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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/17461-8.txt b/17461-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ece2dc7 --- /dev/null +++ b/17461-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5415 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Great German Composers, by George T. Ferris + +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: The Great German Composers + +Author: George T. Ferris + +Release Date: January 4, 2006 [EBook #17461] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT GERMAN COMPOSERS *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + + +THE GREAT GERMAN COMPOSERS + + +By George T. Ferris + + +Copyright 1878, by D. Appleton and Company + + + +NOTE. + +The sketches of composers contained in this volume may seem arbitrary in +the space allotted to them. The special attention given to certain names +has been prompted as much by their association with great art-epochs as +by the consideration of their absolute rank as composers. + +The introduction of Chopin, born a Pole, and for a large part of his +life a resident of France, among the German composers, may require +an explanatory word. Chopin's whole early training was in the German +school, and he may be looked on as one of the founders of the latest +school of pianoforte composition, whose highest development is in +contemporary Germany. He represents German music by his affinities +and his influences in art, and bears too close a relation to important +changes in musical form to be omitted from this series. + +The authorities to which the author is most indebted for material are: +Schoelcher's "Life of Handel;" Liszt's "Life of Chopin;" Elise +Polko's "Reminiscences;" Lampadius's "Life of Mendelssohn;" Chorley's +"Reminiscences;" Urbino's "Musical Composers;" Franz Heuffner's "Wagner +and the Music of the Future;" Haweis's "Music and Morals;" and articles +in the leading Cyclopædias. + + + +CONTENTS. + +Bach + +Handel + +Gluck + +Haydn + +Mozart + +Beethoven + +Schubert, Schumann, and Franz. Chopin + +Weber + +Mendelssohn Wagner + + + +THE GREAT GERMAN COMPOSERS. + + + + +BACH. + +I. + +The growth and development of German music are eminently noteworthy +facts in the history of the fine arts. In little more than a century +and a half it reached its present high and brilliant place, its progress +being so consecutive and regular that the composers who illustrated +its well-defined epochs might fairly have linked hands in one connected +series. + +To Johann Sebastian Bach must be accorded the title of "father of modern +music." All succeeding composers have bowed with reverence before his +name, and acknowledged in him the creative mind which not only placed +music on a deep scientific basis, but perfected the form from Which +have been developed the wonderfully rich and varied phases of orchestral +composition. + +Handel, who was his contemporary, having been born the same year, spoke +of him with sincere admiration, and called him the giant of music. Haydn +wrote: "Whoever understands me knows that I owe much to Sebastian Bach, +that I have studied him thoroughly and well, and that I acknowledge him +only as my model." Mozart's unceasing research brought to light many of +his unpublished manuscripts, and helped Germany to a full appreciation +of this great master. In like manner have the other luminaries of music +placed on record their sense of obligation to one whose name is obscure +to the general public in comparison with many of his brother composers. + +Sebastian Bach was born at Eisenach on the 21st of March, 1685, the son +of one of the court musicians. Left in the care of his elder brother, +who was an organist, his brilliant powers displayed themselves at an +early period. He was the descendant of a race of musicians, and even at +that date the wide-spread branches of the family held annual gatherings +of a musical character. Young Bach mastered for himself, without much +assistance, a thorough musical education at Lüne-burg, where he studied +in the gymnasium and sang in the cathedral choir; and at the age of +eighteen we find him court musician at Weimar, where a few years later +he became organist and director of concerts. He had in the mean time +studied the organ at Lübeck under the celebrated Buxtehude, and made +himself thoroughly a master of the great Italian composers of sacred +music--Palestrina, Lotti, Vivaldi, and others. + +At this period Germany was beginning to experience its musical +_renaissance_. The various German courts felt that throb of life and +enthusiasm which had distinguished the Italian principalities in the +preceding century in the direction of painting and sculpture. Every +little capital was a focus of artistic rays, and there was a general +spirit of rivalry among the princes, who aspired to cultivate the arts +of peace as well as those of war. Bach had become known as a gifted +musician, not only by his wonderful powers as an organist, but by two +of his earlier masterpieces--"Gott ist mein König" and "Ich hatte viel +Bektlmmerniss." Under the influence of an atmosphere so artistic, Bach's +ardor for study increased with his success, and his rapid advancement in +musical power met with warm appreciation. + +While Bach held the position of director of the chapel of Prince Leopold +of Anhalt-Kothen, which he assumed about the year 1720, he went to +Hamburg on a pilgrimage to see old Reinke, then nearly a centenarian, +whose fame as an organist was national, and had long been the object +of Bach's enthusiasm. The aged man listened while his youthful rival +improvised on the old choral, "Upon the Rivers of Babylon." He shed +tears of joy while he tenderly embraced Bach, and said: "I did think +that this art would die with me; but I see that you will keep it alive." + +Our musician rapidly became known far and wide throughout the musical +centres of Germany as a learned and recondite composer, as a brilliant +improviser, and as an organist beyond rivalry. Yet it was in these last +two capacities that his reputation among his contemporaries was the most +marked. It was left to a succeeding generation to fully enlighten the +world in regard to his creative powers as a musical thinker. + + +II. + +Though Bach's life was mostly spent at Weimar and Leipsic, he was at +successive periods chapel-master and concert-director at several of the +German courts, which aspired to shape public taste in matters of musical +culture and enthusiasm. But he was by nature singularly retiring and +unobtrusive, and he recoiled from several brilliant offers which would +have brought him too much in contact with the gay world of fashion, +apparently dreading any diversion from a severe and exclusive art-life; +for within these limits all his hopes, energies, and wishes were +focalized. Yet he was not without that keen spirit of rivalry, that love +of combat, which seems to be native to spirits of the more robust and +energetic type. + +In the days of the old Minnesingers, tournaments of music shared the +public taste with tournaments of arms. In Bach's time these public +competitions were still in vogue. One of these was held by Augustus +II., Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, one of the most munificent +art-patrons of Europe, but best known to fame from his intimate part in +the wars of Charles XII. of Sweden and Peter the Great of Russia. Here +Bach's principal rival was a French _virtuoso_, Marchand, who, an exile +from Paris, had delighted the king by the lightness and brilliancy of +his execution. They were both to improvise on the same theme. Marchand +heard Bach's performance, and signalized his own inferiority by +declining to play, and secretly leaving the city of Dresden. Augustus +sent Bach a hundred louis d'or, but this splendid _douceur_ never +reached him, as it was appropriated by one of the court officials. + +In Bach's half-century of a studious musical life there is but little +of stirring incident to record. The significance of his career was +interior, not exterior. Twice married, and the father of twenty +children, his income was always small even for that age. Yet, by +frugality, the simple wants of himself and his family never overstepped +the limit of supply; for he seems to have been happily mated with wives +who sympathized with his exclusive devotion to art, and united with this +the virtues of old-fashioned German thrift. + +Three years before his death, Bach, who had a son in the service of the +King of Prussia, yielded to the urgent invitation of that monarch to +go to Berlin. Frederick II., the conqueror of Rossbach, and one of the +greatest of modern soldiers, was a passionate lover of literature and +art, and it was his pride to collect at his court all the leading lights +of European culture. He was not only the patron of Voltaire, whose +connection with the Prussian monarch has furnished such rich material +to the anecdote-history of literature, but of all the distinguished +painters, poets, and musicians, whom he could persuade by his +munificent offers (but rarely fulfilled) to suffer the burden of his +eccentricities. Frederick was not content with playing the part of +patron, but must himself also be poet, philosopher, painter, and +composer. + +On the night of Bach's arrival Frederick was taking part in a concert +at his palace, and, on hearing that the great musician whose name was +in the mouths of all Germany had come, immediately sent for him without +allowing him to don a court dress, interrupting his concert with the +enthusiastic announcement, "Gentlemen, Bach is here." The cordial +hospitality and admiration of Frederick was gratefully acknowledged by +Bach, who dedicated to him a three-part fugue on a theme composed by the +king, known under the name of "A Musical Offering." But he could not be +persuaded to remain long from his Leipsic home. + +Shortly before Bach's death, he was seized with blindness, brought on by +incessant labor; and his end was supposed to have been hastened by the +severe inflammation consequent on two operations performed by an English +oculist. He departed this life July 30, 1750, and was buried in St. +John's churchyard, universally mourned by musical Germany, though his +real title to exceptional greatness was not to be read until the next +generation. + + +III. + +Sebastian Bach was not only the descendant of a widely-known musical +family, but was himself the direct ancestor of about sixty of the +best-known organists and church composers of Germany. As a master of +organ-playing, tradition tells us that no one has been his equal, with +the possible exception of Handel. He was also an able performer on +various stringed instruments, and his preference for the clavichord * +led him to write a method for that instrument, which has been the basis +of all succeeding methods for the piano. Bach's teachings and influence +may be said to have educated a large number of excellent composers and +organ and piano players, among whom were Emanuel Bach, Cramer, Hummel, +and Clementi; and on his school of theory and practice the best results +in music have been built. + + * An old instrument which may be called the nearest + prototype of the modern square piano. + +That Bach's glory as a composer should be largely posthumous is probably +the result of his exceeding simplicity and diffidence, for he always +shrank from popular applause; therefore we may believe his compositions +were not placed in the proper light during his life. It was through +Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven, that the musical world learned what a +master-spirit had wrought in the person of John Sebastian Bach. The +first time Mozart heard one of Bach's hymns, he said, "Thank God! I +learn something absolutely new." Bach's great compositions include his +"Preludes and Fugues" for the organ, works so difficult and elaborate +as perhaps to be above the average comprehension, but sources of delight +and instruction to all musicians; the "Matthäus Passion," for two +choruses and two orchestras, one of the masterpieces in music, which was +not produced till a century after it was written; the "Oratorio of the +Nativity of Jesus Christ;" and a very large number of masses, anthems, +cantatas, chorals, hymns, etc. These works, from their largeness and +dignity of form, as also from their depth of musical science, have been +to all succeeding composers an art-armory, whence they have derived +and furbished their brightest weapons. In the study of Bach's works the +student finds the deepest and highest reaches in the science of music; +for his mind seems to have grasped all its resources, and to have +embodied them with austere purity and precision of form. As Spenser +is called the poet for poets, and Laplace the mathematician for +mathematicians, so Bach is the musician for musicians. While Handel may +be considered a purely independent and parallel growth, it is not too +much to assert that without Sebastian Bach and his matchless studies +for the piano, organ, and orchestra, we could not have had the varied +musical development in sonata and symphony from such masters as +Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Three of Sebastian Bach's sons became +distinguished musicians, and to Emanuel we owe the artistic development +of the sonata, which in its turn became the foundation of the symphony. + + + + +HANDEL. + + +I. + +To the modern Englishman Handel is almost a contemporary. Paintings and +busts of this great minstrel are scattered everywhere throughout the +land. He lies in Westminster Abbey among the great poets, warriors, and +statesmen, a giant memory in his noble art. A few hours after death +the sculptor Roubiliac took a cast of his face, which he wrought into +imperishable marble; "moulded in colossal calm," he towers above his +tomb, and accepts the homage of the world benignly like a god. Exeter +Hall and the Foundling Hospital in London are also adorned with marble +statues of him. + +There are more than fifty known pictures of Handel, some of them by +distinguished artists. In the best of these pictures Handel is seated in +the gay costume of the period, with sword, shot-silk breeches, and coat +embroidered with gold. The face is noble in its repose. Benevolence +is seated about the finely-shaped mouth, and the face wears the +mellow dignity of years, without weakness or austerity. There are few +collectors of prints in England and America who have not a woodcut or +a lithograph of him. His face and his music are alike familiar to the +English-speaking world. + +Handel came to England in the year 1710, at the age of twenty-five. Four +years before he had met, at Naples, Scarlatti, Porpora, and Corelli. +That year had been the turning-point in his life. With one stride he +reached the front rank, and felt that no musician alive could teach him +anything. + +George Frederick Handel (or Handel, as the name is written in German) +was born at Halle, Lower Saxony, in the year 1685. Like German +literature, German music is a comparatively recent growth. What little +feeling existed for the musical art employed itself in cultivating the +alien flowers of Italian song. Even eighty years after this Mozart and +Haydn were treated like lackeys and vagabonds, just as great actors were +treated in England at the same period. Handel's father looked on music +as an occupation having very little dignity. + +Determined that his young son should become a doctor like himself, and +leave the divine art to Italian fiddlers and French buffoons, he did not +allow him to go to a public school even, for fear he should learn the +gamut. But the boy Handel, passionately fond of sweet sounds, had, with +the connivance of his nurse, hidden in the garret a poor spinet, and in +stolen hours taught himself how to play. At last the senior Handel had +a visit to make to another son in the service of the Duke of +Saxe-Weissenfels, and the young George was taken along to the ducal +palace. The boy strayed into the chapel, and was irresistibly drawn to +the organ. His stolen performance was made known to his father and the +duke, and the former was very much enraged at such a direct evidence of +disobedience. The duke, however, being astonished at the performance of +the youthful genius, interceded for him, and recommended that his taste +should be