved, and his power of +execution to be increased. If a performer of this sort is not much more +than twenty years of age, something may yet be done for the improvement +of his touch, and consequently of his style of playing; but this is only +possible by laying aside all his accustomed pieces of music, and by +diligently practising, daily, small easy exercises, which must be played +delicately, with loose fingers, and without allowing the arm to give the +slightest assistance; otherwise, all labor will be thrown away upon +him. How else can you begin, except by laying a proper foundation for a +better style? I have frequently urged this principle both by speech and +in writing; but the difficulty always returns, and especially in the +cultivation of female singers. + +A girl of eighteen comes to me: she has heard of the excellent +cultivation of my lady singers, and wishes to obtain the same for +herself. In order that I may hear her voice, she selects the "Erlkoenig," +by Schubert, that perilous piece, which is apt to lead even highly +cultivated singers into frightful atrocities. Heavens! what must I hear? +With the remains of a fine, youthful voice, whose registers are already +broken up and disconnected, she shrieks out the "Erlkoenig," between sobs +and groans, with screwed-up chest-tones, and many modern improprieties, +but nevertheless with dramatic talent. The piercing voice, forced to its +utmost, fills me with horror; but also with pity for such a glorious +endowment, and such an unnatural development. At the conclusion, her +voice succumbed to the effort, and she could only groan hoarsely, and +wheeze without emitting a sound. She has, however, frequently produced +great effect in society, and drawn tears with this performance: it is +her favorite piece. Let us abandon this singing for parties, this +melancholy _dilettantismus_, everywhere so obtrusive! The girl is only +eighteen years old: is she beyond salvation? I endeavor to build her +voice up again, gradually, by gentle practice. She succeeds very well in +it, and after six lessons her natural docility arouses hope. The +head-tones again make their appearance, and the practice of _solfeggio_ +brings out once more the stifled voice which had been forced back into +the throat by senseless exertions; a better attack begins to be +developed, and the chest-register returns to its natural limits. She now +declared, with her mother's approval, that she really would continue to +study in this way, but she could not give up the performance of her +effective and spirited conception of the "Erlkoenig." She came a few +times more: I could perceive that the good structure was tottering. +After a few months, she had entirely sacrificed her voice to this single +"Erlkoenig." In such tender years, one such idol is sufficient. What a +price for an "Erlkoenig"! The old, experienced singing-teacher, Miksch, +of Dresden (with the exception of Rossini, the last famous champion of +the old school), has often warned me that radical amendment is seldom +possible with such over-strained and broken voices, which already are +obliged to struggle with enfeebled muscles, even although youth may +excite great and decided hopes. There is also another difficulty: that +one of these strong, over-strained voices must hereafter be used with +much less strength, if we wish to cultivate a correct tone; and it is +impossible to tell whether the chest-tones, when they are restored to +their true limit, will ever come out again as powerful and at the same +time as beautiful. Let no musician, however talented and cultivated he +may be, ever adopt the teaching of singing, unless he can combine with +firmness of character great patience, perseverance, and +disinterestedness; otherwise, he will experience very little pleasure +and very little gratitude. Even if the "Erlkoenig" does not stand in the +way, every voice presents new and peculiar difficulties. + + +_A Few Words addressed to Singing-Teachers on the Accompaniment of +Etudes, Exercises, Scales, &c._ + +It is common for teachers to play their accompaniments as furiously as +if they had to enter into a struggle for life and death with their +singers. At the beginning of the lesson, the lady singer ought to +commence quite _piano_, at _f_ in the one-lined octave, and to sing up +and down from there through five or six notes, without any expenditure +of breath, and should guide and bring out her voice by a gentle practice +of _solfeggio_; and yet you bang, and pound on the keys, as if you had +to accompany drums and trumpets. Do you not perceive that in this way +you induce your pupils to strain and force their voices, and that you +mislead them into a false method? In such a noise, and while you are +making such a monstrous expenditure of strength, to which you add a +sharp, uneasy touch, and a frequent spreading of the chords, how can you +watch the delicate movements of the singer's throat? Is it necessary for +me to explain how such a rude accompaniment must interfere with the +effort to sing firmly and delicately? Are you not aware that a light and +agreeable, but at the same time firm and decided, accompaniment +encourages and sustains the singer, and also assists and inspires her? +You ought, in every way, to seek to cultivate in your pupil the feeling +for the right, the true, and the beautiful; but what is the girl of +eighteen to think of _your_ culture and _your_ sentiment, if you pound +the keys as if you were one of the "piano-furies"? + +While this is your mode of accompanying the etudes, how then do you +accompany the aria, the song? If, for instance, the pupil is singing +tenderly, and wishes to bring out an artistic, delicate shading, you +take advantage of that occasion to make yourself heard, and to annoy the +singer and the audience with your rough shading. A singing-teacher who +does not take pains to acquire a good, delicate touch, and who neglects +to pay constant attention to it, is wanting in the first requirement; +and this is closely connected with the want of "the three trifles." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +VISIT AT MRS. N.'S. + + +MRS. N. +_Her daughter_ FATIMA, _eighteen years old_. +AN AUNT. +DOMINIE. +_Towards the end of the evening, the piano-teacher_, MR. FEEBLE. + + +DOMINIE (_rather anxiously to Fatima_). Will you do me the favor, Miss, +to play something on the piano? Your aunt has told me a great deal about +your playing. + +FATIMA (_smiling graciously_). But, really, the piano is out of +tune,--so my teacher says. + +DOMINIE. But does not your teacher attend to having your piano always +kept in tune? + +FATIMA. Mamma says it is too expensive to have it tuned so often; it +gets out of tune again so quickly. It is an old, small-legged piano, as +you see: mamma is always saying, when I am older I shall have a +Chickering. The tuner comes regularly once in three months; the time is +not yet up. + +DOMINIE. But is your teacher satisfied with the tuning of your piano? + +FATIMA. Well, he has got used to it. It is the same with the other +instruments he teaches on. + +MRS. N. Now, pet, play us something. Mr. Dominie likes music; he is a +judge of it; his daughters play too. + +FATIMA. But what shall I play, mamma? + +MRS. N. You have got heaps of notes there. Mr. Dominie, pray select +something. + +DOMINIE. But I don't know which pieces Miss Fatima can master, and which +she has now at her fingers' ends. + +AUNT. Pray, Mr. Dominie, choose any thing. They are all fine pieces. It +makes no difference to her which she plays. + +DOMINIE. But do you play that whole heap? + +AUNT. She has played it all. She has played ever since she was ten years +old, and she has a very good teacher. He taught here when my sister used +to accompany her lover's solos on the flute. Oh, those were charming +musical evenings! And the teacher often played the guitar with them +_extempore_. It was just like a concert. + +DOMINIE. Indeed! that must have been very fine. Now, Miss, I beg-- + +FATIMA. But, mamma, just say what I shall play. + +DOMINIE. Is not your teacher here this evening? He will know best. + +AUNT (_whispers to Dominie_). He is busy this evening, composing some +grand bravoura variations, which are to be dedicated to Fatima on her +eighteenth birthday, the day after to-morrow. You must come to see us on +that day. Fatima will play them at sight. + +MRS. N. Fatima, don't hold back any longer. Play "The Huguenots" by +Thalberg: that's a very fine piece. + +DOMINIE. Pray do! I have not heard it since I heard Thalberg play it. + +AUNT (_to Dominie_). Don't you make your daughters play it then? Oh, +that magnificent choral! That brings tears to my eyes! But the dear +child always takes it too fast: her fingers run away with her. + +MRS. N. Here it is. Please turn round so that you can see her hands, Mr. +Dominie. You are such a famous teacher, perhaps you can make some +suggestions. (_I was expected only to admire._) + +DOMINIE. I don't like to disturb her freedom in playing; but I will turn +round, if you say so. + + (_Fatima scurries through the piece excitedly, and plays in a bold + way,--not, however, without ability, but with a feeble touch, + without proper fingering, without tone, without time; and gets over + the first two pages, with her foot always on the pedal, in such a + senseless, indistinct manner that Dominie, in despair, was forced + to interrupt with the remark, "But you might take the _tempo_ a + little more quietly."_) + + (_Fatima leans back amazed, and stops playing, looking at her + mother with a contemptuous expression._) + +AUNT. It is owing to her great execution, and then, too, her youthful +enthusiasm. Don't you like her natural expression? + +FATIMA. My teacher always makes me play it so. It is in that way that I +have learned to play so much at sight. + +DOMINIE. But don't you study your pieces? + +FATIMA. For the last four years I have played only at sight, so that now +I can get on anywhere in the musical clubs. That is what mamma likes. + +DOMINIE. But do you not play any scales and etudes? do you not practise +any exercises? + +AUNT. She has not done those things for the last four years. My sister +thinks it is rather a hindrance, and is too pedantic. Her teacher +thinks so too, and he teaches her the fine concert pieces of Doehler, +Liszt, Dreyschock, Willmer, and Thalberg. She learns execution by these. +She has gone through all Thalberg's music; and we have sent to Leipzig +for Willmer's "Pompa di Festa." + +DOMINIE. All this shows great enthusiasm, but really a little too much +hot haste. + + (_Dominie wishes to continue the conversation, in order to escape + the unpleasant necessity of "turning round to the piano."