encouraged and cultivated instead of repressed. + +From this time forward fortune showered upon him a combination of +conditions highly favorable to rapid development. Severe training, +ardent friendship, the society of the first composers, and incessant +practice were vouchsafed him. As the pupil of the great organist Zachau, +he studied the whole existing mass of German and Italian music, and soon +exacted from his master the admission that he had nothing more to teach +him. Thence he went to Berlin to study the opera-school, where Ariosti +and Bononcini were favorite composers. The first was friendly, but the +latter, who with a first-rate head had a cankered heart, determined +to take the conceit out of the Saxon boy. He challenged him to play at +sight an elaborate piece. Handel played it with perfect precision, and +thenceforward Bononcini, though he hated the youth as a rival, treated +him as an equal. + +On the death of his father Handel secured an engagement at the Hamburg +opera-house, where he soon made his mark by the ability with which, on +several occasions, he conducted rehearsals. + +At the age of nineteen Handel received the offer of the Lübeck organ, on +condition that he would marry the daughter of the retiring organist. He +went down with his friend Mattheson, who it seems had been offered +the same terms. They both returned, however, in single blessedness to +Hamburg. + +Though the Lübeck maiden had stirred no bad blood between them, musical +rivalry did. A dispute in the theatre resulted in a duel. The only thing +that saved. Handel's life was a great brass button that shivered his +antagonist's point, when they were parted to become firm friends again. + +While at Hamburg Handel's first two operas were composed, "Almira" and +"Nero." Both of these were founded on dark tales of crime and sorrow, +and, in spite of some beautiful airs and clever instrumentation, were +musical failures, as might be expected. + +Handel had had enough of manufacturing operas in Germany, and so in +July, 1706, he went to Florence. Here he was cordially received; for +Florence was second to no city in Italy in its passion for encouraging +the arts. Its noble specimens of art creations in architecture, +painting, and sculpture, produced a powerful impression upon the young +musician. In little more than a week's time he composed an opera, +"Rodrigo," for which he obtained one hundred sequins. His next visit +was to Venice, where he arrived at the height of the carnival. Whatever +effect Venice, with its weird and mysterious beauty, with its marble +palaces, façades, pillars, and domes, its magnificent shrines and +frescoes, produced on Handel, he took Venice by storm. Handel's power as +an organist and a harpsichord player was only second to his strength as +a composer, even when, in the full zenith of his maturity, he composed +the "Messiah" and "Judas Maccabæus." + +"Il caro Sassone," the dear Saxon, found a formidable opponent as well +as dear friend in the person of Scarlatti. One night at a masked ball, +given by a nobleman, Handel was present in disguise. He sat at the +harpsichord, and astonished the company with his playing; but no one +could tell who it was that ravished the ears of the assembly. Presently +another masquerader came into the room, walked up to the instrument, and +called out: "It is either the devil or the Saxon!" This was Scarlatti, +who afterward had with Handel, in Florence and Rome, friendly contests +of skill, in which it seemed difficult to decide which was victor. To +satisfy the Venetian public, Handel composed the opera "Agrippina," +which made a _furore_ among all the connoisseurs of the city. + +So, having seen the summer in Florence and the carnival in Venice, he +must hurry on to be in time for the great Easter celebrations in Rome. +Here he lived under the patronage of Cardinal Otto-boni, one of the +wealthiest and most liberal of the Sacred College. The cardinal was +a modern representative of the ancient patrician. Living himself in +princely luxury, he endowed hospitals and surgeries for the public. He +distributed alms, patronized men of science and art, and entertained +the public with comedies, operas, oratorios, puppet-shows, and academic +disputes. Under the auspices of this patron, Handel composed three +operas and two oratorios. Even at this early period the young composer +was parting company with the strict old musical traditions, and his +works showed an extraordinary variety and strength of treatment. + +From Rome he went to Naples, where he spent his second Italian summer, +and composed the original Italian "Aci e Galatea," which in its English +version, afterward written for the Duke of Chandos, has continued a +marked favorite with the musical world. Thence, after a lingering return +through the sunny land where he had been so warmly welcomed, and which +had taught him most effectually, in convincing him that his musical life +had nothing in common with the traditions of Italian musical art, he +returned to Germany, settling at the court of George of Brunswick, +Elector of Hanover, and afterward King of England. He received +commission in the course of a few months from the elector to visit +England, having been warmly invited thither by some English noblemen. On +his return to Hanover, at the end of six months, he found the dull and +pompous little court unspeakably tiresome after the bustle of London. +So it is not to be marveled at that he took the earliest opportunity of +returning to the land which he afterward adopted. At this period he was +not yet twenty-five years old, but already famous as a performer on the +organ and harpsichord, and as a composer of Italian operas. + +When Queen Anne died and Handel's old patron became King of England, +Handel was forbidden to appear before him, as he had not forgotten the +musician's escapade; but his peace was at last made by a little ruse. +Handel had a friend at court, Baron Kilmansegge, from whom he learned +that the king was, on a certain day, going to take an excursion on the +Thames. So he set to work to compose music for the occasion, which he +arranged to have performed on a boat which followed the king's barge. +As the king floated down the river he heard the new and delightful +"Water-Music." He knew that only one man could have composed such music; +so he sent for Handel, and sealed his pardon with a pension of two +hundred pounds a year. + + +II. + +Let us take a glance at the society in which the composer moved in the +heyday of his youth. His greatness was to be perfected in after-years +by bitter rivalries, persecution, alternate oscillations of poverty +and affluence, and a multitude of bitter experiences. But at this time +Handel's life was a serene and delightful one. Rival factions had not +been organized to crush him. Lord Burlington lived much at his mansion, +which was then out of town, although the house is now in the heart of +Piccadilly. The intimate friendship of this nobleman helped to bring the +young musician into contact with many distinguished people. + +It is odd to think of the people Handel met daily without knowing that +their names and his would be in a century famous. The following picture +sketches Handel and his friends in a sprightly fashion: + +"Yonder heavy, ragged-looking youth standing at the corner of Regent +Street, with a slight and rather more refined-looking companion, is +the obscure Samuel Johnson, quite unknown to fame. He is walking with +Richard Savage. As Signor Handel, 'the composer of Italian music,' +passes by, Savage becomes excited, and nudges his friend, who takes only +a languid interest in the foreigner. Johnson did not care for music; of +many noises he considered it the least disagreeable. + +"Toward Charing Cross comes, in shovel-hat and cassock, the renowned +ecclesiastic Dean Swift. He has just nodded patronizingly to Bononcini +in the Strand, and suddenly meets Handel, who cuts him dead. Nothing +disconcerted, the dean moves on, muttering his famous epigram: + + 'Some say that Signor Bononcini, + Compared to Handel, is a ninny; + While others vow that to him Handel + Is hardly fit to hold a candle. + Strange that such difference should be + 'Twixt tweedledum and tweedledee.' + +"As Handel enters the 'Turk's Head' at the corner of Regent Street, +a noble coach and four drives up. It is the Duke of Chandos, who is +inquiring for Mr. Pope. Presently a deformed little man, in an iron-gray +suit, and with a face as keen as a razor, hobbles out, makes a low bow +to the burly Handel, who, helping him into the chariot, gets in after +him, and they drive off together to Cannons, the duke's mansion at +Edge-ware. There they meet Mr. Addison, the poet Gay, and the witty +Arbuthnot, who have been asked to luncheon. The last number of the +_Spectator_ is on the table, and a brisk discussion soon arises between +Pope and Addison concerning the merits of the Italian opera, in which +Pope would have the better if he only knew a little more about music, +and could keep his temper. Arbuthnot sides with Pope in favor of Mr. +Handel's operas; the duke endeavors to keep the peace. Handel probably +uses his favorite exclamation, 'Vat te tevil I care!' and consumes the +_recherche_ wines and rare viands with undiminished gusto. + +"The Magnificent, or the Grand Duke, as he was called, had built himself +a palace for £230,000. He had a private chapel, and appointed Handel +organist in the room of the celebrated Dr. Pepusch, who retired with +excellent grace before one manifestly his superior. On week-days the +duke and duchess entertained all the wits and grandees in town, and on +Sundays the Edgeware Road was thronged with the gay equipages of those +who went to worship at the ducal chapel and hear Mr. Handel play on the +organ. + +"The Edgeware Road was a pleasant country drive, but parts of it were +so solitary that highwaymen were much to be feared. The duke was himself +attacked on one occasion; and those who could afford it never traveled +so far out of town without armed retainers. Cannons was the pride of the +neighborhood, and the duke--of whom Pope wrote, + + 'Thus gracious Chandos is beloved at sight'-- + +was as popular as he was wealthy. But his name is made still more +illustrious by the Chandos anthems. They were all written at Cannons +between 1718 and 1720, and number in all eleven overtures, thirty-two +solos, six duets, a trio, quartet, and forty-seven choruses. Some of the +above are real masterpieces; but, with the exception of 'The waves of +the sea rage horribly,' and 'Who is God but the Lord?' few of them +are ever heard now. And yet these anthems were most significant in the +variety of the choruses and in the range of the accompaniments; and it +was then, no doubt, that Handel was feeling his way toward the great +and immortal sphere of his oratorio music. Indeed, his first oratorio, +'Esther,' was composed at Cannons, as also the English version of 'Acis +and Galatea.'" + +But Handel had other associates, and we must now visit Thomas Britton, +the musical coal-heaver. "There goes the famous small-coal man, a lover +of learning, a musician, and a companion of gentlemen." So the folks +used to say as Thomas Britton, the coal-heaver of Clerkenwell Green, +paced up and down the neighboring streets with his sack of small coal on +his back, destined for one of his customers. Britton was great among the +great. He was courted by the most fashionable folk of his day. He was +a cultivated coal-heaver, who, besides his musical taste and ability, +possessed an extensive knowledge of chemistry and the occult sciences. + +Britton did more than this. He gave concerts in Aylesbury Street, +Clerkenwell, where this singular man had formed a dwelling-house, with +a concert-room and a coal-store, out of what was originally a stable. +On the ground-floor was the small-coal repository, and over that the +concert-room--very long and narrow, badly lighted, and with a ceiling +so low that a tall man could scarcely stand upright in it. The stairs to +this room were far from pleasant to ascend, and the following facetious +lines by Ward, the author of the "London Spy," confirm this: + + "Upon Thursdays repair + To my palace, and there + Hobble up stair by stair + But I pray ye take care + That you break not your shins by a stumble; + + "And without e'er a souse + Paid to me or my spouse, + Sit as still as a mouse + At the top of the house, + And there you shall hear how we fumble." + +Nevertheless beautiful duchesses and the best society in town flocked +to Britton's on Thursdays--not to order coals, but to sit out his +concerts. + +Let us follow the short, stout little man on a concert-day. The +customers are all served, or as many as can be. The coal-shed is made +tidy and swept up, and the coal-heaver awaits his company. There he +stands at the door of his stable, dressed in his blue blouse, +dustman's hat, and maroon kerchief tightly fastened round his neck. The +concert-room is almost full, and, pipe in hand, Britton awaits a new +visitor--the beautiful Duchess of B------. She is somewhat late (the +coachman, possibly, is not quite at home in the neighborhood). + +Here comes a carriage, which stops at the coal-shop; and, laying down +his pipe, the coal-heaver assists her grace to alight, and in the +genteelest manner escorts her to the narrow staircase leading to +the music-room. Forgetting Ward's advice, she trips laughingly and +carelessly up the stairs to the room, from which proceed faint sounds of +music, increasing to quite an _olla podri-da_ of sound as the apartment +is reached--for the musicians are tuning up. The beautiful duchess is +soon recognized, and as soon in deep gossip with her friends. But who is +that gentlemanly man leaning over the chamber-organ? That is Sir Roger +L'Estrange, an admirable performer on the violoncello, and a great lover +of music. He is watching the subtile fingering of Mr. Handel, as his +dimpled hands drift leisurely and marvelously over the keys of the +instrument. + +There, too, is Mr. Bannister with his fiddle--the first Englishman, +by-the-by, who distinguished himself upon the violin; there is Mr. +Woolaston, the painter, relating to Dr. Pepusch of how he had that +morning thrown up his window upon hearing Britton crying "Small coal!" +near his house in Warwick Lane, and, having beckoned him in, had made a +sketch for a painting of him; there, too, is Mr. John Hughes, author of +the "Siege of Damascus." In the background also are Mr. Philip Hart, Mr. +Henry Symonds, Mr. Obadiah Shuttleworth, Mr. Abiell Whichello; while in +the extreme corner of the room is Robe, a justice of the peace, letting +out to Henry Needier of the Excise Office the last bit of scandal that +has come into his court. And now, just as the concert has commenced, in +creeps "Soliman the Magnificent," also known as Mr. Charles Jennens, of +Great Ormond Street, who wrote many of Handel's librettos, and arranged +the words for the "Messiah." + +"Soliman the Magnificent" is evidently resolved to do justice to +his title on this occasion with his carefully-powdered wig, frills, +maroon-colored coat, and buckled shoes; and as he makes his progress up +the room, the company draw aside for him to reach his favorite seat near +Handel. A trio of Corelli's is gone through; then Madame Cuzzoni sings +Handel's last new air; Dr. Pepusch takes his turn at the harpsichord; +another trio of Hasse, or a solo on the violin by Bannister; a selection +on the organ from Mr. Handel's new oratorio; and then the day's +programme is over. + +Dukes, duchesses, wits and philosophers, poets and musicians, make their +way down the satirized stairs to go, some in carriages, some in chairs, +some on foot, to their own palaces, houses, or lodgings. + + +III. + +We do not now think of Handel in connection with the opera. To the +modern mind he is so linked to the oratorio, of which he was the father +and the consummate master, that his operas are curiosities but little +known except to musical antiquaries. Yet some of the airs from the +Handel operas are still cherished by singers as among the most beautiful +songs known to the concert-stage. + +In 1720 Handel was engaged by a party of noblemen, headed by his Grace +of Chandos, to compose operas for the Royal Academy of Music at the +Haymarket. An attempt had been made to put this institution on a firm +foundation by a subscription of £50,000, and it was opened on May 2d +with a full company of singers engaged by Handel. In the course of eight +years twelve operas were produced in rapid succession: "Floridante," +December 9, 1721; "Ottone," January 12, 1723; "Flavio" and "Giulio +Cesare," 1723; "Tamerlano," 1724; "Rodelinda," 1725; "Scipione," 1726; +"Alessandro," 1726; "Admeto," 727; "Siroe," 1728; and "Tolommeo," 1728. +They made as great a _furore_ among the musical public of that day as +would an opera from Gounod or Verdi in the present. The principal airs +were sung throughout the land, and published as harpsichord pieces; for +in these halcyon days of our composers the whole atmosphere of the land +was full of the flavor and color of Handel. Many of the melodies in +these now forgotten operas have been worked up by modern composers, and +so have passed into modern music unrecognized. It is a notorious fact +that the celebrated song, "Where the Bee sucks," by Dr. Arne, is taken +from a movement in "Rinaldo." Thus the new life of music is ever growing +rich with the dead leaves of the past. The most celebrated of these +operas was entitled "Otto." It was a work composed of one long string of +exquisite gems, like Mozart's "Don Giovanni" and Gounod's "Faust." Dr. +Pepusch, who had never quite forgiven Handel for superseding him as the +best organist in England, remarked, of one of the airs, "That great bear +must have been inspired when he wrote that air." The celebrated Madame +Cuzzoni made her _début_ in it. On the second night the tickets rose +to four guineas each, and Cuzzoni received two thousand pounds for the +season. + +The composer had already begun to be known for his irascible temper. +It is refreshing to learn that operatic singers of the day, however +whimsical and self-willed, were obliged to bend to the imperious genius +of this man. In a spirit of ill-timed revolt Cuzzoni declined to sing +an air. She had already given him trouble by her insolence and freaks, +which at times were unbearable. Handel at last exploded. He flew at the +wretched woman and shook her like a rat. "Ah! I always knew you were +a fery tevil," he cried, "and I shall now let you know that I am +Beelzebub, the prince of de tevils!" and, dragging her to the open +window, was just on the point of pitching her into the street when, +in every sense of the word, she recanted. So, when Carestini, the +celebrated tenor, sent back an air, Handel was furious. Rushing into the +trembling Italian's house, he said, in his four- or five-language style: +"You tog! don't I know better as yourself vaat it pest for you to sing? +If you vill not sing all de song vaat I give you, I vill not pay you ein +stiver." Among the anecdotes told of Handel's passion is one growing out +of the composer's peculiar sensitiveness to discords. The dissonance +of the tuning-up period of an orchestra is disagreeable to the most +patient. Handel, being peculiarly sensitive to this unfortunate +necessity, always arranged that it should take place before the +audience assembled, so as to prevent any sound of scraping or blowing. +Unfortunately, on one occasion, some wag got access to the orchestra +where the ready-tuned instruments were lying, and with diabolical +dexterity put every string and crook out of tune. Handel enters. All +the bows are raised together, and at the given beat all start off _con +spirito_. The effect was startling in the extreme. The unhappy _maestro_ +rushes madly from his place, kicks to pieces the first double-bass he +sees, and, seizing a kettle-drum, throws it violently at the leader of +the band. The effort sends his wig flying, and, rushing bareheaded to +the footlights, he stands a few moments amid the roars of the house, +snorting with rage and choking with passion. Like Burleigh's nod, +Handel's wig seemed to have been a sure guide to his temper. When things +went well, it had a certain complacent vibration; but when he was out of +humor, the wig indicated the fact in a very positive way. The Princess +of Wales was wont to blame her ladies for talking instead of listening. +"Hush, hush!" she would say. "Don't you see Handel's wig?" + +For several years after the subscription of the nobility had been +exhausted, our composer, having invested £10,000 of his own in the +Haymarket, produced operas with remarkable affluence, some of them +_pasticcio_ works, composed of all sorts of airs, in which the +singers could give their _bravura songs_. These were "Lotario," +1729; "Partenope," 1730; "Poro," 1731; "Ezio," 1732; "Sosarme," 1732; +"Orlando," 1733; "Ariadne," 1734; and also several minor works. Handel's +operatic career was not so much the outcome of his choice as dictated +to him by the necessity of time and circumstance. As time went on, his +operas lost public interest. The audiences dwindled, and the overflowing +houses of his earlier experience were replaced by empty benches. This, +however, made little difference with Handel's royal patrons. The king +and the Prince of Wales, with their respective households, made it +an express point to show their deep interest in Handel's success. +In illustration of this, an amusing anecdote is told of the Earl of +Chesterfield. During the performance of "Rinaldo" this nobleman, then +an equerry of the king, was met quietly retiring from the theatre in the +middle of the first act. Surprise being expressed by a gentleman who +met the earl, the latter said: "I don't wish to disturb his Majesty's +privacy." + +Handel paid his singers in those days what were regarded as enormous +prices. Senisino and Carestini had each twelve hundred pounds, and +Cuzzoni two thousand, for the season. Toward the end of what may be +called the Handel season nearly all the singers and nobles forsook him, +and supported Farinelli, the greatest singer living, at the rival house +in Lincoln's Inn Fields. + + +IV. + +From the year 1729 the career of Handel was to be a protracted battle, +in which he was sometimes victorious, sometimes defeated, but always +undaunted and animated with a lofty sense of his own superior power. +Let us take a view of some of the rival musicians with whom he came +in contact. Of all these Bononcini was the most formidable. He came to +England in 1720 with Ariosti, also a meritorious composer. Factions +soon began to form themselves around Handel and Bononcini, and a bitter +struggle ensued between these old foes. The same drama repeated itself, +with new actors, about thirty years afterward, in Paris. Gluck was then +the German hero, supported by Marie Antoinette, and Piccini fought for +the Italian opera under the colors of the king's mistress Du Barry, +while all the _litterateurs_ and nobles ranged themselves on either +side in bitter contest. The battle between Handel and Bononcini, as the +exponents of German and Italian music, was also repeated in after-years +between Mozart and Salieri, Weber and Rossini, and to-day is seen in +the acrimonious disputes going on between Wagner and the Italian school. +Bononcini's career in England came to an end very suddenly. It was +discovered that a madrigal brought out by him was pirated from another +Italian composer; whereupon Bononcini left England, humiliated to the +dust, and finally died obscure and alone, the victim of a charlatan +alchemist, who succeeded in obtaining all his savings. + +Another powerful rival of Handel was Porpora, or, as Handel used to +call him, "old Borbora." Without Bononcini's fire or Handel's daring +originality, he represented the dry contrapuntal school of Italian +music. He was also a great singing-master, famous throughout Europe, +and upon this his reputation had hitherto principally rested. He came to +London in 1733, under the patronage of the Italian faction, especially +to serve as a thorn in the side of Handel. His first opera, "Ariadne," +was a great success; but when he had the audacity to challenge the great +German in the field of oratorio, his defeat was so overwhelming that +he candidly admitted his rival's superiority. But he believed that no +operas in the world were equal to his own, and he composed fifty of them +during his life, extending to the days of Haydn, whom he had the honor +of teaching, while the father of the symphony, on the other hand, +cleaned Por-pora's boots and powdered his wig for him. + +Another Italian opponent was Hasse, a man of true genius, who in his old +age instructed some of the most splendid singers in the history of the +lyric stage. He also married one of the most gifted and most beautiful +divas of Europe, Faustina Bordoni. The following anecdote does equal +credit to Hasse's heart and penetration: In after-years, when he had +left England, he was again sent for to take Handel's place as conductor +of opera and oratorio. Hasse inquired, "What! is Handel dead?" On +being told no, he indignantly refused, saying he was not worthy to tie +Handel's shoe-latchets. + +There are also Dr. Pepusch, the Anglicized Prussian, and Dr. Greene, +both names well known in English music. Pepusch had had the leading +place, before Handel's arrival, as organist and conductor, and made a +distinct place for himself even after the sun of Handel had obscured all +of his contemporaries. He wrote the music of the "Beggar's Opera," which +was the great sensation of the times, and which still keeps possession +of the stage. Pepusch was chiefly notable for his skill in arranging the +popular songs of the day, and probably did more than any other composer +to give the English ballad its artistic form. + +The name of Dr. Greene is best known in connection with choral +compositions. His relations with Handel and Bononcini are hardly +creditable to him. He seems to have flattered each in turn. He upheld +Bononcini in the great madrigal controversy, and appears to have wearied +Handel by his repeated visits. The great Saxon easily saw through the +flatteries of a man who was in reality an ambitious rival, and joked +about him, not always in the best taste. When he was told that Greene +was giving concerts at the "Devil Tavern," near Temple Bar, "Ah!" he +exclaimed, "mein poor friend Toctor Greene--so he is gone to de Tevil!" + +From 1732 to 1740 Handel's life presents the suggestive and +often-repeated experience in the lives of men of genius--a soul with a +great creative mission, of which it is half unconscious, partly +yielding to and partly struggling against the tendencies of the age, yet +gradually crystallizing into its true form, and getting consecrated to +its true work. In these eight years Handel presented to the public ten +operas and five oratorios. It was in 1731 that the great significant +fact, though unrecognized by himself and others, occurred, which stamped +the true bent of his genius. This was the production of his first +oratorio in England. He was already playing his operas to empty houses, +the subject of incessant scandal and abuse on the part of his enemies, +but holding his way with steady cheerfulness and courage. Twelve years +before this he had composed the oratorio of "Esther," but it was still +in manuscript, uncared for and neglected. It was finally produced by a +society called Philharmonic, under the direction of Bernard Gates, the +royal chapel-master. Its fame spread wide, and we read these significant +words in one of the old English newspapers: "'Esther,' an English +oratorio, was performed six times, and very full." + +Shortly after this Handel himself conducted "Esther" at the Haymarket +by royal command. His success encouraged him to write "Deborah," another +attempt in the same field, and it met a warm reception from the public, +March 17, 1733. + +For about fifteen years Handel had struggled heroically in the +composition of Italian operas. With these he had at first succeeded; but +his popularity waned more and more, and he became finally the continued +target for satire, scorn, and malevolence. In obedience to the drift +of opinion, all the great singers, who had supported him at the outset, +joined the rival ranks or left England. In fact it may be almost said +that the English public were becoming dissatisfied with the whole system +and method of Italian music. Colley Cibber, the actor and dramatist, +explains why Italian opera could never satisfy the requirement of +Handel, or be anything more than an artificial luxury in England: "The +truth is, this kind of entertainment is entirely sensational." Still +both Handel and his friends and his foes, all the exponents of musical +opinion in England, persevered obstinately in warming this foreign +exotic into a new lease of life. + +The quarrel between the great Saxon composer and his opponents +raged incessantly both in public and private. The newspaper and the +drawing-room rang alike with venomous diatribes. Handel was called a +swindler, a drunkard, and a blasphemer, to whom Scripture even was +not sacred. The idea of setting Holy Writ to music scandalized the +Pharisees, who reveled in the licentious operas and love-songs of +the Italian school. All the small wits of the time showered on Handel +epigram and satire unceasingly. The greatest of all the wits, however, +Alexander Pope, was his firm friend and admirer; and in the "Dunciad," +wherein the wittiest of poets impaled so many of the small fry of the +age with his pungent and vindictive shaft, he also slew some of the most +malevolent of Handel's foes. + +Fielding, in "Tom Jones," has an amusing hit at the taste of the period: +"It was Mr. Western's custom every afternoon, as soon as he was drunk, +to hear his daughter play on the harpsichord; for he was a great lover +of music, and perhaps, had he lived in town, might have passed as a +connoisseur, for he always excepted against the finest compositions of +Mr. Handel." + +So much had it become the fashion to criticise Handel's new effects in +vocal and instrumental composition, that some years later Mr. Sheridan +makes one of his characters fire a pistol simply to shock the audience, +and makes him say in a stage whisper to the gallery, "This hint, +gentlemen, I took from Handel." + +The composer's Oxford experience was rather amusing and suggestive. +We find it recorded that in July, 1733, "one Handell, a foreigner, was +desired to come to Oxford to perform in music." Again the same writer +says: "Handell with his lousy crew, a great number of foreign fiddlers, +had a performance for his own benefit at the theatre." One of the dons +writes of the performance as follows: "This is an innovation; but every +one paid his five shillings to try how a little fiddling would sit upon +him. And, notwithstanding the barbarous and inhuman combination of such +a parcel of unconscionable scamps, he [Handel] disposed of the most of +his tickets." + +"Handel and his lousy crew," however, left Oxford with the prestige of +a magnificent victory. His third oratorio, "Athaliah," was received with +vast applause by a great audience. Some of his university admirers, who +appreciated academic honors more than the musician did, urged him to +accept the degree of Doctor of Music, for which he would have to pay a +small fee. The characteristic reply was a Parthian arrow: "Vat te tevil +I trow my money away for dat vich the blockhead vish'? I no vant!" + + +V. + +In 1738 Handel was obliged to close the theatre and suspend payment. +He had made and spent during his operatic career the sum of £10,000 +sterling, besides dissipating the sum of £50,000 subscribed by his noble +patrons. The rival house lasted but a few months longer, and the Duchess +of Marlborough and her friends, who ruled the opposition clique and +imported Bononcini, paid £12,000 for the pleasure of ruining Handel. His +failure as an operatic composer is due in part to the same causes +which constituted his success in oratorio and cantata. It is a little +significant to notice that, alike by the progress of his own genius and +by the force of conditions, he was forced out of the operatic field at +the very time when he strove to tighten his grip on it. + +His free introduction of choral and instrumental music, his creation of +new forms and remodeling of old ones, his entire subordination of the +words in the story to a pure musical purpose, offended the singers and +retarded the action of the drama in the eyes of the audience; yet it was +by virtue of these unpopular characteristics that the public mind was +being moulded to understand