_) + +MRS. N. (_interrupts_). My child, just begin again at the beginning, and +let us enjoy the whole of "The Huguenots." Mr. Dominie likes it. + + (_Fatima consents, and hurries through the whole Potpourri with a + confident, conceited air, to the great despair of Dominie. At the + choral, the aunt taps him on the shoulder, and whispers._) + +AUNT. Is not that touching? It is a little too fast, you will agree; but +then the execution! Has not the girl a great deal of talent? Just hear! + + * * * * * + +But what did Dominie say after the performance was over? He only bowed +stiffly, and what he said to himself will always remain a secret. He +only _felt_. + +They go in to supper. All who submitted to hearing the daughter perform +on the badly tuned piano, which was at least a tone and a half too low, +were invited to supper and handsomely treated. The wine was better than +the piano. Presently the teacher, Mr. Feeble, having finished his +birthday bravoura composition, appeared and was introduced. Fatima +whispered to him, giggling, "I played the whole of 'The Huguenots;' it +went splendidly." Mr. Feeble simpered. Dominie and he talked together, +unheard, at the end of the table. + + * * * * * + +DOMINIE. The young lady has talent, Mr. Feeble. + +MR. FEEBLE. Indeed she has! + +DOMINIE. How is it, Mr. Feeble, that she does not combine serious +studies with her playing? + +MR. FEEBLE. Oh! I used to make her play exercises by A.E. Mueller, and +some Etudes of Czerny's, and sometimes a few scales. But the child was +so volatile, and had so little perseverance, and was so quick at +learning every thing! And then her mother wanted her to play modern +pieces for parties, and we had to busy ourselves with those. But our +method has borne good fruit, as you can see. Is not it so? + +DOMINIE. Do you not think, with firmness and decision, you could have +set Mrs. N. on the right track? Could not you cultivate the mechanical +powers of your pupil, and combine an understanding of the musical +construction of the piece, with her "playing at sight"? The young lady, +not to speak of other faults, has no tone on the piano. + +MR. FEEBLE. She can use the pedal for that, and, when she is older, she +will acquire more strength; her touch is a little too weak at present. +And, besides, she is not to play in public for money, but only in +company, and because it is the fashion. Indeed, my dear sir, if I +insisted on scales and exercises, I should have very few lessons in this +city. I have a wife and children to support, and my old father, the +former organist, is dependent upon me. You can do all this with your own +children; but think how much time it requires to _study_ the music! + + (_The company bid each other "good-night."_) + +FATIMA (_flippantly to Dominie_). I believe your daughter Emma is a very +good player; but they say she has not so much talent as your eldest +daughter. + +DOMINIE. Indeed! who told you that? + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +SECRETS. + + +_(A Discourse on Piano-Playing, delivered to an Audience of Lady +Pupils.)_ + +Ladies,--As I am about to make a journey of a few weeks with my +daughters, we will suspend for a short time our musical meetings. On my +return, you will resume them with fresh interest. We will then not only +play and sing together, but occasionally talk upon kindred subjects. +Your friends will be made welcome, provided they are really interested +in simple and noble musical performances, which make no attempt at +display. We will exclude from our circle malicious criticism and idle +curiosity: we require the accompaniment of the violin and 'cello, but +not of those two disturbing elements. + +To-day I wish to propound a query in regard to piano-playing, to the +partial solution of which you will perhaps be glad to give some +attention. You may be sure that I shall always speak only upon subjects +which are not even mentioned in the most crowded piano-schools. + +_Query._ Why is it that our young, educated ladies, who enjoy the +advantages of sufficient talent, industry, a serious purpose, and all +the necessary aids, are usually dissatisfied with their progress and +with their success in piano-playing? + +Their education is a sufficiently careful one, extending to all branches +of knowledge; but their intellectual advancement in music (although it +has been fostered for years, by constantly listening to good music, and +frequently to the performances of distinguished players, and by a +critical comparison of their own performances with these) is still small +in proportion to their power of execution, and to the mechanical +facility which they have acquired. These are certainly essential to a +correct and agreeable rendering of a piece of music: the compositions +which are to be performed ought, however, never to demand the exercise +of all the mechanical skill which has been acquired, for in that case, +by the struggle with mechanical difficulties, only embarrassment, +discouragement, and anxious haste are apt to take the place of boldness, +confidence in one's self, and command of the music. It is the duty of +teachers, in choosing studies for the improvement of technique, to +select only such as are within the mechanical powers of the pupil, in +order that he may make steady progress, and may acquire a pure and +delicate style of execution, retaining at the same time a lively +interest in his pursuit. But why has the acquirement of this technique +been usually unsuccessful? + +1. Because you begin to acquire it too late. In order to gain facility +and flexibility of the fingers and wrist (which a child in the sixth or +seventh year, with a skilful teacher, may acquire in four lessons), from +fifteen to twenty lessons, according to the construction of the hand, +are necessary with persons from ten to fourteen years old. For other +reasons also, we must urge that the mechanical facility should usually +be acquired, or at least a complete foundation for it laid in childhood, +and not left to be formed by a course which is destructive of all +spirit, at an age when labor is performed with self-consciousness,--an +age when our ladies are talking a great deal of musical interpretations, +of tenderness and depth of feeling, of poetry and inspiration in +playing, to which they are led by the possession of our classical piano +compositions and immortal master-works, and by intellectual friends and +teachers aiming at the highest culture. You reply: "But even if your +mode of elementary instruction should meet with faithful disciples, how, +in such young pupils, are we to find perseverance and sense enough to +continue these severe exercises, even in your interesting manner?" My +dear ladies, children ought to do it merely from habit, although in many +cases, after the beginning, talent and correct musical instinct may make +their appearance. Uninterrupted enjoyment would indeed be unnatural, and +where you find it vanity will usually be its moving spring, and this +seldom bears good fruit. You may as well ask whether our great literary +men and artists always like to go to school, or whether they did not +delight in a holiday. Let this be the answer to the strange question, Do +your daughters like to play? Good heavens! After they are able to play, +and that without much effort, and a little at sight; when they can +master, with a musical appreciation, easy, graceful salon music, or even +the easier compositions of Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Hummel, +Moscheles, &c.,--then they take pleasure in playing, and they play a +great deal, and with enthusiasm. + +2. But, in case children should sometimes begin in their sixth year, you +must remember what is said, in the first chapter of this work, with +regard to the prevalent false method of teaching beginners. You, +however, are supposed to have had better and more sensible teachers. Let +me nevertheless quote for your amusement the remark which I have heard +so frequently in the course of my long life as a piano-teacher: "In the +beginning, a poor, rattling piano, that is forty years old, and that is +tuned regularly once a year, and a cheap teacher, will do well enough. +As soon as the children learn to play really well, then we will have a +better piano and a better teacher." Yes; but that time never comes, and +the parents soon conclude that even the most gifted children have no +talent, and take no pleasure in music; and so they stop learning, only +to regret it when they are older. But the parents console themselves, +and after a while the old piano is never tuned at all. But, as I have +told you, I do not refer here to _your_ teachers, for whom I have a +personal regard, and who teach on excellent pianos. + +3. Don't be angry with me for my suggestion, ladies: _you do not make +enough use of the minutes_. While our learned education absorbs so much +time, while our friends require so many hours, while, alas! balls and +dinners consume whole days, we must be sparing of the remaining minutes. + +"Now I must rush to the piano! I must go to dinner in ten minutes: two +scales, two finger exercises, two difficult passages out of the piece I +have to learn, and one exercise to invent on the dominant and +sub-dominant, are soon done; and then the dinner will taste all the +better." + +"My dear Agnes, we might talk for ever about this dreadful snow, it +won't melt the sooner for it: how do you like this passage that I am +going to play to you? It is from a charming Nocturne, by Chopin, and is +so difficult that I shall have to play it over fifty times, or else I +shall always stumble at this place, and I never shall know the Nocturne +to play to any one. Don't you think it is beautiful?