and love the form of the oratorio. + +From 1734 to 1738 Handel composed and produced a number of operatic +works, the principal ones of which were "Alcina," 1735; "Arminio," 1737; +and "Berenice," 1737. He also during these years wrote the magnificent +music to Dryden's "Alexander's Feast," and the great funeral anthem on +the occasion of Queen Caroline's death in the latter part of the year +1737. + +We can hardly solve the tenacity of purpose with which Handel persevered +in the composition of operatic music after it had ruined him; but it was +still some time before he fully appreciated the true turn of his genius, +which could not be trifled with or ignored. In his adversity he had some +consolation. His creditors were patient, believing in his integrity. The +royal family were his firm friends. + +Southey tells us that Handel, having asked the youthful Prince of +Wales, then a child, and afterward George the Third, if he loved music, +answered, when the prince expressed his pleasure: "A good boy, a good +boy! You shall protect my fame when I am dead." Afterward, when the +half-imbecile George was crazed with family and public misfortunes, he +found his chief solace in the Waverley novels and Handel's music. + +It is also an interesting fact that the poets and thinkers of the age +were Handel's firm admirers. Such men as Gay, Arbuthnot, Hughes, Colley +Cibber, Pope, Fielding, Hogarth, and Smollett, who recognized the deep, +struggling tendencies of the times, measured Handel truly. They defended +him in print, and never failed to attend his performances, and at +his benefit concerts their enthusiastic support always insured him an +overflowing house. + +The popular instinct was also true to him. The aristocratic classes +sneered at his oratorios and complained at his innovations. His music +was found to be good bait for the popular gardens and the holiday-makers +of the period. Jonathan Tyers was one of the most liberal managers +of this class. He was proprietor of Vauxhall Gardens, and Handel +(_incognito_) supplied him with nearly all his music. The composer did +much the same sort of thing for Marylebone Gardens, furbishing up old +and writing new strains with an ease that well became the urgency of the +circumstances. + +"My grandfather," says the Rev. J. Fountagne, "as I have been told, was +an enthusiast in music, and cultivated most of all the friendship of +musical men, especially of Handel, who visited him often, and had a +great predilection for his society. This leads me to relate an anecdote +which I have on the best authority. While Marylebone Gardens were +flourishing, the enchanting music of Handel, and probably of Arne, was +often heard from the orchestra there. One evening, as my grandfather and +Handel were walking together and alone, a new piece was struck up by the +band. 'Come, Mr. Fountagne,' said Handel, 'let us sit down and listen +to this piece; I want to know your opinion about it.' Down they sat, and +after some time the old parson, turning to his companion, said, 'It +is not worth listening to; it's very poor stuff.' 'You are right, Mr. +Fountagne,' said Handel, 'it is very poor stuff; I thought so myself +when I had finished it.' The old gentleman, being taken by surprise, was +beginning to apologize; but Handel assured him there was no necessity, +that the music was really bad, having been composed hastily, and his +time for the production limited; and that the opinion given was as +correct as it was honest." + + +VI. + +The period of Handel's highest development had now arrived. For seven +years his genius had been slowly but surely maturing, in obedience +to the inner law of his being. He had struggled long in the bonds of +operatic composition, but even here his innovations showed conclusively +how he was reaching out toward the form with which his name was to +be associated through all time. The year 1739 was one of prodigious +activity. The oratorio of "Saul" was produced, of which the "Dead March" +is still recognized as one of the great musical compositions of all +time, being one of the few intensely solemn symphonies written in a +major key. Several works now forgotten were composed, and the great +"Israel in Egypt" was written in the incredibly short space of +twenty-seven days. Of this work a distinguished writer on music says: +Handel was now fifty-five years old, and had entered, after many a +long and weary contest, upon his last and greatest creative period. +His genius culminates in the 'Israel.' Elsewhere he has produced longer +recitatives and more pathetic arias; nowhere has he written finer tenor +songs than 'The enemy said,' or finer duets than 'The Lord is a man of +war;' and there is not in the history of music an example of choruses +piled up like so many Ossas on Pelions in such majestic strength, and +hurled in open defiance at a public whose ears were itching for Italian +love-lays and English ballads. In these twenty-eight colossal choruses +we perceive at once a reaction against and a triumph over the tastes of +the age. The wonder is, not that the 'Israel' was unpopular, but that +it should have been tolerated; but Handel, while he appears to have been +for years driven by the public, had been, in reality, driving them. His +earliest oratorio, 'Il Trionfo del Tempo' (composed in Italy), had +but two choruses; into his operas more and more were introduced, with +disastrous consequences; but when, at the zenith of his strength, he +produced a work which consisted almost entirely of these unpopular +peculiarities, the public treated him with respect, and actually sat +out three performances in one season! In addition to these two great +oratorios, our composer produced the beautiful music to Dryden's +"St. Cæcilia Ode," and Milton's "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso." +Henceforth neither praise nor blame could turn Handel from his appointed +course. He was not yet popular with the musical _dilettanti_, but we +find no more catering to an absurd taste, no more writing of silly +operatic froth. + +Our composer had always been very fond of the Irish, and, at the +invitation of the lord-lieutenant and prominent Dublin amateurs, +he crossed the channel in 1741. He was received with the greatest +enthusiasm, and his house became the resort of all the musical people in +the city of Dublin. One after another his principal works were produced +before admiring audiences in the new Music Hall in Fishamble Street. The +crush to hear the "Allegro" and "Penseroso" at the opening performances +was so great that the doors had to be closed. The papers declared there +never had been seen such a scene before in Dublin. + +Handel gave twelve performances at very short intervals, comprising +all of his finest works. In these concerts the "Acis and Galatea" and +"Alexander's Feast" were the most admired; but the enthusiasm culminated +in the rendition of the "Messiah," produced for the first time on April +13, 1742. The performance was a beneficiary one in aid of poor and +distressed prisoners for debt in the Marshalsea in Dublin. So, by a +remarkable coincidence, the first performance of the "Messiah" literally +meant deliverance to the captives. The principal singers were Mrs. +Cibber (daughter-in-law of Colley Cibber, and afterward one of the +greatest actresses of her time), Mrs. Avoglio, and Mr. Dubourg. The +town was wild with excitement. Critics, poets, fine ladies, and men of +fashion tore rhetoric to tatters in their admiration. A clergyman so +far forgot his Bible in his rapture as to exclaim to Mrs. Cibber, at +the close of one of her airs, "Woman, for this be all thy sins forgiven +thee." The penny-a-liners wrote that "words were wanting to express the +exquisite delight," etc. And--supreme compliment of all, for Handel was +a cynical bachelor--the fine ladies consented to leave their hoops at +home for the second performance, that a couple of hundred or so extra +listeners might be accommodated. This event was the grand triumph of +Handel's life. Years of misconception, neglect, and rivalry were swept +out of mind in the intoxicating delight of that night's success. + + +VII. + +Handel returned to London, and composed a new oratorio, "Samson," for +the following Lenten season. This, together with the "Messiah," heard +for the first time in London, made the stock of twelve performances. +The fashionable world ignored him altogether; the newspapers kept a +contemptuous silence; comic singers were hired to parody his noblest +airs at the great houses; and impudent Horace Walpole had the audacity +to say that he "had hired all the goddesses from farces and singers of +roast-beef, from between the acts of both theatres, with a man with one +note in his voice, and a girl with never a one; and so they sang and +made brave hallelujahs." + +The new field into which Handel had entered inspired his genius to +its greatest energy. His new works for the season of 1744 were the +"Det-tingen Te Deum," "Semele," and "Joseph and his Brethren;" for +the next year (he had again rented the Haymarket Theatre), "Hercules," +"Belshazzar," and a revival of "Deborah." All these works were produced +in a style of then uncommon completeness, and the great expense he +incurred, combined with the active hostility of the fashionable world, +forced him to close his doors and suspend payment. From this time +forward Handel gave concerts whenever he chose, and depended on the +people, who so supported him by their gradually growing appreciation, +that in two years he had paid off all his debts, and in ten years had +accumulated a fortune of £10,000. The works produced during these latter +years were "Judas Maccabæus," 1747; "Alexander," 1748; "Joshua," +1748; "Susannah," 1749; "Solomon," 1749; "Theodora," 1750; "Choice of +Hercules," 1751; "Jephthah," 1752, closing with this a stupendous series +of dramatic oratorios. While at work on the last, his eyes suffered an +attack which finally resulted in blindness. + +Like Milton in the case of "Paradise Lost," Handel preferred one of his +least popular oratorios, "Theodora." It was a great favorite with him, +and he used to say that the chorus, "He saw the lovely youth," was finer +than anything in the "Messiah." The public were not of this opinion, and +he was glad to give away tickets to any professors who applied for them. +When the "Messiah" was again produced, two of these gentlemen who had +neglected "Theodora" applied for admission. "Oh! your sarvant, meine +Herren!" exclaimed the indignant composer. "You are tamnable dainty! +You would not go to 'Theodora'--dere was room enough to dance dere when +dat was perform." When Handel heard that an enthusiast had offered to +make himself responsible for all the boxes the next time the despised +oratorio should be given--"He is a fool," said he; "the Jews will not +come to it as to 'Judas Maccabæus,' because it is a Christian story; and +the ladies will not come, because it is a virtuous one." + +Handel's triumph was now about to culminate in a serene and acknowledged +preeminence. The people had recognized his greatness, and the reaction +at last conquered all classes. Publishers vied with each other in +producing his works, and their performance was greeted with great +audiences and enthusiastic applause. His last ten years were a peaceful +and beautiful ending of a stormy career. + + +VIII. + +Thought lingers pleasantly over this sunset period. Handel throughout +life was so wedded to his art, that he cared nothing for the delights of +woman's love. His recreations were simple--rowing, walking, visiting his +friends, and playing on the organ. He would sometimes try to play the +people out at St. Paul's Cathedral, and hold them indefinitely. He would +resort at night to his favorite tavern, the "Queen's Head," where +he would smoke and drink beer with his chosen friends. Here he would +indulge in roaring conviviality and fun, and delight his friends with +sparkling satire and pungent humor, of which he was a great master, +helped by his amusing compound of English, Italian, and German. Often +he would visit the picture galleries, of which he was passionately fond. +His clumsy but noble figure could be seen almost any morning rolling +through Charing Cross; and every one who met old Father Handel treated +him with the deepest reverence. + +The following graphic narrative, taken from the "Somerset House +Gazette," offers a vivid portraiture. Schoelcher, in his "Life of +Handel," says that "its author had a relative, Zachary Hardcastle, +a retired merchant, who was intimately acquainted with all the +most distinguished men of his time, artists, poets, musicians, and +physicians." This old gentleman, who lived at Paper Buildings, was +accustomed to take his morning walk in the garden of Somerset House, +where he happened to meet with another old man, Colley Cibber, and +proposed to him to go and hear a competition which was to take place +at midday for the post of organist to the Temple, and he invited him to +breakfast, telling him at the same time that Dr. Pepusch and Dr. +Arne were to be with him at nine o'clock. They go in; Pepusch arrives +punctually at the stroke of nine; presently there is a knock, the door +is opened, and Handel unexpectedly presents himself. Then follows the +scene: + +"Handel: 'Vat! mein dear friend Hardgasdle--vat! you are merry py +dimes! Vat! and Misder Golley Cibbers too! ay, and Togder Peepbush +as veil! Vell, dat is gomigal. Veil, mein friendts, andt how vags the +vorldt wid you, mein tdears? Bray, bray, do let me sit town a momend.' + +"Pepusch took the great man's hat, Colley Cibber took his stick, and my +great-uncle wheeled round his reading-chair, which was somewhat about +the dimensions of that in which our kings and queens are crowned; and +then the great man sat him down. + +"'Vell, I thank you, gentlemen; now I am at mein ease vonce more. Upon +mein vord, dat is a picture of a ham. It is very pold of me to gome +to preak my fastd wid you uninvided; and I have brought along wid me +a nodable abbetite; for the wader of old Fader Dems is it not a fine +pracer of the stomach?' + +"'You do me great honor, Mr. Handel,' said my great-uncle. 'I take this +early visit as a great kindness.' + +"'A delightful morning for the water,' said Colley Cibber. + +"'Pray, did you come with oars or scullers, Mr. Handel?' said Pepusch. + +"'Now, how gan you demand of me dat zilly question, you who are a +musician and a man of science, Togder Peepbush? Vat gan it concern you +whether I have one votdermans or two votd-ermans--whether I bull out +mine burce for to pay von shilling or two? Diavolo! I gannot go here, or +I gannot go dere, but some one shall send it to some newsbaber, as +how Misder Chorge Vreder-ick Handel did go somedimes last week in a +votderman's wherry, to preak his fastd wid Misder Zac. Hardgasdle; but +it shall be all the fault wid himself, if it shall be but in print, +whether I was rowed by one votdermans or by two votdermans. So, Togder +Peepbush, you will blease to excuse me from dat.' + +"Poor Dr. Pepusch was for a moment disconcerted, but it was soon +forgotten in the first dish of coffee. + +"'Well, gentlemen,' said my great-uncle Zachary, looking at his tompion, +'it is ten minutes past nine. Shall we wait more for Dr. Arne?" + +"'Let us give him another five minutes' chance, Master Hardcastle,' said +Colley Cibber; 'he is too great a genius to keep time.' + +"'Let us put it to the vote,' said Dr. Pepusch, smiling. 'Who holds up +hands?' + +"'I will segond your motion wid all mine heardt,' said Handel. 'I will +hold up mine feeble hands for mine oldt friendt Custos (Arne's name was +Augustine), for I know not who I wouldt waidt for, over andt above mine +oldt rival, Master Dom (meaning Pepusch). Only by your bermission, I +vill dake a snag of your ham, andt a slice of French roll, or a modicum +of chicken; for to dell you the honest fagd, I am all pote famished, +for I laid me down on mine billow in bed the lastd nightd widout +mine supper, at the instance of mine physician, for which I am not +altogeddere inglined to extend mine fastd no longer.' Then, laughing: +'Berhaps, Mister Golley Cibbers, you may like to pote this to the vote? +But I shall not segond the motion, nor shall I holdt up mine hand, as I +will, by bermission, embloy it some dime in a better office. So, if you +blease, do me the kindness for to gut me a small slice of ham.' + +"At this instant a hasty footstep was heard on the stairs, accompanied +by the humming of an air, all as gay as the morning, which was beautiful +and bright. It was the month of May. + +"'Bresto! be quick,' said Handel; he knew it was Arne; 'fifteen minutes +of dime is butty well for an _ad libitum_.' + +"'Mr. Arne,' said my great-uncle's man. + +"A chair was placed, and the social party commenced their déjeuner. + +"'Well, and how do you find yourself, my dear sir?' inquired Arne, with +friendly warmth. + +"'Why, by the mercy of Heaven, and the waders of Aix-la-Chapelle, andt +the addentions of mine togders andt physicians, and oggulists, of lade +years, under Providence, I am surbrizingly pedder--thank you kindly, +Misder Custos. Andt you have also been doing well of lade, as I am +bleased to hear. You see, sir,' pointing to his plate, 'you see, sir, +dat I am in the way for to regruit mine flesh wid the good viands of +Misder Zachary Hardgasdle.' + +"'So, sir, I presume you are come to witness the trial of skill at +the old round church? I understand the amateurs expect a pretty sharp +contest,' said Arne. + +"'Gondest,' echoed Handel, laying down his knife and fork. 'Yes, no +doubt; your amadeurs have a bassion for gondest. Not vot it vos in our +remembrance. Hey, mine friendt? Ha, ha, ha!' + +"'No, sir, I am happy to say those days of envy and bickering, and party +feeling, are gone and past. To be sure we had enough of such disgraceful +warfare: it lasted too long.' + +"'Why, yes; it tid last too long, it bereft me of mine poor limbs: it +tid bereave of that vot is the most blessed gift of Him vot made us, +andt not wee ourselves. And for vot? Vy, for nod-ing in the vorldt pode +the bleasure and bastime of them who, having no widt, nor no want, set +at loggerheads such men as live by their widts, to worry and destroy +one andt anodere as wild beasts in the Golloseum in the dimes of the +Romans.' + +"Poor Dr. Pepusch during this conversation, as my great-uncle observed, +was sitting on thorns; he was in the confederacy professionally only. + +"'I hope, sir,' observed the doctor, 'you do not include me among those +who did injustice to your talents?' + +"'Nod at all, nod at all, God forbid! I am a great admirer of the airs +of the 'Peggar's Obéra,' andt every professional gendtleman must do +his best for to live.' + +"This mild return, couched under an apparent compliment, was well +received; but Handel, who had a talent for sarcastic drolling, added: + +"'Pute why blay the Peggar yourself, togder, andt adapt oldt pallad +humsdrum, ven, as a man of science, you could gombose original airs of +your own? Here is mine friendt, Custos Arne, who has made a road for +himself, for to drive along his own genius to the demple of fame.' Then, +turning to our illustrious Arne, he continued, 'Min friendt Custos, +you and I must meed togeder some dimes before it is long, and hold a +_têde-à-têde_ of old days vat is gone; ha, ha! Oh! it is gomigal now dat +id is all gone by. Custos, to nod you remember as it was almost only of +yesterday dat she-devil Guzzoni, andt dat other brecious taugh-ter of +iniquity, Pelzebub's spoiled child, the bretty-f aced Faustina? Oh! the +mad rage vot I have to answer for, vot with one and the oder of these +fine latdies' airs andt graces. Again, to you nod remember dat ubstardt +buppy Senesino, and the goxgomb Farinelli? Next, again, mine some-dimes +nodtable rival Bononcini, and old Borbora? Ha, ha, ha! all at war wid +me, andt all at war wid themselves. Such a gonfusion of rivalshibs, andt +double-facedness, andt hybocrisy, and malice, vot would make a gomigal +subject for a boem in rhymes, or a biece for the stage, as I hopes to be +saved.'" + + +IX. + +We now turn from the man to his music. In his daily life with the world +we get a spectacle of a quick, passionate temper, incased in a +great burly frame, and raging into whirlwinds of excitement at small +provocation; a gourmand devoted to the pleasure of the table, sometimes +indeed gratifying his appetite in no seemly fashion, resembling his +friend Dr. Samuel Johnson in many notable ways. Handel as a man was +of the earth, earthy, in the extreme, and marked by many whimsical and +disagreeable faults. But in his art we recognize a genius so colossal, +massive, and self-poised as to raise admiration to its superlative of +awe. When Handel had disencumbered himself of tradition, convention, +the trappings of time and circumstance, he attained a place in musical +creation, solitary and unique. His genius found expression in forms +large and austere, disdaining the luxuriant and trivial. He embodied +the spirit of Protestantism in music; and a recognition of this fact +is probably the key of the admiration felt for him by the Anglo-Saxon +races. + +Handel possessed an inexhaustible fund of melody of the noblest order; +an almost unequaled command of musical expression; perfect power over +all the resources of his science; the faculty of wielding huge masses +of tone with perfect ease and felicity; and he was without rival in the +sublimity of ideas. The problem which he so successfully solved in the +oratorio was that of giving such dramatic force to the music, in which +he clothed the sacred texts, as to be able to dispense with all scenic +and stage effects. One of the finest operatic composers of the time, +the rival of Bach as an instrumental composer, and performer on the +harpsichord or organ, the unanimous verdict of the musical world is that +no one has ever equaled him in completeness, range of effect, elevation +and variety of conception, and sublimity in the treatment of sacred +music. We can readily appreciate Handel's own words when describing +his own sensations in writing the "Messiah:" "I did think I did see all +heaven before me, and the great God himself." + +The great man died on Good Friday night, 1759, aged seventy-five years. +He had often wished "he might breathe his last on Good Friday, in +hope," he said, "of meeting his good God, his sweet Lord and Saviour, on +the day of his resurrection." The old blind musician had his wish. + + + + +GLUCK + + +Gluck is a noble and striking figure in musical history, alike in the +services he rendered to his art and the dignity and strength of his +personal character. As the predecessor of Wagner and Meyerbeer, who +among the composers of this century have given opera its largest and +noblest expression, he anticipated their important reforms, and in his +musical creations we see all that is best in what is called the new +school. + +The man, the Ritter Christoph Wilibald von Gluck, is almost as +interesting to us as the musician. He moved in the society of princes +with a calm and haughty dignity, their conscious peer, and never +prostituted his art to gain personal advancement or to curry favor with +the great ones of the earth. He possessed a majesty of nature which was +the combined effect of personal pride, a certain lofty self-reliance, +and a deep conviction that he was the apostle of an important musical +mission. + +Gluck's whole life was illumined by an indomitable sense of his own +strength, and lifted by it into an atmosphere high above that of his +rivals, whom, the world has now almost forgotten, except as they were +immortalized by being his enemies. Like Milton and Bacon, who put on +record their knowledge that they had written for all time, Gluck had a +magnificent consciousness of himself. "I have written," he says, "the +music of my 'Ar-mida' in such a manner as to prevent its soon growing +old." This is a sublime vanity inseparable from the great aggressive +geniuses of the world, the wind of the speed which measures their force +of impact. + +Duplessis's portrait of Gluck almost takes the man out of paint to put +him in flesh and blood. He looks down with wide-open eyes, swelling +nostrils, firm mouth, and massive chin. The noble brow, dome-like +and expanded, relieves the massiveness of his face; and the whole +countenance and figure express the repose of a powerful and passionate +nature schooled into balance and symmetry: altogether the presentment +of a great man, who felt that he could move the world and had found the +_pou sto_. Of a large and robust type of physical beauty, Nature seems +to have endowed him on every hand with splendid gifts. Such a man as +this could say with calm simplicity to Marie Antoinette, who inquired +one night about his new opera of "Armida," then nearly finished: +"_Madame, il est bientôt fini, et vraiment ce sera superbe._" + +One night Handel listened to a new opera from a young and unknown +composer, the "Caduta de' Giganti," one of Gluck's very earliest works, +written when he was yet corrupted with all the vices of the Italian +method. "Mein Gott! he is an idiot," said Handel; "he knows no more of +counterpoint then mein cook." Handel did not see with prophetic eyes. He +never met Gluck afterward, and we do not know his later opinion of the +composer of "Orpheus and Eurydice" and "Iphigenia in Tauris." But Gluck +had ever the profoundest admiration for the author of the "Messiah." +There was something in these two strikingly similar, as their music was +alike characterized by massive simplicity and strength, not rough-hewn, +but shaped into austere beauty. + +Before we relate the great episode of our composer's life, let us take +a backward glance at his youth. He was the son of a forester in the +service of Prince Lobkowitz born at Weidenwang in the Upper Palatinate, +July 2,1714. Gluck was devoted to music from early childhood, but +received, in connection with the musical art, an excellent education at +the Jesuit College of Kommotau. Here he learned singing, the organ, the +violin and harpsichord, and had a mind to get his living by devoting +his musical talents to the Church. The Prague public recognized in him +a musician of fair talent, but he found but little encouragement to stay +at the Bohemian capital. So he decided to finish his musical education +at Vienna, where more distinguished masters could be had. Prince +Lobkowitz, who remembered his gamekeeper's son, introduced the young man +to the Italian Prince Melzi, who induced him to accompany him to Milan. +As the pupil of the Italian organist and composer, Sammartini, he made +rapid progress in operatic composition. He was successful in pleasing +Italian audiences, and in four years produced eight operas, for which +the world has forgiven him in forgetting them. Then Gluck must go to +London to see what impression he could make on English critics; for +London then, as now, was one of the great musical centres, where every +successful composer or singer must get his brevet. + +Gluck's failure to please in London was, perhaps, an important epoch +in his career. With a mind singularly sensitive to new impressions, and +already struggling with fresh ideas in the laws of operatic composition, +Handel's great music must have had a powerful effect in stimulating +his unconscious progress. His last production in England, "Pyramus and +Thisbe," was a _pasticcio_ opera, in which he embodied the best bits out +of his previous works. The experiment was a glaring failure, as it ought +to have been; for it illustrated the Italian method, which was designed +for mere vocal display, carried to its logical absurdity. + + +II. + +In 1748 Gluck settled in Vienna, where almost immediately his opera of +"Semiramide" was produced. Here he conceived a passion for Marianne, the +daughter of Joseph Pergin, a rich banker; but on account of the father's +distaste for a musical son-in-law, the marriage did not occur till 1750. +"Telemacco" and "Clemenza di Tito" were composed about this time, and +performed in Vienna, Rome, and Naples. In 1755 our composer received the +order of the Golden Spur from the Roman pontiff in recognition of the +merits of two operas performed at Rome, called "Il Trionfo di Camillo" +and "Antigono." Seven years were now actively employed in producing +operas for Vienna and Italian cities, which, without possessing great +value, show the change which had begun to take place in this composer's +theories of dramatic music. In Paris he had been struck with the operas +of Rameau, in which the declamatory form was strongly marked. His early +Italian training had fixed in his mind the importance of pure melody. +From Germany he obtained his appreciation of harmony, and had made a +deep study of the uses of the orchestra. So we see this great reformer +struggling on with many faltering steps toward that result which he +afterward summed up in the following concise description: "My purpose +was to restrict music to its true office, that of ministering to the +expression of poetry, without interrupting the action." + +In Calzabigi Gluck had met an author who fully appreciated his ideas, +and had the talent of writing a libretto in accordance with them. This +coadjutor wrote all the librettos that belonged to Gluck's greatest +period. He had produced his "Orpheus and Eurydice" and "Alceste" in +Vienna with a fair amount of success; but his tastes drew him strongly +to the French stage, where the art of acting and declamation was +cultivated then, as it is now, to a height unknown in other parts of +Europe. So Ave find him gladly accepting an offer from the managers of +the French Opera to migrate to the great city, in which were fermenting +with much noisy fervor those new ideas in art, literature, politics, +and society, which were turning the eyes of all Europe to the French +capital. + +The world's history has hardly a more picturesque and striking +spectacle, a period more fraught with the working of powerful forces, +than that exhibited by French society in the latter part of Louis XV.'s +reign. We see a court rotten to the core with indulgence in every form +of sensuality and vice, yet glittering with the veneer of a social +polish which made it the admiration of the world. A dissolute king +was ruled by a succession of mistresses, and all the courtiers vied in +emulating the vice and extravagance of their master. Yet in this foul +compost-heap art and literature nourished with a tropical luxuriance. +Voltaire was at the height of his splendid career, the most brilliant +wit and philosopher of his age. The lightnings of his mockery attacked +with an incessant play the social, political, and religious shams of +the period. People of all classes, under the influence of his unsparing +satire, were learning to see with clear eyes what an utterly artificial +and polluted age they lived in, and the cement which bound society in a +compact whole was fast melting under this powerful solvent. + +Rousseau, with his romantic philosophy and eloquence, had planted his +new ideas deep in the hearts of his contemporaries, weary with the +artifice and the corruption of a time which had exhausted itself and had +nothing to promise under the old social _regime_. The ideals uplifted in +the "Nouvelle Héloïse" and the "Confessions" awakened men's minds with +a great rebound to the charms of Nature, simplicity, and a social order +untrammeled by rules or conventions. The eloquence with which these +theories were propounded carried the French people by storm, and +Rousseau was a demigod at whose shrine worshiped alike duchess and +peasant. The Encyclopedists stimulated the ferment by their literary +enthusiasm, and the heartiness with which they cooperated with the whole +current of revolutionary thought. + +The very atmosphere was reeking with the prophecy of imminent +change. Versailles itself did not escape the contagion. Courtiers +and aristocrats, in worshiping the beautiful ideals set up by the new +school, which were as far removed as possible from their own effete +civilization, did not realize that they were playing with the fire which +was to burn out the whole social edifice of France with such a terrible +conflagration; for, back and beneath all this, there was a people +groaning under long centuries of accumulated wrong, in whose imbruted +hearts the theories applauded by their oppressors with a sort of +_doctrinaire_ delight were working with a fatal fever. + + +III. + +In this strange condition of affairs Gluck found his new sphere of +labor--Gluck, himself overflowing with the revolutionary spirit, full +of the enthusiasm of reform. At first he carried everything before him. +Protected by royalty, he