--so spiritual and +original! I can tell you it will be something to boast of, when I have +accomplished that. You like it better the oftener I play it? So do I." + +"We have an invitation out. Mother has a great deal to arrange, and +directions to give. We shall have to go in ten minutes. I must rush to +the piano, though I am in rather an inconvenient toilette: I may as well +accustom myself to play in it. I shall have to spend three hours this +evening without any music. Well, to make up for it, I will occupy myself +for the next ten minutes with an exercise for this obstinate fourth +finger, though it is pretty dry. That weak finger has been a hindrance +to many a fine passage and scale. That is better! Now I can put on my +tight gloves. Suppose I should put on the left glove on the way." + +Well, my young ladies, how many hours do you think all those minutes +would make in a year? But I hear you say, "What is the use of worrying +to pick up all those stray minutes, like lost pins? We have a whole hour +to practise every day, when nothing prevents." Exactly, when nothing +prevents. + +I will now tell you a few of my secrets for piano performers. + +If in piano-playing, or in any art, you wish to attain success, you must +resolve to work every day, at least a little, on the technique. Sickness +and other unavoidable interruptions deprive you of days enough. + +Practise always with unexhausted energy: the result will be tenfold. Do +you not frequently use the time for practising, when you have already +been at work studying for five or six hours? Have you then strength and +spirit enough to practise the necessary exercises for an hour or more, +and to study your music-pieces carefully and attentively, as your +teacher instructed you? Is not your mind exhausted, and are not your +hands and fingers tired and stiff with writing, so that you are tempted +to help out with your arms and elbows, which is worse than no practice +at all? But, my dear ladies, if you practise properly, several times +every day, ten minutes at a time, your strength and your patience are +usually sufficient for it; and, if you are obliged to omit your regular +"hour's practice," you have, at any rate, accomplished something with +your ten minutes before breakfast, or before dinner, or at any leisure +moment. So, I beg of you, let me have my minutes. + +Practise often, slowly, and without pedal, not only the smaller and +larger etudes, but also your pieces. In that way you gain, at least, a +correct, healthy mode of playing, which is the foundation of beautiful +playing. Do you do this when neither your teacher, nor your father or +mother is present to keep watch over you? Do you never say, "Nobody is +listening"? + +Do you take enough healthy exercise in the open air? Active exercise, in +all weather, makes strong, enduring piano fingers, while subsisting on +indoor-air results in sickly, nervous, feeble, over-strained playing. +Strong, healthy fingers are only too essential for our present style of +piano-playing, which requires such extraordinary execution, and for our +heavy instruments. So I still beg for the minutes: your walks take up +hours enough. + +Excessive and fatiguing feminine occupations, and drawing, or painting, +are by no means consistent with an earnest, practical musical education; +not only because both those occupations require so much time, but +because they deprive the fingers of the requisite pliability and +dexterity, while knitting, according to the latest discoveries, produces +an unnatural nervous excitement, which is unfavorable to healthy +progress in music. I at least, in my instruction on the piano, have +never been able to accomplish much with ladies who are devoted to +knitting, crochet, and embroidering. My dear ladies, you who have been +born in fortunate circumstances, and have been educated by your parents, +without regard to expense, should, at least, allow the poor girl in the +country, who is obliged to hide her talents under a bushel, the small +privilege of making a collar for your mother's or your aunt's birthday +present. I assure you your mother or your aunt, if you surprise them +instead with a fine piano performance, will be as much pleased as if you +strained your eyes and bent your back for days and nights over the +needle-work. And now as regards painting: painting and music, though +theoretically so nearly related, agree but poorly in practice; at least, +if you are in earnest about either. You say painters often play on the +guitar and the flute. That may be true: I will allow them those two +instruments. But piano-playing stands on a different footing, even for +mere amateurs. Sweet melodies on those instruments may afford an +agreeable companionship for the painter in his rambles through the woods +and over the hills; but piano-playing should be the friend of a +life-time, ennobled by the elevating enjoyment of lofty master-works. +Therefore, I beg you, do not dissipate your powers too much. Leave the +art of painting to your friends, who are either without talent for +music, or who have no opportunity to study it. Our short lives do not +allow the successful practice of several arts. Of what advantage to our +higher culture is it to be able to do ten things tolerably well; what +gain for the future, for humanity, or for the true happiness of the +individual? And even if you can succeed in painting something which +scarcely can be said to resemble a rose, of what advantage is it, when +we have so many real roses to admire? + +My dear ladies, I warn you, generally, do not be afraid of the +so-called classical, heavy music, especially Beethoven's, if you desire +to learn from it, only or chiefly, repose, lightness, facility, +elasticity, graceful, delicate playing, and a fine touch. It is +necessary to play such music after those brilliant qualities have +already been, to a certain degree, acquired by mere studies and +appropriate pieces. It is, however, still more foolish and impractical, +when parents (who perhaps are skilful musicians, but who have no +recollection of their own youth) hold the mistaken opinion that their +children ought, from the very beginning, to practise and play only fine +classical music, in order that the children's ears may not be injured by +false progressions, by insignificant finger exercises, and by easily +comprehensible Italian airs, and that they themselves may not be ruined +body and soul. Gracious heavens! how much pure music, suited to the +piano, have not my daughters, as well as many others whom I have brought +up to be fine performers, played and studied!--such, for instance, as +the music of Huenten, Czerny, Burgmueller, Kalkbrenner, A. and J. Schmitt, +Herz, and many others. Who finds fault now with their musical culture, +with their sound taste, or their want of love for classical music? What +a long road a child has to travel through Etudes of Cramer, Moscheles, +and Chopin, before he comes to Bach's Well-tempered Clavichord, or +before he is able, or ought even, to study Beethoven's Sonate +Pathetique! It is not well, though quite in the spirit of the times, to +condemn without experience, from one's own prejudiced point of view, the +methods which those skilled in their business have for years +successfully tried and practised. It is possible to make pupils musical +in the above way, but they will be only dull, clumsy bunglers on the +piano; not fine artists, who alone can give a worthy and noble +interpretation of classical music. I desire that my daughters may never +forget my well-considered instructions, sustained by the experience of +many years; and that they may, in grateful remembrance of their father +and teacher, repay to their pupils what they owe to him. + +But I see among my audience several beginners in singing, and I beg to +be allowed a word to them. So long as many of our German song composers +consider it beneath their dignity to study the art of singing in the old +Italian master-works, and under the guidance of well-qualified singing +masters,--as Gluck, Naumann, Hasse, Haendel, Haydn, Mozart, Salieri, +Winter, and others have done,--I warn you to take care of your tender +voices, which are so easily ruined, and not to allow yourselves to be +misled by ingenious opinions, and by music otherwise good. The loss of +your voices follows in the footsteps of modern tortures in singing, as +you may see sufficiently in all our theatres, or, indeed, may experience +yourselves in numberless German songs. Apply also to singing what I have +just said about piano-playing: as you should choose for the piano music +suited to the piano, so for your studies in singing select only that +which is adapted to the voice; under the guidance of prudent and +educated teachers, not of modern voice breakers, who allow you to +scream, "in order to bring out the voice." When you have acquired a good +technique, when your attack is sure, and a certain skilfulness in +singing has been developed, then only you may try, by way of experiment, +a few pieces of such spirited but unskilled song composers, who +frequently commit sins in every line against correct representation, the +register of the voice, the breathings, the pronunciation, and a hundred +other things. + +Look around and see who sing these so-called classical songs. They are +either singers who do not know what singing is, and who have no taste +for it, which, in consequence of their education, they never can have; +or those who no longer have any voice, and accordingly sing every thing, +or, rather, declaim it, because they cannot sing. I recommend you to +sing (to mention the names of two only of our most excellent song +composers) the charming songs of Fr. Schubert and Mendelssohn, who, in +constant intercourse with the most judicious masters of singing in +Vienna and Italy, have striven constantly to compose scientifically, and +have at the same time produced clever songs; but you should sing them +not too often, or too many of them. Singing in the German language, and +in syllables, and often with clumsy melodies, requires a great deal of +voice, and easily leads to many faults and to a false manner. Remember +how strictly Jenny Lind selected, for performance in her concerts, the +songs of Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Schumann. In this way she succeeded +in winning great success, even with small, short songs. + +Finally, one more secret for performers, which weighs heavy in the +balance. You ought, especially if you have not received good early +instruction, to acquire a habit of moving the fingers very frequently, +at every convenient opportunity; and particularly of letting them fall +loosely and lightly upon any hard object, while the hand lies upon +something firm, in an extended position. + +You must accustom yourselves to do this unconsciously. For example, +while reading, at table, or while listening to music, allow your hand to +lie upon the table, raise the fingers, and let them fall, one at a time, +quite independently of the wrist; particularly the weak fourth and fifth +fingers, which require to be used a hundred times more than the others, +if you wish to acquire evenness in the scales. If it attracts attention +to do this on the table, then do it in your lap, or with one hand over +the other. To drum with your fingers and stretch your hands on the backs +of other people is not often practicable, and is not necessary. That was +only pardoned in the zealous and original Adolph Henselt, who, though +otherwise such a modest and amiable artist, even now, in St. Petersburg, +makes himself ridiculous in this way, by his practice of finger +movements. + +Now you perceive the reason why I cannot answer the question which has +been asked me innumerable times. How much do your daughters practise? I +cannot count up the finger movements and the stray ten minutes just +spoken of; but it is certain that they practise fewer hours in the day +than many thousands who learn nothing, for they never practise and +never have practised wrongly, but always correctly and advantageously. + +One thing more. After my experienced, watchful eye had observed in our +circle many moving fingers in consequence of my lecture, a distinguished +lady of Vienna whispered in my ear: "But, my dear Herr Wieck, my Amelia +is not to be a professional player: I only want her to learn a few of +the less difficult sonatas of Beethoven, to play correctly and fluently, +without notes." My dear ladies, I do not aim with you at any thing more +than this. A great many circumstances must combine for the formation of +fine concert performers; in fact, the whole education, from the earliest +youth, must have reference to this end. If this were not so, Germany +especially, on account of its natural musical talent, would be able +annually to furnish thousands of _virtuoso_ performers. + +Has my lecture been too long to-day? I ask your pardon. My desire to +make myself useful to you must be my excuse, if I cannot dispose of such +an extensive subject in a few words. I have not yet exhausted it. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THOUGHTS ON PIANO-PLAYING. + + +My daughters play the music of all the principal composers, and also the +best salon music. Limited views of any kind are injurious to art. It is +as great a mistake to play only Beethoven's music as to play none of it, +or to play either classical or salon music solely. If a teacher confines +himself to the study of the first, a good technique, a tolerably sound +style of playing, intelligence, and knowledge are generally sufficient +to produce an interpretation in most respects satisfactory. The music +usually compensates for a style which may be, according to +circumstances, either dry, cold, too monotonous or too strongly shaded, +and even for an indifferent or careless touch. Interest in the +composition frequently diverts the attention of even the best player +from a thoroughly correct and delicate mode of execution, and from the +effort to enhance the beauty of the composition, and to increase its +appreciation with the hearer. In the performance of classical music, +inspiration--that is, the revelation of an artistic nature and not +empty affectation--can be expected only from an artist, and not from a +pupil. Therefore, with more advanced pupils, I take up in my lessons, in +connection with a sonata by Beethoven, a nocturne or waltz by Chopin, +and a piece by St. Heller or Schulhoff, Henselt, C. Meyer, &c. Elegance +and polish, a certain coquetry, nicety, delicacy, and fine shading +cannot be perfected in the study of a sonata by Beethoven; for which, +however, the latter pieces present much greater opportunities. Besides +this, variety is much more sustaining to the learner; it excites his +interest; he does not so soon become weary, and is guarded from +carelessness; his artistic knowledge is increased, and he is agreeably +surprised to find himself able to perform three pieces so distinct in +character. + + * * * * * + +"Expression cannot be taught, it must come of itself." But when are we +to look for it? When the stiff fingers are fifty or sixty years old, and +the expression is imprisoned in them, so that nothing is ever to be +heard of it? This is a wide-spread delusion. Let us look at a few of +those to whom expression has come of itself. X. plays skilfully and +correctly, but his expression continues crude, cold, monotonous; he +shows too pedantic a solicitude about mechanical execution and strict +time; he never ventures on a _pp._, uses too little shading in _piano_, +and plays the _forte_ too heavily, and without regard to the instrument; +his _crescendi_ and _diminuendi_ are inappropriate, often coarse and +brought in at unsuitable places; and--his _ritardandi_! they are tedious +indeed! "But Miss Z. plays differently and more finely." Truly, she +plays differently; but is it more finely? Do you like this gentle violet +blue, this sickly paleness, these rouged falsehoods, at the expense of +all integrity of character? this sweet, embellished, languishing style, +this _rubato_ and dismembering of the musical phrases, this want of +time, and this sentimental trash? They both have talent, but their +expression was allowed to be developed of itself. They both would have +been very good players; but now they have lost all taste for the ideal, +which manifests itself in the domain of truth, beauty, and simplicity. +If pupils are left to themselves, they imitate the improper and +erroneous easily and skilfully; the right and suitable with difficulty, +and certainly unskilfully. Even the little fellow who can hardly speak +learns to use naughty, abusive words more quickly and easily than fine, +noble expressions. What school-master has not been surprised at this +facility, and what good old aunt has not laughed at it? But you say, "It +is not right to force the feelings of others!" That is quite +unnecessary; but it is possible to rouse the feelings of others, to +guide and educate them, without prejudicing their individuality of +feeling, and without restraining or disturbing them, unless they are on +the wrong path. Who has not listened to performers and singers who were +otherwise musical, but whose sentiment was either ridiculous or +lamentable? + + * * * * * + +It is generally acknowledged that, among other things, I have succeeded +more or less with all my scholars in the attainment of a fine touch. +People desire to obtain from me the requisite exercises for the +development of this; but not much can be gained from these. The +important thing is _how_ and _when_ they are to be used; and that most +careful attention shall be paid in the selection of other etudes and +pieces, in order that nothing shall be played which shall endanger the +confirmation of the correct touch already acquired, or shall undo what +has been accomplished in the lessons. As I have said before, it does not +depend upon much practising, but upon correct practising; and that the +pupils shall not be allowed to fall into errors. I am constantly asked, +"How many hours a day do your daughters practise?" If the number of +hours spent in practising gives the measure of the standing of a +_virtuoso_, then my daughters are among the most insignificant, or in +fact should not belong to the order at all. + +This is the place for me to explain myself more fully with regard to +playing with a loose wrist, in order that I shall not be misunderstood. +The tones which are produced with a loose wrist are always more tender +and more attractive, have a fuller sound, and permit more delicate +shading than the sharp tones, without body, which are thrown or fired +off or tapped out with unendurable rigidity by the aid of the arm and +fore-arm. A superior technique can with few exceptions be more quickly +and favorably acquired in this way than when the elbows are required to +contribute their power. I do not, however, censure the performance of +many _virtuosos_, who execute rapid octave passages with a stiff wrist; +they often do it with great precision, in the most rapid _tempo_, +forcibly and effectively. It must, after all, depend upon individual +peculiarities whether the pupil can learn better and more quickly to +play such passages thus or with a loose wrist. The present style of +bravoura playing for _virtuosos_ cannot dispense with facility in octave +passages; it is a necessary part of it. + +I will now consider the use of loose and independent fingers, in playing +generally; _i.e._, in that of more advanced pupils who have already +acquired the necessary elementary knowledge. The fingers must be set +upon the keys with a certain decision, firmness, quickness, and vigor, +and must obtain a command over the key-board; otherwise, the result is +only a tame, colorless, uncertain, immature style of playing, in which +no fine _portamento_, no poignant _staccato_, or sprightly accentuation +can be produced. Every thoughtful teacher, striving for the best result, +must, however, take care that this shall only be acquired gradually, and +must teach it with a constant regard to individual peculiarities, and +not at the expense of beauty of performance, and of a tender, agreeable +touch. + + * * * * * + +It is a mortifying fact for many critics, artists, composers, and +teachers, that the general public show much more correct judgment and +appreciation of a fine, noble piano performance, and of a simple, pure, +well-taught style of singing, and also understand the characteristics +of the performer, much more quickly than they do. The sensibility and +appreciation of beauty with the public is less prejudiced, less +spurious, more receptive, and more artless. Its perceptions are not +disturbed by theories, by a desire to criticise, and many other +secondary matters. The public do not take a biassed or stilted view. The +admiration for Jenny Lind is a striking proof of this, as is also the +appreciation of many piano-players. + + * * * * * + +The age of progress announces, in piano-playing also, "a higher beauty" +than has hitherto existed. Now, I demand of all the defenders of this +new style, wherein is this superior beauty supposed to consist? It is +useless to talk, in a vague way, about a beauty which no one can +explain. I have listened to the playing--no, the thrumming and +stamping--of many of these champions of the modern style of beauty; and +I have come to the conclusion, according to my way of reasoning, that it +ought to be called a higher,--quite different, inverted beauty,--a +deformed beauty, repugnant to the sensibilities of all mankind. But our +gifted "age of the future" protests against such cold conservatism. The +period of piano fury which I have lived to see, and which I have just +described, was the introduction to this new essay, only a feeble +attempt, and a preliminary to this piano future. Should this senseless +raging and storming upon the piano, where not one idea can be +intelligently expressed in a half-hour, this abhorrent and rude +treatment of a grand concert piano, combined with frightful misuse of +both pedals, which puts the hearer into agonies of horror and spasms of +terror, ever be regarded as any thing but a return to barbarism, devoid +of feeling and reason? This is to be called music! music of the future! +the beauty of the future style! Truly, for this style of music, the ears +must be differently constructed, the feelings must be differently +constituted, and a different nervous system must be created! For this +again we shall need surgeons, who lie in wait in the background with the +throat improvers. What a new and grand field of operations lies open to +them! Our age produces monsters, who are insensible to the plainest +truths, and who fill humanity with horror. Political excesses have +hardly