produced, on the basis of an admirable libretto +by Du Rollet, one of the great wits of the time, "Iphigenia in Aulis." +It was enthusiastically received. The critics, delighted to establish +the reputation of one especially favored by the Dau-phiness Marie +Antoinette, exhausted superlatives on the new opera. The Abbé Arnaud, +one of the leading _dilettanti_, exclaimed: "With such music one might +found a new religion!" To be sure, the connoisseurs could not +understand the complexities of the music; but, following the rule of all +connoisseurs before or since, they considered it all the more learned +and profound. So led, the general public clapped their hands, and agreed +to consider Gluck as a great composer. He was called the Hercules of +music; the opera-house was crammed night after night; his footsteps +were dogged in the streets by admiring enthusiasts; the wits and poets +occupied themselves with composing sonnets in his praise; brilliant +courtiers and fine ladies showered valuable gifts on the new musical +oracle; he was hailed as the exponent of Rousseauism in music. We read +that it was considered to be a priceless privilege to be admitted to +the rehearsal of a new opera, to see Gluck conduct in nightcap and +dressing-gown. + +Fresh adaptations of "Orpheus and Eurydice" and of "Alceste" were +produced. The first, brought out in 1784, was received with an +enthusiasm which could be contented only with forty-nine consecutive +performances. The second act of this work has been called one of the +most astonishing productions of the human mind. The public began to show +signs of fickleness, however, on the production of the "Alceste." On the +first night a murmur arose among the spectators: "The piece has fallen." +Abbé Arnaud, Gluck's devoted defender, arose in his box and replied: +"Yes! fallen from heaven." While Mademoiselle Levasseur was singing one +of the great airs, a voice was heard to say, "Ah! you tear out my ears;" +to which the caustic rejoinder was: "How fortunate, if it is to give +you others!" + +Gluck himself was badly bitten, in spite of his hatred of shams and +shallowness, with the pretenses of the time, which professed to dote on +nature and simplicity. In a letter to his old pupil, Marie Antoinette, +wherein he disclaims any pretension of teaching the French a new school +of music, he says: "I see with satisfaction that the language of Nature +is the universal language." + +So, here on the crumbling crust of a volcano, where the volatile French +court danced and fiddled and sang, unreckoning of what was soon to +come, our composer and his admirers patted each other on the back with +infinite complacency. + +But after this high tide of prosperity there was to come a reverse. A +powerful faction, that for a time had been crushed by Gluck's triumph, +after a while raised their heads and organized an attack. There were +second-rate composers whose scores had been laid on the shelf in the +rage for the new favorite; musicians who were shocked and enraged at the +difficulties of his instrumentation; wits who, having praised Gluck for +a while, thought they could now find a readier field for their quills +in satire; and a large section of the public who changed for no earthly +reason but that they got tired of doing one thing. + +Therefore, the Italian Piccini was imported to be pitted against the +reigning deity. The French court was broken up into hostile ranks. Marie +Antoinette was Gluck's patron, but Madame Du Barry, the king's mistress, +declared for Piccini. Abbé Arnaud fought for Gluck; but the witty +Marmontel was the advocate of his rival. The keen-witted Du Rollet +was Gluckist; but La Harpe, the eloquent, was Piccinist. So this +battle-royal in art commenced and raged with virulence. The green-room +was made unmusical with contentions carried out in polite Billingsgate. +Gluck tore up his unfinished score in rage when he learned that his +rival was to compose an opera on the same libretto. La Harpe said: "The +famous Gluck may puff his own compositions, but he can't prevent them +from boring us to death." Thus the wags of Paris laughed and wrangled +over the musical rivals. Berton, the new director, fancied he could +soften the dispute and make the two composers friends; so at a +dinner-party, when they were all in their cups, he proposed that they +should compose an opera jointly. This was demurred to; but it was +finally arranged that they should compose an opera on the same subject. + +"Iphigenia in Tauris," Gluck's second "Iphigenia," produced in 1779, was +such a masterpiece that his rival shut his own score in his portfolio, +and kept it two years. All Paris was enraptured with this great work, +and Gluck's detractors were silenced in the wave of enthusiasm which +swept the public. Abbé Arnaud's opinion was the echo of the general +mind: "There was but one beautiful part, and that was the whole of it." +This opera may be regarded as the most perfect example of Gluck's +school in making the music the full reflex of the dramatic action. While +Orestes sings in the opera, "My heart is calm," the orchestra continues +to paint the agitation of his thoughts. During the rehearsal the +musician failed to understand the exigency and ceased playing. The +composer cried out, in a rage: "Don't you see he is lying? Go on, go +on; he as just killed his mother." On one occasion, when he was praising +Rameau's chorus of "Castor and Pollux," an admirer of his flattered him +with the remark, "But what a difference between this chorus and that of +your 'Iphigénie'!" "Yet it is very well done," said Gluck; "one is only +a religious ceremony, the other is a real funeral." He was wont to say +that in composing he always tried to forget he was a musician. + +Gluck, however, a few months subsequent to this, was so much humiliated +at the non-success of "Echo and Narcissus," that he left Paris in bitter +irritation, in spite of Marie Antoinette's pleadings that he should +remain at the French capital. + +The composer was now advanced in years, and had become impatient and +fretful. He left Paris for Vienna in 1780, having amassed considerable +property. There, as an old, broken-down man, he listened to the young +Mozart's new symphonies and operas, and applauded them with great zeal; +for Gluck, though fiery and haughty in the extreme, was singularly +generous in recognizing the merits of others. + +This was exhibited in Paris in his treatment of Méhul, the Belgian +composer, then a youth of sixteen, who had just arrived in the gay city. +It was on the eve of the first representation of "Iphigenia in Tauris," +when the operatic battle was agitating the public. With all the ardor +of a novice and a devotee, the young musical student immediately threw +himself into the affray, and by the aid of a friend he succeeded in +gaining admittance to the theatre for the final rehearsal of Gluck's +opera. This so enchanted him that he resolved to be present at the +public performance. But, unluckily for the resolve, he had no money, and +no prospect of obtaining any; so, with a determination and a love for +art which deserve to be remembered, he decided to hide himself in one of +the boxes and there to wait for the time of representation. + +"At the end of the rehearsal," writes George Hogarth in his "Memoirs +of the Drama," "he was discovered in his place of concealment by the +servants of the theatre, who proceeded to turn him out very roughly. +Gluck, who had not left the house, heard the noise, came to the +spot, and found the young man, whose spirit was roused, resisting the +indignity with which he was treated. Méhul, finding in whose presence +he was, was ready to sink with confusion; but, in answer to Gluck's +questions, he told him that he was a young musical student from the +country, whose anxiety to be present at the performance of the opera +had led him into the commission of an impropriety. Gluck, as may be +supposed, was delighted with a piece of enthusiasm so flattering to +himself, and not only gave his young admirer a ticket of admission, but +desired his acquaintance." From this artistic _contretemps_, then, arose +a friendship alike creditable to the goodness and generosity of Gluck, +as it was to the sincerity and high order of Méhul's musical talent. + +Gluck's death, in 1787, was caused by overindulgence in wine at a dinner +which he gave to some of his friends. The love of stimulants had grown +upon him in his old age, and had become almost a passion. An enforced +abstinence of some months was succeeded by a debauch, in which he drank +an immense quantity of brandy. The effects brought on a fit of apoplexy, +of which he died, aged seventy-three. + +Gluck's place in musical history is peculiar and well marked, he entered +the field of operatic composition when it was hampered with a great +variety of dry forms, and utterly without soul and poetic spirit. The +object of composers seemed to be to show mere contrapuntal learning, or +to furnish singers opportunity to display vocal agility. The opera, as +a large and symmetrical expression of human emotions, suggested in the +collisions of a dramatic story, was utterly an unknown quantity in art. +Gluck's attention was early called to this radical inconsistency; and, +though he did not learn for many years to develop his musical ideas +according to a theory, and never carried that theory to the logical +results insisted on by his great after-type, Wagner, he accomplished +much in the way of sweeping reform. He elaborated the recitative or +declamatory element in opera with great care, and insisted that his +singers should make this the object of their most careful efforts. The +arias, duos, quartets, etc., as well as the choruses and orchestral +parts, were made consistent with the dramatic motive and situations. +In a word, Gluck aimed with a single-hearted purpose to make music the +expression of poetry and sentiment. + +The principles of Gluck's school of operatic writing may be briefly +summarized as follows: That dramatic music can only reach its highest +power and beauty when joined to a simple and poetic text, expressing +passions true to Nature; that music can be made the language of all the +varied emotions of the heart; that the music of an opera must exactly +follow the rhythm and melody of the words; that the orchestra must be +only used to strengthen and intensify the feeling embodied in the +vocal parts, as demanded by the text or dramatic situation. We get some +further light on these principles from Gluck's letter of dedication to +the Grand-Duke of Tuscany on the publication of "Alceste." He writes: "I +am of opinion that music must be to poetry what liveliness of color and +a happy mixture of light and shade are for a faultless and well-arranged +drawing, which serve to add life to the figures without injuring the +outlines;... that the overture should prepare the auditors for the +character of the action which is to be presented, and hint at the +progress of the same; that the instruments must be employed according to +the degree of interest and passion; that the composer should avoid too +marked a disparity in the dialogue-between the air and recitative, in +order not to break the sense of a period, or interrupt the energy of the +action.... Finally, I have even felt compelled to sacrifice rules to the +improvement of the effect." + +We find in this composer's music, therefore, a largeness and dignity +of treatment which have never been surpassed. His command of melody is +quite remarkable, but his use of it is under severe artistic restraint; +for it is always characterized by breadth, simplicity, and directness. +He aimed at and attained the symmetrical balance of an old Greek play. + + + + +HAYDN. + + +I. + +"Papa Haydn!" Thus did Mozart ever speak of his foster-father in music, +and the title, transmitted to posterity, admirably expressed the sweet, +placid, gentle nature, whose possessor was personally beloved no less +than he was admired. His life flowed, broad and unruffled, like some +great river, unvexed for the most part by the rivalries, jealousies, and +sufferings, oftentimes self-inflicted, which have harassed the careers +of other great musicians. He remained to the last the favorite of the +imperial court of Vienna, and princes followed his remains to their last +resting-place. + +Joseph Haydn was the eldest of the twenty children of Matthias Haydn, a +wheelwright at Rohrau, Lower Austria, where he was born in 1732. At +the age of twelve years he was engaged to sing in Vienna. He became a +chorister in St. Stephen's Church, but offended the choir-master by the +revolt on the part of himself and parents from submitting to the usual +means then taken to perpetuate a fine soprano in boys. So Haydn, who had +surreptitiously picked up a good deal of musical knowledge apart from +the art of singing, was at the age of sixteen turned out on the world. +A compassionate barber, however, took him in, and Haydn dressed and +powdered wigs down-stairs, while he worked away at a little worm-eaten +harpsichord at night in his room. Unfortunate boy! he managed to get +himself engaged to the barber's daughter, Anne Keller, who was for a +good while the Xantippe of his gentle life, and he paid dearly for his +father-in-law's early hospitality. + +The young musician soon began to be known, as he played the violin in +one church, the organ in another, and got some pupils. His first rise +was his acquaintance with Metastasio, the poet laureate of the court. +Through him, Haydn got introduced to the mistress of the Venetian +embassador, a great musical enthusiast, and in her circle he met +Porpora, the best music-master in the world, but a crusty, snarling old +man. Porpora held at Vienna the position of musical dictator and censor, +and he exercised the tyrannical privileges of his post mercilessly. +Haydn was a small, dark-complexioned, insignificant-looking youth, and +Porpora, of course, snubbed him most contemptuously. But Haydn wanted +instruction, and no one in the world could give it so well as the savage +old _maestro_. So he performed all sorts of menial services for him, +cleaned his shoes, powdered his wig, and ran all his errands. The +result was that Porpora softened and consented to give his young admirer +lessons--no great hardship, for young Haydn proved a most apt and +gifted pupil. And it was not long either before the young musician's +compositions attracted public attention and found a sale. The very +curious relations between Haydn and Porpora are brilliantly sketched in +George Sand's "Consuelo." + +At night Haydn, accompanied by his friends, was wont to wander about +Vienna by moonlight, and serenade his patrons with trios and quartets of +his own composition. He happened one night to stop under the window +of Bernardone Kurz, a director of a theatre and the leading clown of +Vienna. Down rushed Kurz very excitedly. "Who are you?" he shrieked. +"Joseph Haydn." "Whose music is it?" "Mine." "The deuce it is! And +at your age, too!" "Why, I must begin with something." "Come along +up-stairs." + +The enthusiastic director collared his prize, and was soon deep in +explaining a wonderful libretto, entitled "The Devil on Two Sticks." +To write music for this was no easy matter; for it was to represent all +sorts of absurd things, among others a tempest. The tempest made Haydn +despair, and he sat at the piano, banging away in a reckless fashion, +while the director stood behind him, raving in a disconnected way as +to his meaning. At last the distracted pianist brought his fists +simultaneously down upon the key-board, and made a rapid sweep of all +the notes. + +"Bravo! bravo! that is the tempest!" cried Kurz. + +The buffoon also laid himself on a chair, and had it carried about the +room, during which he threw out his limbs in imitation of the act of +swimming. Haydn supplied an accompaniment so suitable that Kurz soon +landed on _terra firma_, and congratulated the composer, assuring him +that he was the man to compose the opera. By this stroke of good luck +our young musician received one hundred and thirty florins. + + +II. + +At the age of twenty-eight Haydn composed his first symphony. Soon after +this he attracted the attention of the old Prince Esterhazy, all the +members of whose family have become known in the history of music as +generous Mæcenases of the art. + +"What! you don't mean to say that little blackamoor" (alluding to +Haydn's brown complexion and small stature) "composed that symphony?" + +"Surely, prince," replied the director Friedburg, beckoning to Joseph +Haydn, who advanced toward the orchestra. + +"Little Moor," says the old gentleman, "you shall enter my service. I am +Prince Esterhazy. What's your name?" + +"Haydn." + +"Ah! I've heard of you. Get along and dress yourself like a +_Kapellmeister_. Clap on a new coat, and mind your wig is curled. You're +too short. You shall have red heels; but they shall be high, that your +stature may correspond with your merit." + +So he went to live at Eisenstadt in the Esterhazy household, and +received a salary of four hundred florins, which was afterward raised to +one thousand by Prince Nicholas Esterhazy. Haydn continued the intimate +friend and associate of Prince Nicholas for thirty years, and death only +dissolved the bond between them. In the Esterhazy household the life of +Haydn was a very quiet one, a life of incessant and happy industry; for +he poured out an incredible number of works, among them not a few of +his most famous ones. So he spent a happy life in hard labor, alternated +with delightful recreations at the Esterhazy country-seat, mountain +rambles, hunting and fishing, open-air concerts, musical evenings, etc. + +A French traveler who visited Esterhaz about 1782 says: "The château +stands quite solitary, and the prince sees nobody but his officials +and servants, and strangers who come hither from curiosity. He has +a puppet-theatre, which is certainly unique in character. Here the +grandest operas are produced. One knows not whether to be amazed or to +laugh at seeing 'Alceste,' 'Alcides,' etc., put on the stage with all +due solemnity and played by puppets. His orchestra is one of the best +I ever heard, and the great Hadyn is his court and theatre composer. +He employs a poet for his singular theatre, whose humor and skill +in suiting the grandest subjects for the stage, and in parodying the +gravest effects, are often exceedingly happy. He often engages a troupe +of wandering players for months at a time, and he himself and his +retinue form the entire audience. They are allowed to come on the stage +uncombed, drunk, their parts not half learned, and half dressed. The +prince is not for the serious and tragic, and he enjoys it when the +players, like Sancho Panza, give loose reins to their humor." + +Yet Haydn was not perfectly contented. He would have been had it not +been for his terrible wife, the hair-dresser's daughter, who had a +dismal, mischievous, sullen nature, a venomous tongue, and a savage +temper. She kept Haydn in hot water continually, till at last he broke +loose from this plague by separating from her. Scandal says that +Haydn, who had a very affectionate and sympathetic nature, found ample +consolation for marital infelicity in the charms and society of the +lovely Boselli, a great singer. He had her picture painted, and humored +all her whims and caprices, to the sore depletion of his pocket. + +In after-years again he was mixed up in a little affair with the great +Mrs. Billington, whose beautiful person was no less marked than her fine +voice. Sir Joshua Reynolds was painting her portrait for him, and had +represented her as St. Cecilia listening to celestial music. Haydn paid +her a charming compliment at one of the sittings. + +"What do you think of the charming Billington's picture?" said Sir +Joshua. + +"Yes," said Haydn, "it is indeed a beautiful picture. It is just like +her, but there's a strange mistake." + +"What is that?" + +"Why, you have painted her listening to the angels, when you ought to +have painted the angels listening to her." + +At one time, during Haydn's connection with Prince Esterhazy, the +latter, from motives of economy, determined to dismiss his celebrated +orchestra, which he supported at great expense. Haydn was the leader, +and his patron's purpose caused him sore pain, as indeed it did all the +players, among whom were many distinguished instrumentalists. Still, +there was nothing to be done but for all concerned to make themselves as +cheerful as possible under the circumstances; so, with that fund of wit +and humor which seems to have been concealed under the immaculate coat +and formal wig of the straitlaced Haydn, he set about composing a work +for the last performance of the royal band, a work which has ever since +borne the appropriate title of the "Farewell Symphony." + +On the night appointed for the last performance a brilliant company, +including the prince, had assembled. The music of the new symphony began +gayly enough--it was even merry. As it went on, however, it became +soft and dreamy. The strains were sad and "long drawn out." At length a +sorrowful wailing began. One instrument after another left off, and each +musician, as his task ended, blew out his lamp and departed with his +music rolled up under his arm. + +Haydn was the last to finish, save one, and this was the prince's +favorite violinist, who said all that he had to say in a brilliant +violin cadenza, when, behold! he made off. + +The prince was astonished. "What is the meaning of all this?" cried he. + +"It is our sorrowful farewell," answered Haydn. + +This was too much. The prince was overcome, and, with a good laugh, +said: "Well, I think I must reconsider my decision. At any rate, we will +not say 'good-by' now." + + +III. + +During the thirty years of Haydn's quiet life with the Esterhazys he had +been gradually acquiring an immense reputation in France, England, and +Spain, of which he himself was unconscious. His great symphonies had +stamped him worldwide as a composer of remarkable creative genius. +Haydn's modesty prevented him from recognizing his own celebrity. +Therefore, we can fancy his astonishment when, shortly after the death +of Prince Nicholas Esterhazy, a stranger called on him and said: "I am +Salomon, from London, and must strike a bargain with you for that city +immediately." + +Haydn was dazed with the suddenness of the proposition, but the old ties +were broken up, and his grief needed recreation and change. Still, he +had many beloved friends, whose society it was hard to leave. Chief +among these was Mozart. "Oh, papa," said Mozart, "you have had no +training for the wide world, and you speak so few languages." "Oh, my +language is understood all over the world," said Papa Haydn, with a +smile. When he departed for England, December 15, 1790, Mozart could +with difficulty tear himself away, and said, with pathetic tears, "We +shall doubtless now take our last farewell." + +Haydn and Mozart were perfectly in accord, and each thought and did well +toward the other. Mozart, we know, was born when Haydn had just reached +manhood, so that when Mozart became old enough to study composition +the earlier works of Haydn's chamber music had been written; and these +undoubtedly formed the studies of the boy Mozart, and greatly influenced +his style; so that Haydn was the model and, in a sense, the instructor +of Mozart. Strange is it then to find, in after-years, the master +borrowing (perhaps with interest!) from the pupil. Such, however, was +the fact, as every amateur knows. At this we can hardly wonder, for +Haydn possessed unbounded admiration not only for Mozart, but also for +his music, which the following shows. Being asked by a friend at Prague +to send him an opera, he replied: + +"With all my heart, if you desire to have it for yourself alone, but if +you wish to perform it in public, I must be excused; for, being written +specially for my company at the Esterhazy Palace, it would not produce +the proper effect elsewhere. I would do a new score for your theatre; +but what a hazardous step it would be to stand in comparison with +Mozart! Oh, Mozart! If I could instill into the soul of every lover of +music the admiration I have for his matchless works, all countries would +seek to be possessed of so great a treasure. Let Prague keep him, ah! +and well reward him, for without that the history of geniuses is bad; +alas! we see so many noble minds crushed beneath adversity. Mozart is +incomparable, and I am annoyed that he is unable to obtain any court +appointment. Forgive me if I get excited when speaking of him, I am so +fond of him." + +Mozart's admiration for Haydn's music, too, was very marked. He and +Herr Kozeluch were one day listening to a composition of Haydn's which +contained some bold modulations. Kozeluch thought them strange, and +asked Mozart whether he would have written them. "I think not," smartly +replied Mozart, "and for this reason: because they would not have +occurred either to you or me!" + +On another occasion we find Mozart taking to task a Viennese professor +of some celebrity, who used to experience great delight in turning to +Haydn's compositions to find therein any evidence of the master's want +of sound theoretical training--a quest in which the pedant occasionally +succeeded. One day he came to Mozart with a great crime to unfold. +Mozart as usual endeavored to turn the conversation, but the learned +professor still went chattering on, till at last Mozart shut his mouth +with the following pill: "Sir, if you and I were both melted down +together, we should not furnish materials for one Haydn." + +It was one of the most beautiful friendships in the history of art; +full of tender offices, and utterly free from the least taint of envy or +selfishness. + + +IV. + +Haydn landed in England after a voyage which delighted him in spite of +his terror of the sea--a feeling which seems to be usual among people of +very high musical sensibilities. In his diary we find recorded: "By four +o'clock we had come twenty miles. The large vessel stood out to sea five +hours longer, till the tide carried it into the harbor. I remained +on deck the whole passage, in order to gaze my fill at that huge +monster--the ocean." + +The novelty of Haydn's concerts--of which he was to give twenty at fifty +pounds apiece--consisted of their being his own symphonies, conducted +by himself in person. Haydn's name, during his serene, uneventful years +with the Ester-hazys, had become world-famous. His reception was most +brilliant. Dinner parties, receptions, invitations without end, attested +the enthusiasm of the sober English; and his appearance at concerts and +public meetings was the signal for stormy applause. How, in the press of +all this pleasure in which he was plunged, he continued to compose the +great number of works produced at this time, is a marvel. He must have +been little less than a Briareus. It was in England that he wrote the +celebrated Salomon symphonies, the "twelve grand," as they are called. +They may well be regarded as the crowning-point of Haydn's efforts in +that form of writing. He took infinite pains with them, as, indeed, +is well proved by an examination of the scores. More elaborate, more +beautiful, and scored for a fuller orchestra than any others of the one +hundred and twenty or thereabouts which he composed, the Salomon set +also bears marks of the devout and pious spirit in which Haydn ever +labored. + +It is interesting to see how, in many of the great works which have won +the world's admiration, the religion of the author has gone hand in hand +with his energy and his genius; and we find Haydn not ashamed to indorse +his score with his prayer and praise, or to offer the fruits of his +talents to the Giver of all. Thus, the symphony in D (No. 6) bears on +the first page of the score the inscription, "In nomine Domini: di me +Giuseppe Haydn, maia 1791, in London;" and on the last page, "Fine, Laus +Deo, 238." + +That genius may sometimes be trusted to judge of its own work may be +gathered from Haydn's own estimate of these great symphonies. + +"Sir," said the well-satisfied Salomon, after a successful performance +of one of them, "I am strongly of opinion that you will never surpass +these symphonies." + +"No!" replied Haydn; "I never mean to try." + +The public, as we have said, was enthusiastic; but such a full banquet +of severe orchestral music was a severe trial to many, and not a few +heads would keep time to the music by steady nods during the slow +movements. Haydn, therefore, composed what is known as the "Surprise" +symphony. The slow movement is of the most lulling and soothing +character, and about the time the audience should be falling into its +first snooze, the instruments having all died away into the softest +_pianissimo_, the full orchestra breaks out with a frightful BANG. It is +a question whether the most vigorous performance of this symphony would +startle an audience nowadays, accustomed to the strident effects of +Wagner and Liszt. A wag in a recent London journal tells us, indeed, +that at the most critical part in the work a gentleman opened one eye +sleepily and said, "Come in." + +Simple-hearted Haydn was delighted at the attention lavished on him +in London. He tells us how he enjoyed his various entertainments and +feastings by such dignitaries as William Pitt, the Lord Chancellor, and +the Duke of Lids (Leeds). The gentlemen drank freely the whole night, +and the songs, the crazy uproar, and smashing of glasses were very +great. He went down to stay with the Prince of Wales (George IV.) who +played on the violoncello, and charmed the composer by his kindness. "He +is the handsomest man on God's earth. He has an extraordinary love of +music, and a great deal of feeling, but very little money." + +To stem the tide of Haydn's popularity, the Italian faction had recourse +to Giardini; and they even imported a pet pupil of Haydn, Pleyel, to +conduct the rival concerts. Our composer kept his temper, and wrote: "He +[Pleyel] behaves himself with great modesty." Later we read, "Pleyel's +presumption is a public laughingstock;" but he adds, "I go to all his +concerts and applaud him." + +Far different were the amenities that passed between Haydn and Giardini. +"I won't know the German hound," says the latter. Haydn wrote, "I +attended his concert at Ranelagh, and he played the fiddle like a hog." + +Among the pleasant surprises Haydn had in England was his visit to +Herschel, the great astronomer, in whom he recognized one of his old +oboe-players. The big telescope amazed him, and so did the patient +star-gazer, who often sat out-of-doors in the most intense cold for five +or six hours at a time. + +Our composer returned to Vienna in May, 1795. with the little fortune of +12,000 florins in his pocket. + + +V. + +In his charming little cottage near Vienna Haydn was the centre of a +brilliant society. Princes and nobles were proud to do honor to him; +and painters, poets, scholars, and musicians made a delightful coterie, +which was not even disturbed by the political convulsions of the time. +The baleful star of Napoleon shot its disturbing influences throughout +Europe, and the roar of his cannon shook the established order of things +with the echoes of what was to come. Haydn was passionately attached to +his country and his emperor, and regarded anxiously the rumblings and +quakings of the period; but he did not intermit his labor, or allow +his consecration to his divine art to be in the least shaken. Like +Archimedes of old, he toiled serenely at his appointed work, while the +political order of things was crumbling before the genius and energy of +the Corsican adventurer. + +In 1798 he completed his great oratorio of "The Creation," on which he +had spent three years of toil, and which embodied his brightest genius. +Haydn was usually a very rapid composer, but he seems to have labored +at the "Creation" with a sort of reverential humility, which never +permitted him to think his work worthy or complete. It soon went the +round of Germany, and passed to England and France, everywhere awakening +enthusiasm by its great symmetry and beauty. Without the sublimity +of Handel's "Messiah," it is marked by a richness of melody, a serene +elevation, a matchless variety in treatment, which make it the most +characteristic of Haydn's works. Napoleon, the first consul, was +hastening to the opera-house to hear this, January 24, 1801, when he was +stopped by an attempt at assassination. + +Two years after "The Creation" appeared "The Seasons," founded on +Thomson's poem, also a great work, and one of his last; for the grand +old man was beginning to think of rest, and