ceased, when still greater ones must be repeated in the world of +music. But comfort yourselves, my readers: these isolated instances of +madness, these last convulsions of musical insanity, with however much +arrogance they may be proclaimed, will not take the world by storm. The +time will come when no audience, not even eager possessors of +complimentary tickets, but only a few needy hirelings, will venture to +endure such concert performances of "the future." + + * * * * * + +I ought to express myself more fully with regard to expression in +piano-playing. It is difficult to perform this task, at least in +writing; for it can more easily be practically explained to individual +learners. Intelligent teachers, who are inclined to understand my +meaning, will find abundant material, as well as all necessary +explanations, in the preceding chapters; and I will merely say that a +teacher who is endowed with the qualities which I have designated as +"the three trifles" will seek to excite the same in his pupils; will +refine and cultivate them, according to his ability, with +disinterestedness, with energy, and with perseverance; and truth and +beauty will everywhere be the result. Thus he will remain in the +present, where there is so much remaining to be accomplished. These +three trifles certainly do not have their root in folly, want of talent, +and hare-brained madness; therefore the possessors of the latter must +look to the "future," and proclaim a "higher," that is, an "inverted +beauty." + + +_Rules for Piano Pupils._ + +You must never begin to learn a second piece until you have entirely +conquered the first. + +You ought to fix your eyes very carefully on the notes, and not to trust +to memory; otherwise, you will never learn to play at sight. + +In order to avoid the habit of false fingering, you should not play any +piece which is not marked for the proper fingers. + +You should learn to play chords and skipping notes, without looking at +the keys, as this interferes with a prompt reading of the notes. + +You must learn to count nicely in playing, in order always to keep +strict time. + +To use for once the language of the times, which boldly proclaims, "Such +things as these belong to a stand-point which we have already reached," +I wish that the musicians of "the future" may as happily reach their +"stand-point," not by hollow phrases and flourishes, and the threshing +of empty straws, but by practical, successful efforts, and striving for +that which is better. + + * * * * * + +"What is the value of your method, in the instruction of pupils who have +for years played many pieces from notes, but have played them badly, +and whom we are called upon to lead into a better way of playing?" + +A reply to this frequent inquiry can be found in my first chapter. Above +all things, let the notes which have already been played be laid aside +for a long time; for a mistaken style of playing these has become so +confirmed that to improve them is hopeless, and the tottering edifice +must fall to the ground. First, improve the touch; help to acquire a +better and more connected scale; teach the formation of different +cadences on the dominant and sub-dominant; and the construction of +various passages on the chord of the diminished seventh, to be played +with correct, even, and quiet fingering, _legato_ and _staccato_, +_piano_, and _forte_; pay strict attention to the use of loose fingers +and a loose wrist; and allow no inattentive playing. You may soon take +up, with these studies, some entirely unfamiliar piece of music, suited +to the capacity of the pupil. It is not possible or desirable to attempt +to make a sudden and thorough change with such pupils, even if they +should show the best intentions and docility. You should select a light, +easy piece of salon music, but of a nature well adapted to the piano, +which shall not be wearisome to the pupil, and in the improved +performance of which he will take pleasure. But, if you still find that +he falls into the old, faulty manner of playing, and that the recently +acquired technique, which has not yet become habitual, is endangered by +it, lay this too aside, and take instead some appropriate etude, or +perhaps a little prelude by Bach. If, in the place of these, you choose +for instruction a ponderous sonata, in which the music would distract +the attention of the pupil from the improved technique, you give up the +most important aim of your instruction, and occupy yourself with +secondary matters; you will censure and instruct in vain, and will never +attain success. You must consider, reflect, and give your mind to the +peculiar needs of the pupil, and you must teach in accordance with the +laws of psychology. You will succeed after a while, but precipitation, +compulsion, and disputes are useless. The improvement of a soprano +voice, ruined by over-screaming, requires prudence, patience, calmness, +and modesty, and a character of a high type generally. It is also a very +thankless task, and success is rare; while on the piano a fair result +may always be accomplished. + + * * * * * + +I return once more to the subject so frequently discussed, that I may +try to relieve the universal difficulty of our lady pianists. I have +heard much playing of late, in parties both small and large, on +well-tuned and on ill-tuned pianos, on those with which the performer +was familiar, and on those to which she was unaccustomed; from the timid +and the self-possessed; from ladies of various ages, possessed of more +or of less talent, and in various cities: the result was always the +same. + +We hear from the ladies that they could play their pieces at home before +their parents or their teachers; but this is never sufficient to enable +them to save their hearers from weariness, anxiety, and all sorts of +embarrassment. My honored ladies, you play over and over again two +mazourkas, two waltzes, two nocturnes, and the Funeral March of Chopin, +the Mazourka and other pieces by Schulhoff, the Trill-Etude, and the +Tremolo by Carl Meyer, &c.: "it makes no difference to you which." You +might be able to master these pieces pretty well, but, instead of this, +you yourselves are mastered. You become embarrassed, and your hearers +still more so: the affair ends with apologies on both sides, with +equivocal compliments, with encouragement to continue in the same +course, with acknowledgment of fine hands for the piano, with uneasy, +forced congratulations to the parents and teacher; but it is always a +happy moment when the fatal soiree is over. The next day I am forced to +sigh again over the same, miserable, poorly and tediously performed +Funeral March of Chopin, and over the timorous B major Mazourka by +Schulhoff. The left hand is always left in the lurch in the difficult, +skipping basses of this piece, and in others of the present style, which +are rich in harmony and modulations. The bass part in this piece is apt +to suffer from timid and false tones; frequently the fundamental tone is +omitted, or the little finger remains resting upon it, instead of giving +the eighth note with a crisp, elastic, and sprightly touch, and the +chords are tame and incomplete. You do not give them their full value; +you leave them too quickly, because you are afraid of not striking the +next low note quickly enough; but, on the other hand, you do not strike +it at all, and one missing tone brings another one after it. The right +hand, being the most skilful, is supposed to play with expression, and +really does so; but this only makes the performance the worse. The +fundamental tone is wanting, and you are led to make a mistake in the +skip, and strike the wrong key. Finally, the whole thing is ended in +terror. I have an uneasy night; I dream of your fine hands, but the +false and the weak notes start up between like strange spectres or will +o' the wisps, and I wake with the headache, instead of with pleasant +memories. + +Allow me to give you a piece of advice. Play and practise the bass part +a great deal and very often, first slowly, then quicker, during one or +two weeks, before playing the right hand with it, in order that you may +give your whole attention to playing the bass correctly, delicately, and +surely. Even when you can get through the mazourka tolerably well, you +must not think, on that account, that you will be able to play it in +company, under trying circumstances. You ought to be able to play the +piece by yourself with ease, very frequently, perfectly, and distinctly, +and in very rapid _tempo_, before you trust yourself to perform it even +slowly in company. At least, practise the more difficult passages for +the right hand very frequently, particularly the difficult and bold +conclusion, that it may not strike the hearer as rough, weak, tame, or +hurried. It is an old rule, "If you begin well and end well, all is +well." You ought to practise the skipping bass over and over again by +itself, otherwise it will not go. An incorrect or deficient bass, +without depth of tone and without accentuation, ruins every thing, even +the good temper of the hearer. One thing more: you know very well +Chopin's Nocturne in E flat, and have played it, among other things, for +the last four weeks. Suddenly you are called upon to play in company. +You choose this Nocturne because you have played it nearly every day for +four weeks. But alas! the piano fiends have come to confuse you! You +strike a false bass note, and at the modulation the weak little finger +touches too feebly: bah! the fundamental tone is wanting. You are +frightened, and grow still more so; your musical aunt is frightened +also; the blood rushes to your teacher's face, and I mutter to myself, +"_C'est toujours la meme._" The present style of skipping basses +requires a great deal of practice and perfect security; it is necessary +for you to know the piece by heart, in order to give your whole +attention to the left hand. It is also essential that you shall have +acquired a clear, sound touch; otherwise, you cannot give a delicate +accent and shading. You must never allow yourself, _without previous +preparation_, to play those pieces of music in company, in which an +elegant mode of execution is all-important; otherwise, you will be taken +by surprise by unexpected difficulties. You must always pay special +attention to the fundamental tones, even if there should be +imperfections elsewhere. Where one fault is less important than another, +of two evils choose the least. You have been playing now for six or +eight years: are you repaid for the trouble, if it only enables you to +prepare embarrassments for others? You are not willing to play easy, +insignificant pieces; and such pieces as you choose require industry, +earnestness, and perseverance. + + * * * * * + +Young ladies, it is easy to discover the character of a person from his +manner of standing, walking, moving, and speaking, from the way he bows, +puts on and takes off his hat, or the arrangements of the household; and +we seldom are in error about it. It is also possible to infer beforehand +how you will play and what sort of a performance you will give, from the +manner in which you take your seat at the piano. You sidle up to the +piano lazily, bent over in a constrained manner; in your embarrassment, +you place yourself before the one-lined or two-lined _c_, instead of +before _f_; you sit unsteadily, either too high or too low, only half on +the seat, leaning either too much to the right or to the left; in a +word, as if you did not belong to the fatal music-stool. Your manner +awakens no confidence, and in this way announces that you have none +yourself. How do you expect to exercise control over a grand seven +octave piano, if you do not sit exactly in the middle, with the body +erect and the feet on the two pedals? You are not willing to look the +friend straight in the face, with whom you are to carry on a friendly, +confidential discourse! Even if your attitude and bearing were not so +injurious and dangerous for the performer as it is, still propriety and +good sense would require that you should excite the confidence of your +hearers in you and in your playing by a correct position of the body, +and by a certain decision and resolution, and should prepare him to form +a good opinion of you. + +There are, indeed, many _virtuosos_ who think they give evidence of +genius, by throwing themselves on to the music-stool in a slovenly, +lounging manner, and try to show in this way their superiority to a +painstaking performance, and to make up by a showy _nonchalance_ for +what is wanting in their playing. You are, however, a stranger to such +assertion of superior genius, and to such an expression of intensity of +feeling; you do it only from embarrassment, and from a modest want of +confidence in your own powers, which is quite unnecessary. Our great +masters, such as Field, Hummel, Moscheles, Mendelssohn, and others, had +no taste for such improprieties, for such manifestations of genius. They +applied themselves to their task with earnest devotion, and with respect +for the public. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +ON MUSICAL TALENT. + + +A large and varied experience is required for a correct estimate of +musical talent in the young. Do not be deceived by the early evidences +of talent; for instance, interest in melodies, correct feeling for time, +an instinct for accenting the important notes, inclination for some +peculiar though often perverted style of performance, quick +apprehension, a natural aptitude for playing, a nice hearing, animation, +rapid progress, docility, superficial gayety; even if all or a part of +these traits are observable in early youth, they must not excite too +sanguine hopes. I have often met with such phenomena, and have been +called upon to educate such little piano prodigies. They advanced quite +rapidly, and understood every thing readily, if I did not make too much +demand upon their wavering attention. I dreamed of the extraordinary +surprises that these marvellous youths would create at twelve or +fourteen years of age; but the fulfilment of my ideal I saw only in my +mind's eye, for just then the improvement came to a sudden +stand-still,--a fatal moment, when the teacher is perplexed to know what +to do next. The musical nature seemed to have exhausted itself, to have +out-lived itself. The pupil even felt this: his interest in the piano +and in music generally grew feeble, his playing suddenly became +careless, powerless, spiritless; he played with evident indifference. +Out into the fresh air! into open natural scenes! Now for a journey! I +allowed a long vacation to intervene; the pupil was quite contented, and +had no desire for the piano, or, if so, only jingled a little. At last +we began again, but we spent our time without much result; he was +nevertheless still musical, but he finally ranked at best with dozens of +other players, and ended as an ordinary piano teacher. Similar halts in +progress occur in fact with all pupils, especially with female scholars; +but they are not usually so lasting, so discouraging, or so significant +of exhaustion. They are surmounted, after a short interval, by the +discontinuance of serious musical studies; perhaps by reading at sight +for a while; by occupying the pupil for a time with the theory, or with +attempts at composition or improvisation; by allowing him to listen to +other players better or worse; by giving him interesting books to read; +by making him acquainted with Beethoven, or in other ways. + +From our observation of such sudden changes, and of the frequent +occurrence of unskilful management, we can explain the sudden appearance +and equally sudden disappearance of innumerable infant prodigies in our +age, who have excited hopes, and have almost all of them been lost, or +have passed out of sight, and resulted in nothing of value. + +I have always preferred a gradual, even a slow development, step by +step, which often made no apparent progress, but which still proceeded +with a certain constancy, and with deliberation, and which was combined +with dreamy sensibility and a musical instinct, requiring slow +awakening, and even with a certain flightiness, one for which the +patient labor and perseverance of six years or more was required, and +where childishness allowed no encouragement to sordid speculations for +the future. In such cases, when my instructions were not disturbed by +untoward circumstances, the result has always been a desirable one. But +how much patience and perseverance has this required! I have reflected +much and have often spoken, both seriously and playfully, of the slow +advancement of my pupils. Allow me here to describe five phases or +stages of human development. + +_First Stage._ In the first two or three years, man is far behind the +animal, whose quick instinct distinguishes the good from the bad, the +useful from the injurious. The child, without hesitation, rolls off the +table, or knocks his brains out, or destroys himself with poisonous +herbs or arsenic. Nevertheless, let him at that age hear plenty of pure +sounds, music, singing, &c. He will soon learn to listen, like the +little black poodle. He already has a dim suspicion that other things +exist which are not evil, besides mamma, papa, the nurse, the doll, and +the sound of words. + +_Second Stage._ From the fourth to the seventh year, instinct is +developed; which, in the animal, surprises the observer in the first two +weeks of life. Now we should begin with the technique, at least with the +correct movement of the fingers upon the table. The child should be told +that he shall soon produce the pleasant tones, which he has been +accustomed to hear from infancy; but that for this a quick and quiet +movement of the fingers is necessary, which must be acquired by daily +practice. This is entirely in accordance with nature, for man is +appointed to learn. Let the child lay his hand upon the table, and +knock upon it with the first finger (_i.e._, the thumb) stretched out, +without using the muscles of the arm, then with the second, third, and +fourth fingers, in an almost perpendicular position, and with the fifth +finger extended. Then let him strike a third with the first and third +fingers together; a fourth, with the first and fourth fingers; first +with the right hand, then with the left hand, and afterwards with both +together, &c. + +_Third Stage._ From the seventh to the twelfth year. At this stage +unruliness makes its appearance, and at the same time--the notes; but +not Beethoven. That would indeed be an unfortunate musical indulgence. +Violent outbreaks of untamed strength; unexpected freaks; alternations +of rude instinct and quick intelligence, of lofty fancy and artless +simplicity; disobedience; much appetite, &c.,--all these must be shaped, +and made subservient to the object we have in view. Do you understand +me, gentlemen? + +_Fourth Stage._ Excellent parents, who desire to see the ripe fruits of +your care and labor, have patience! First there comes the foreshadowing +of manhood,--a very interesting period. The youth steps out of the +animal into the human kingdom, and often is unable to forget his +earlier condition, but revels in sweet remembrance of it. Try now, +gently and timidly, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, and the like. This +extraordinary being, "one-fourth animal and three-fourths human," +requires to be awakened, excited, and to have the imagination aroused; +and, above all, requires the most careful guidance. It is necessary to +stir and agitate the nature, in order that reflection, conscience, the +sensibilities of the soul, feeling, creative power, and all inward +conditions shall be developed; and that out of this chaos shall be +brought a clear and beautiful order. + +_Fifth Stage._ The adult man in his eighteenth year. The year, however, +varies with individuals, and can be modified at will. If I should enter +into details of the four earlier stages of humanity, and treat in +addition of the adult man, I should be obliged to write a philosophical +work on the subject, and that might not be entertaining. I should be +obliged to beg your indulgence for a tedious book, and my daughters +certainly would not thank me for it; they are very sensitive. But I +must, nevertheless, secretly whisper in your ear that "my daughters, +like the daughters of many others, have been carried through these five +stages in the most careful and thorough manner." I ought to know that +best. Here you have the answer to many strange questions. + + +_Cautions._ + +I warn pianists, and others also, in playing: + +1. Against any showy and unsuitable display. Why should you wish to +attract attention, and to create an effect by foppishness and all sorts +of grimaces, or by curious and marvellous exhibitions of +_virtuoso_-ship? You have only to play musically and beautifully, and to +deport yourselves with modesty and propriety. Direct your whole +attention to the business in hand,--that is, to your performance; and +endeavor to secure for it the interest of the public, who are so easily +rendered inattentive. We want no more public performances from eccentric +geniuses. + +2. Do not devote yourself exclusively to pieces calculated to show the +skill of the performer. Why desire always to show off your power in +octave passages, your trills, your facility in skips, your unprecedented +stretches, or other fantastic feats? You only produce weariness, +satiety, and disgust, or, at least, you make yourselves ridiculous. + +3. Play good music in a musical and rational manner. The public are +tired of hearing Potpourris, made up of odds and ends, tedious Etudes, +Rhapsodies, Fantasias without fancy, dismal monotonies and endless, +cheap, silly cadences that mean nothing. Learn to understand the age, +and the world in which you live. + +4. Do not make yourselves ridiculous by new inventions in piano-playing. +I mention, for example, one of the most foolish affectations of modern +times. You try to quiver on a note, just as violin and 'cello players +are unfortunately too much inclined to do. Do not expose yourselves to +the derision of every apprentice in piano manufacture. Have you no +understanding of the construction of the piano? You have played upon it, +or have, some of you, stormed upon it, for the last ten years; and yet +you have not taken pains to obtain even a superficial acquaintance with +its mechanism. The hammer, which by its stroke upon the string has +produced the sound, falls immediately when the tone resounds; and after +that you may caress the key which has set the hammer in motion, fidget +round on it as much as you please, and stagger up and down over it, in +your intoxicated passion,--no more sound is to be brought out from it, +with all your trembling and quivering. It is only the public who are +quivering with laughter at your absurdity. + +5. Give up the practice of extreme stretches. Widely dispersed harmonies +may sometimes produce a good effect, but not by too frequent and too +eager an employment of them at every opportunity. Even the greatest +beauties in art can lead to mannerism, and this again to one-sidedness. +Art should be many-sided, and you must never produce the impression that +you are inclined to make the means an end. I beg you to reflect that too +much practice of very wide stretches enfeebles the muscles and the power +of the hand and fingers, endangers an even, sound touch, and makes the +best style of playing a doubtful acquisition. Teachers ought therefore +to use great prudence, and only gradually to permit their pupils, +especially young girls, to practise great extensions and wide stretches. +To learn to be able to strike ten notes is quite enough. + +6. Before you perform a piece, play a few suitable chords, and a few +appropriate passages or scales up and down (but play no stupid trash, +such as I have heard from many _virtuosos_), in order to try whether the +condition of the instrument presents any unexpected difficulties. Try +carefully also the unavoidable pedal. A creaking, rattling, grating +pedal is a frightful annoyance; I wonder if the piano of "the future" is +to suffer from this also. Chopin's Funeral March, with obligato +accompaniment of a squeaking pedal sentiment, even although the +omissions and mistakes in the bass do not occur,--alas! who can describe +the effect of this melancholy march? + +7. I have written a special article on the manner of sitting at the +piano, and I will refer you once more to that. + +8. Use no mechanical aids in practising, not even the dumb key-board; +although, with very careful use, that is not without value. Strength +will come with time; do not try to hurry nature. The table is the best +"dumb key-board," as I have already explained. The "hand-guide" is also +unnecessary: its value is compensated by its disadvantages. + +9. Do not let your hearers crowd too near while you are playing. Do not +play the same piece _da capo_. You may be justified in breaking off in +the midst of a piece, if there is loud and continuous talking, &c. + +I hope you will give me the honor of your company again at my soirees: I +am no writer of comedies, but I can tell you a great deal that is +interesting and amusing which I have myself experienced. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +EXTRAVAGANCES IN SINGING AND PIANO-PLAYING. + + +_(An Evening Party at Mr. Gold's.)_ + + +DRAMATIS PERSONAE. + +MR. GOLD, _the banker (fond of music)._ +MRS. GOLD _(sings, and is an invalid.)_ +MR. SILVER, _bookkeeper (formerly a singer with Strauss)._ +MR. PIOUS, _a friend of the family (a musical impostor, and a hypocrite +generally)._ +MR. FORTE, _a foreign piano virtuoso (of weak nerves)._ +DOMINIE, _a piano-teacher._ +EMMA, _his daughter._ + + + (_Mrs. Gold has just been singing in the modern Italian manner; + suddenly alternating exaggerated high and low tones, given in a + jerking manner, with inaudible _pianissimo_ in the throat, and + quavering on every note, with many ornaments, and always a quarter + of a tone too flat. She sang all the four verses of "Fondly I Think + of Thee" by Krebs._) + +DOMINIE. Will you not go on, Mrs. Gold? The piano is a little too high, +and you are obliged to accustom yourself a little to it. + +MRS. GOLD. I cannot sing any more. That beautiful song has taken such +hold of me, and I feel so badly. (_Whispers to Dominie._) Mr. Forte did +not accompany me well, either: sometimes he did not come in right, and +played too feebly; and sometimes he improvised too much in playing, and +overpowered my voice, which is a little weak just now. + +DOMINIE (_aside to Emma_). What an evening of singing! Oh dear! + +MR. GOLD (_who has been earnestly talking about stocks all the evening +in an adjoining room, rushes in, but rather late, after the close of the +song, and impetuously presses his wife's hand_). Marvellous! +magnificent! delicious! wonderful! My dear, you are in excellent voice +this evening. If Jenny Lind could only have heard you! + +MR. PIOUS. Charming! superb! how touching! There is a religious +character in this piece, something holy about it! I beg of you, do sing +that air by Voss, "True Happiness." That will make our enjoyment +complete; it is truly ravishing! There is something divine in singing, +and your expression, your feeling, Madam! You give yourself up so +entirely to the composition! + + (_Mrs. Gold has already taken up "True Happiness," and can hardly + wait while Mr. Forte murmurs off the introduction, quite after his + own fancy, with a sentimental _piano_. Mr. Pious drops a tear at + the close of the introduction, the four bars of which have been + transformed into eight bars by the great _virtuoso_. During the + tremulous, affected performance of "True Happiness," Mr. Pious + rolls up his moistened eyes; and, at the end of the first verse, + where the accompanist once more gives the reins to his fancy, he + says, "I am speechless, I cannot find words to express my + emotion!"_) + +DOMINIE (_aside to Emma_). That you may call forged sentiment, the +counterfeit of feeling. You hear now how one ought _not_ to sing. For an +earnest, true musician, such a warmth in singing is only empty +affectation, disgusting, sentimental rubbish, and hollow dissimulation. +You will, however, frequently meet with such amateur infelicities. + + (_Mrs. Gold has finished singing all the verses of "True + Happiness," and seems now to have almost entirely recovered. Mr. + Gold continues to converse about stocks in the adjoining room. + Dominie remains with Emma at the end of the parlor, depressed and + worried._) + +MR. FORTE (_keeps his seat at the piano, and says in French to Mrs. +Gold_). Madam, you have reached the climax of the beautiful in music. I +count it one of the happiest moments of my artistic tour to be allowed +to breathe out my soul at the piano, in the presence of one like +yourself. What a loss, that your position must prevent you from +elevating the German opera to its former greatness, as its most radiant +star! + +MRS. GOLD (_by this time quite well_). I must confess that Jenny Lind +never quite satisfied me when she was here. She is, and must always +remain, a Swede,--utterly cold. If she had been educated here, she would +have listened to more passionate models than in Stockholm, and that +would have given the true direction to her sensibility. + +MR. FORTE. You are quite right; you have a just estimate of her. In +Paris, where she might have heard such examples, she lived in perfect +retirement. I was giving concerts there at the time; but she refused to +sing in my concerts, and therefore she did not even hear me. + +MR. SILVER (_whom the excitement of the singing has at length reached_). +Do you feel inclined now, Madam, to execute with me the duet from "The +Creation," between Adam and Eve? + +MRS. GOLD. Here is "The Creation," but we will sing it by and by. Mr. +Forte is just going to play us his latest composition for the left hand, +and some of the music of that romantic, deeply sensitive Chopin. + +MR. GOLD (_rushes in from his stock discussion_). Oh, yes! Chopin's B +major mazourka! That was also played at my house by Henselt, Thalberg, +and Dreyschock. Oh, it is touching! + +ALL (_except Mr. Silver, Dominie, and Emma_). Oh, how touching! + +DOMINIE (_to his daughter_). If he plays it in the same manner in which +he accompanied "True Happiness," you will hear how this mazourka should +_not_ be played. It, by the way, is not at all _touching_: it gives +quite boldly the Polish dance rhythm, as it is improvised by the +peasants in that country; but it is, however, idealized after Chopin's +manner. + + (_Mr. Forte plays several perilous runs up and down with various + octave passages, all the time keeping his foot on the pedal; and + connects with these immediately, and without a pause, the mazourka, + which he commences _presto_. He played it without regard to time or + rhythm, but with a constant _rubato_, and unmusical jerks. A few + notes were murmured indistinctly _pp._, and played very + _ritardando_; then suddenly a few notes were struck very rapidly + and with great force, so that the strings rattled; and the final B + major chord cost the life of one string._) + +MR. GOLD. Excellent! bravissimo! What a comprehension of the piece! Such +artistic performances make one even forget the stock-exchange! + +MRS. GOLD. You agitate my inmost nerves! The English poet, Pope, holds +that no created man can penetrate the secrets of nature; but you have +penetrated the secrets of my soul. Now do play at once the F sharp minor +mazourka, opus 6. + +MR. PIOUS. What a musical evening Mrs. Gold has prepared for us! What +sublime sorrow lies in this production! + +MR. SILVER (_aside_). What would Father Strauss say to this affected, +unmusical performance, that bids defiance to all good taste? + +DOMINIE. Mrs. Gold, it would be well to send for the tuner to replace +this broken B string. The next one will break soon, for it is already +cracked, and its tone is fallen. + +MR. FORTE (_with a superior air_). It is of no consequence. That +frequently happens to me; but I never mind it. The piano is a +battle-field where there must be sacrifices. + +DOMINIE (_whispers to Emma_). He thinks that if the sound is not +musical, still it makes a noise; and tones out of tune produce more +effect than those that are pure. + +EMMA. Where did he learn piano-playing? + +DOMINIE. My child, he has not _learned_ it. That is genius, which comes +of itself. Instruction would have fettered his genius, and then he would +have played distinctly, correctly, unaffectedly, and in time; but that +would be too much like the style of an amateur. This uncontrolled +hurly-burly, which pays no regard to time, is called the soaring of +genius. + + (_Mr. Forte storms through various unconnected chords with the + greatest rapidity, with the pedal raised; and passes without pause + to the F sharp minor mazourka. He accents vehemently, divides one + bar and gives it two extra quarter notes, and from the next bar he + omits a quarter note, and continues in this manner with extreme + self-satisfaction till he reaches the close; and then, after a few + desperate chords of the diminished seventh, he connects with it + Liszt's Transcription of Schubert's Serenade in D minor. The second + string of the two-lined b snaps with a rattle, and there ensues a + general whispering "whether the piece is by Mendelssohn, or Doehler, + or Beethoven, or Proch, or Schumann," until finally Mr. Silver + mentions Schubert's Serenade. Mr. Forte concludes with the soft + pedal, which in his inspired moments he had already made frequent + use of._) + +DOMINIE (_to Emma_). You should never play in company, without +mentioning previously what you are going to perform. You observe, as +soon as the Serenade was mentioned, it put a stop to the guessing. + +ALL (_except Mr. Silver and Dominie_). What a glorious performance! what +an artistic treat! + +MRS. GOLD. What spirituality in his playing! + +MR. SILVER (_asking Mr. Forte for information_). I noticed, in the +Serenade, you made only one bar of the two where it modulates to F +major, in your rapid playing of the passage. Was that accidental? + +EMMA (_aside_). He ought to have played a little slower just there. + +MR. FORTE. In such beautiful passages, every thing must be left to the +suggestion of one's feelings. Perhaps another time I may make three +bars, just as inspiration and genius may intimate. Those are aesthetic +surprises. Henselt, Moscheles, Thalberg, and Clara Wieck do not execute +in that manner, and consequently can produce no effect, and do not +travel. + +DOMINIE (_to Emma_). I hope that your natural taste and your musical +education will preserve you from such preposterous extravagances. + +EMMA. Such playing makes one feel quite uncomfortable and worried. +Probably that is what you call "devilish modern"? + +DOMINIE. Yes. + +EMMA. But do people like it? + +DOMINIE. Certainly: a great many people do. It has the superior air of +genius, and sounds very original. + + (_Mrs. Gold has "The Creation" in her hand, and Mr. Silver leads + her to the piano for the execution of the grand duet between Adam + and Eve. Mr. Forte is exhausted, and Dominie plays the + accompaniment. Mr. Silver sings intelligently and unaffectedly; + Mrs. Gold, as before, but with still less regard to time, and more + out of tune; but she tries to compensate for this by introducing + very long ornaments at the _fermate_ in the _allegro_, sung with + her thin, piercing, over-strained voice; and she frequently rolls + up her black eyes. At the conclusion, Mrs. Gold was led to the + arm-chair, in great exhaustion of feeling._) + +MR. PIOUS. The divine art of music celebrates its perfect triumph in +such interpretations of Haydn. Mrs. Gold, were those delicious _fermate_ +of your own invention? + +MRS. GOLD. NO: the charming Viardot-Garcia first introduced them as +Rosina in "The Barber of Seville," and I had them written down by a +musician in the theatre. But the employment of them in this duet is my +own idea. I have already surprised and delighted a great many people +with them in parties. The grand, rushing, chromatic scale with which the +artistic Garcia astonishes every one, when acting the dreaming, fainting +Amina in "La Somnambula," I introduce in the grand aria of the divine +"Prophet;" rather timidly, it is true, for the boldness of a Garcia can +only be acquired on the stage. + +EMMA. But, father, Jenny Lind sang in this duet in Vienna, quite simply, +and with a pure religious spirit. + +DOMINIE. That is the reason Mrs. Gold says that Jenny Lind sings too +coldly, and ought to listen to more passionate models. But we will talk +more about this at home. + +MRS. GOLD. Now, Mr. Dominie, will not your daughter Emma play us some +little trifle? Afterwards I will execute with Mr. Silver, "By thy loving +kindness, O Lord," and a few duets by Kuecken, and finish, if the company +wishes, with the "Grace" aria. + +DOMINIE. Will you allow me first to replace this broken string? + + (_After Dominie has finished, Mr. Forte strides up to the piano, + and plays his Etude for the left hand, with the right hand extended + towards the company._) + +DOMINIE (_to Mr. Forte, after the conclusion of the piece_). Would it +not have been easier and more to the purpose, if you had used both +hands? + +MR. FORTE. We must forgive old people such pedantic observations. You +entirely mistake my stand-point. Do you not see that I am standing with +one foot in the future? Are you not aware that the public wish not only +to listen, but to see something strange? Do you not perceive also that +my appearance of ill-health produces a great musical effect? + +MR. PIOUS. Do you not feel the special charm and the fine effect which +is produced by the left hand playing alone, and no less by the right +hand extended? + +DOMINIE. Is it so? Well, probably feeling has taken a false direction +with me. I shall be obliged to accustom myself to such Parisian flights +of sentiment. + + (_Emma played Chopin's Ballad in A flat major, after Dominie had + previously announced it. The company were attentive._) + +MR. FORTE (_at the conclusion_). Bravo! A very good beginning, Mr. +Dominie. I am sorry that I am obliged to take leave now: I am obliged to +go to two more soirees this evening, and have many letters of +introduction to deliver. + +MR. SILVER. Miss Emma, I have just heard that you play finely a great +deal of Chopin's music. Let us hear his two latest nocturnes. + +MRS. GOLD (_to Emma_). Have you heard the famous Camilla Pleyel play +Kalkbrenner's charming D minor concerto? Do you not also play such +brilliant music? for example, Doehler's beautiful, pathetic Notturno in D +flat. Mr. X. lately played that to us enchantingly. + +EMMA. I know it. I am teaching it to my little sister, Cecilia. + +DOMINIE. Will you allow her now to play Chopin's two nocturnes, Opus +48? + + * * * * * + +I will say nothing about the conclusion of the singing,--the "Grace" +aria. At midnight there was a grand supper, washed down with sweet wine, +and seasoned with bitter recollections of this musical evening. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +CONCLUSION. + + +I have received the following communication from an old literary friend, +to whom I sent my eighth chapter, requesting his opinion of it:-- + + MOTTO. + + _There are unreceptive times, but + that which is eternal outlives all + times._--JOH. VON MUeLLER. + +MY DEAR FRIEND,--I have read your eighth chapter. What you facetiously +call "the three trifles" seem to me to be three most important points, +even if you had described them simply as _fine_ taste, _deep_ feeling, +and _a good_ ear. Who expects superlative excellence from the age in +which he lives, and who dares to attack it, in its most vulnerable +parts? You grow more harsh and disagreeable, and you do not seem to +consider how many enemies you make, among those who think that they have +long ago advanced beyond these three points. Just now, too, when there +is so much said about "the intellectual" in music, and about "the inner +nature of the future," and when such fine expressions are invented about +it, you come forward with your three unseasonable trifles in the +superlative degree. Do you imagine that our intelligent age cannot +discern your hidden satire? + +You say that our times are in need of your three trifles, _and_ the +necessary knowledge and experience. _Voila tout!_ + +As for Prince Louis Ferdinand, Dussek, Clementi, Himmel, Hummel, C.M.v. +Weber, Beethoven, &c.,--who has not heard all about them? + +After them, comes the period of "piano fury," and the compositions +appropriate for it. Now the three trifles required are _distorted_ +taste, _hypocritical_ feeling, and a _depraved_ ear, combined with the +necessary superficiality and some power of production. _Voila tout!_ + +After that, musicians bethink themselves once more of the genuine three +trifles, and return to reason, and we are allowed to take delight in +Chopin, Mendelssohn, Fr. Schubert, Robert Schumann, and a few others of +the same sort, and again in Beethoven. + +These were succeeded by mere dry imitators; they were not, however, of +much significance. + +Finally, the very latest progress introduces a still more extravagant +piano fury. The three trifles are now _distorted_ taste, _no_ feeling, +and _no_ ear for tone; and with these are required the necessary +audacity, immeasurable vanity, senseless exhibitions of strength, a poor +touch upon the piano, and what they call "intellect." The compositions +are now embellished with appropriate pictures on the cover, and with +attractive title-pages. In addition, there is much talk about a "higher +beauty," "the stand-points which have been already surmounted," +"artistic flights," and the "misunderstanding of the inner +consciousness," "Genius must be free," &c. + +My old conservative friend, you are seen through. Your influence, and +more especially your ideas about singing, belong only to a past age. +They date from the last century. You will be derided with your Jenny +Lind and Henrietta Sontag. They are lifeless images of singers, to be +kept in a glass case. Are you willing to remain ignorant of the +magnificent modern style of voice? Can you not go forward with the +advancing age? Progressive philosophers will rap you over the knuckles. +You imagine that our times will stop for a couple of lectures! You will +yet have to learn what "intellect" signifies. In short, I should not +like to stand in your shoes. You should conclude your book with "Pater, +peccavi." + +Even in misfortune, + +Your sympathizing friend, + +_V.E._ + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Piano and Song, by Friedrich Wieck + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PIANO AND SONG *** + +***** This file should be named 16658.txt or 16658.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/5/16658/ + +Produced by David Newman, Sigal Alon and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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