he only composed two or +three quartets after this. He was now seventy years old, and went but +little from his own home. His chief pleasure was to sit in his shady +garden, and see his friends, who loved to solace the musical patriarch +with cheerful talk and music. Haydn often fell into deep melancholy, and +he tells us that God revived him; for no more sweet, devout nature ever +lived. His art was ever a religion. A touching incident of his old age +occurred at a grand performance of "The Creation" in 1808. Haydn was +present, but he was so old and feeble that he had to be wheeled in a +chair into the theatre, where a princess of the house of Ester-hazy +took her seat by his side. This was the last time that Haydn appeared +in public, and a very impressive sight it must have been to see the aged +father of music listening to "The Creation" of his younger days, but too +old to take any active share in the performance. The presence of the old +man roused intense enthusiasm among the audience, which could no longer +be suppressed as the chorus and orchestra burst in full power upon the +superb passage, "And there was light." + +Amid the tumult of the enraptured audience the old composer was seen +striving to raise himself. Once on his feet, he mustered up all his +strength, and, in reply to the applause of the audience, he cried out +as loud as he was able: "No, no! not from me, but," pointing to heaven, +"from thence--from heaven above--comes all!" saying which, he fell back +in his chair, faint and exhausted, and had to be carried out of the +room. + +One year after this Vienna was bombarded by the French, and a shot fell +in Haydn's garden. He requested to be led to his piano, and played the +"Hymn to the Emperor" three times over with passionate eloquence and +pathos. This was his last performance. He died five days afterward, aged +seventy-seven, and lies buried in the cemetery of Gumpfenzdorf, in his +own beloved Vienna. + + +VI. + +The serene, genial face of Haydn, as seen in his portraits, measures +accurately the character of his music. In both we see health fulness, +good-humor, vivacity, devotional feeling, and warm affections; a mind +contented, but yet attaching high importance to only one thing in life, +the composing of music. Haydn pursued this with a calm, insatiable +industry, without haste, without rest. His works number eight hundred, +comprising cantatas, symphonies, oratorios, masses, concertos, trios, +sonatas, quartets, minuets, etc., and also twenty-two operas, eight +German and fourteen Italian. + +As a creative mind in music, Haydn was the father of the quartet and +symphony. Adopting the sonata form as scientifically illustrated by +Emanuel Bach, he introduced it into compositions for the orchestra +and the chamber. He developed these into a completeness and full-orbed +symmetry, which have never been improved. Mozart is richer, Beethoven +more sublime, Schubert more luxuriant, Mendelssohn more orchestral and +passionate; but Haydn has never been surpassed in his keen perception +of the capacities of instruments, his subtile distribution of parts, his +variety in treating his themes, and his charmingly legitimate effects. +He fills a large space in musical history, not merely from the number, +originality, and beauty of his compositions, but as one who represents +an era in art-development. + +In Haydn genius and industry were happily united. With a marvelously +rich flow of musical ideas, he clearly knew what he meant to do, and +never neglected the just elaboration of each one. He would labor on a +theme till it had shaped itself into perfect beauty. + +Haydn is illustrious in the history of art as a complete artistic life, +which worked out all of its contents as did the great Goethe. In the +words of a charming writer: "His life was a rounded whole. There was no +broken light about it; it orbed slowly, with a mild, unclouded lustre, +into a perfect star. Time was gentle with him, and Death was kind, for +both waited upon his genius until all was won. Mozart was taken away at +an age when new and dazzling effects had not ceased to flash through +his brain: at the very moment when his harmonies began to have a +prophetic ring of the nineteenth century, it was decreed that he should +not see its dawn. Beethoven himself had but just entered upon an unknown +'sea whose margin seemed to fade forever and forever as he moved;' but +good old Haydn had come into port over a calm sea and after a prosperous +voyage. The laurel wreath was this time woven about silver locks; the +gathered-in harvest was ripe and golden." + + + + +MOZART. + + +I. + +The life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, one of the immortal names in music, +contradicts the rule that extraordinary youthful talent is apt to be +followed by a sluggish and commonplace maturity. His father entered the +room one day with a friend, and found the child bending over a music +score. The little Mozart, not yet five years old, told his father he was +writing a concerto for the piano. The latter examined it, and tears of +joy and astonishment rolled down his face on perceiving its accuracy. + +"It is good, but too difficult for general use," said the friend. + +"Oh," said Wolfgang, "it must be practised till it is learned. This is +the way it goes." So saying, he played it with perfect correctness. + +About the same time he offered to take the violin at a performance of +some chamber music. His father refused, saying, "How can you? You have +never learned the violin." + +"One needs not study for that," said this musical prodigy; and taking +the instrument, he played second violin with ease and accuracy. Such +precocity seems almost incredible, and only in the history of music does +it find any parallel. + +Born in Salzburg, January 27, 1756, he was carefully trained by his +father, who resigned his place as court musician to devote himself +more exclusively to his family. From the earliest age he showed an +extraordinary passion for music and mathematics, scrawling notes and +diagrams in every place accessible to his insatiate pencil. + +Taken to Vienna, the six-year-old virtuoso astonished the court by his +brilliant talents. The future Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, was +particularly delighted with him, and the little Mozart naively said he +would like to marry her, for she was so good to him. His father devoted +several years to an artistic tour, with him and his little less talented +sister, through the German cities, and it was also extended to Paris and +London. Everywhere the greatest enthusiasm was evinced in this charming +bud of promise. The father writes home: "We have swords, laces, +mantillas, snuff-boxes, gold cases, sufficient to furnish a shop; but as +for money, it is a scarce article, and I am positively poor." + +At Paris they were warmly received at the court, and the boy is said +to have expressed his surprise when Mme. Pompadour refused to kiss him, +saying: "Who is she, that she will not kiss me? Have I not been kissed +by the queen?" In London his improvisations and piano sonatas excited +the greatest admiration. Here he also published his third work. These +journeys were an uninterrupted chain of triumphs for the child-virtuoso +on the piano, organ, violin, and in singing. He was made honorary member +of the Academies of Bologna and Verona, decorated with orders, +and received at the age of thirteen an order to write the opera of +"Mithridates," which was successfully produced at Milan in 1770. Several +other fine minor compositions were also written to order at this time +for his Italian admirers. At Rome Mozart attended the Sistine Chapel +and wrote the score of Allegri's great mass, forbidden by the pope to be +copied, from the memory of a single performance. + +The record of Mozart's youthful triumphs might be extended at great +length; but aside from the proof they furnish of his extraordinary +precocity, they have lent little vital significance in the great problem +of his career, except so far as they stimulated the marvelous boy to lay +a deep foundation for his greater future, which, short as it was, was +fruitful in undying results. + + +II. + +Mozart's life in Paris, where he lived with his mother in 1778 and +1779, was a disappointment, for he despised the French nation. His deep, +simple, German nature revolted from Parisian frivolity, in which he +found only sensuality and coarseness, disguised under a thin veneering +of social grace. He abhorred French music in these bitter terms: "The +French are and always will be downright donkeys. They cannot sing, they +scream." It was just at this time that Gluck and Piccini were having +their great art-duel. We get a glimpse of the pious tendency of the +young composer in his characterization of Voltaire: "The ungodly +arch-villain, Voltaire, has just died like a dog." Again he writes: +"Friends who have no religion cannot long be my friends.... I have such +a sense of religion that I shall never do anything that I would not do +before the whole world." + +With Mozart's return to Germany in 1779, being then twenty-three years +of age, comes the dawn of his classical period as a composer. The +greater number of his masses had already been written, and now he +settled himself in serious earnest to the cultivation of a true German +operatic school. This found its dawn in the production of "Idomeneo," +his first really great work for the lyric stage. + +The young composer had hard struggles with poverty in these days. His +letters to his father are full of revelations of his friction with +the little worries of life. Lack of money pinched him close, yet his +cheerful spirit was ever buoyant. "I have only one small room; it is +quite crammed with a piano, a table, a bed, and a chest of drawers," he +writes. + +Yet he would marry; for he was willing to face poverty in the +companionship of a loving woman who dared to face it with him. At +Mannheim he had met a beautiful young singer, Aloysia Weber, and he went +to Munich to offer her marriage. She, however, saw nothing attractive +in the thin, pale young man, with his long nose, great eyes, and +little head; for he was anything but prepossessing. A younger sister, +Constance, however, secretly loved Mozart, and he soon transferred his +repelled affections to this charming woman, whom he married in 1782 at +the house of Baroness Waldstetten. His _naïve_ reasons for marrying show +Mozart's ingenuous nature. He had no one to take care of his linen, he +would not live dissolutely like other young men, and he loved Constance +Weber. His answer to his father, who objected on account of his poverty, +is worth quoting: + +"Constance is a well-conducted, good girl, of respectable parentage, and +I am in a position to earn at least _daily bread_ for her. We love +each other, and are resolved to marry. All that you have written or +may possibly write on the subject can be nothing but well-meant advice, +which, however good and sensible, can no longer apply to a man who has +gone so far with a girl." + +Poor as Mozart was, he possessed such integrity and independence that +he refused a most liberal offer from the King of Prussia to become his +chapel-master, for some unexplained reason which involved his sense of +right and wrong. The first year of his marriage he wrote "Il Seraglio," +and made the acquaintance of the aged Gluck, who took a deep interest in +him and warmly praised his genius. Haydn, too, recognized his brilliant +powers. "I tell you, on the word of an honest man," said the author of +the "Creation" to Leopold Mozart, the father, who asked his opinion, +"that I consider your son the greatest composer I have ever heard. He +writes with taste, and possesses a thorough knowledge of composition." + +Poverty and increasing expense pricked Mozart into intense, restless +energy. His life had no lull in its creative industry. His splendid +genius, insatiable and tireless, broke down his body, like a sword +wearing out its scabbard. He poured out symphonies, operas, and sonatas +with such prodigality as to astonish us, even when recollecting how +fecund the musical mind has often been. Alike as artist and composer, he +never ceased his labors. Day after day and night after night he hardly +snatched an hour's rest. We can almost fancy he foreboded how short +his brilliant life was to be, and was impelled to crowd into its brief +compass its largest measure of results. + +Yet he was always pursued by the spectre of want. Oftentimes his sick +wife could not obtain needed medicines. He made more money than most +musicians, yet was always impoverished. But it was his glory that he +was never impoverished by sensual indulgence, extravagance, and riotous +living, but by his lavish generosity to those who in many instances +needed help less than himself. Like many other men of genius and +sensibility, he could not say "no" to even the pretense of distress and +suffering. + + +III. + +The culminating point of Mozart's artistic development was in 1786. The +"Marriage of Figaro" was the first of a series of masterpieces which +cannot be surpassed alike for musical greatness and their hold on +the lyric stage. The next year "Don Giovanni" saw the light, and was +produced at Prague. The overture of this opera was composed and scored +in less than six hours. The inhabitants of Prague greeted the work with +the wildest enthusiasm, for they seemed to understand Mozart better than +the Viennese. + +During this period he made frequent concert tours to recruit his +fortunes, but with little financial success. Presents of watches, +snuff-boxes, and rings were common, but the returns were so small that +Mozart was frequently obliged to pawn his gifts to purchase a dinner and +lodging. What a comment on the period which adored genius, but allowed +it to starve! His audiences could be enthusiastic enough to carry him +to his hotel on their shoulders, but probably never thought that the +wherewithal of a hearty supper was a more seasonable homage. So our +musician struggled on through the closing years of his life with the +wolf constantly at his door, and an invalid wife whom he passionately +loved, yet must needs see suffer from the want of common necessaries. In +these modern days, when distinguished artists make princely fortunes +by the exercise of their musical gifts, it is not easy to believe that +Mozart, recognized as the greatest pianoforte player and composer of his +time by all of musical Germany, could suffer such dire extremes of want +as to be obliged more than once to beg for a dinner. In 1791 he composed +the score of the "Magic Flute" at the request of Schikaneder, a Viennese +manager, who had written the text from a fairy tale, the fantastic +elements of which are peculiarly German in their humor. Mozart put +great earnestness into the work, and made it the first German opera of +commanding merit, which embodied the essential intellectual sentiment +and kindly warmth of popular German life. The manager paid the composer +but a trifle for a work whose transcendent success enabled him to build +a new opera-house and laid the foundation of a large fortune. We are +told, too, that at the time of Mozart's death in extreme want, when his +sick wife, half maddened with grief, could not buy a coffin for the dead +composer, this hard-hearted wretch, who owed his all to the genius of +the great departed, rushed about through Vienna bewailing the loss to +music with sentimental tears, but did not give the heart-broken widow +one kreutzer to pay the expense of a decent burial. + +In 1791 Mozart's health was breaking down with great rapidity, though +he himself would never recognize his own swiftly advancing fate. He +experienced, however, a deep melancholy which nothing could remove. For +the first time his habitual cheerfulness deserted him. His wife had been +enabled through the kindness of her friends to visit the healing waters +of Baden, and was absent. + +An incident now occurred which impressed Mozart with an ominous chill. +One night there came a stranger, singularly dressed in gray, with an +order for a requiem to be composed without fail within a month. The +visitor, without revealing his name, departed in mysterious gloom, as +he came. Again the stranger called and solemnly reminded Mozart of his +promise. The composer easily persuaded himself that this was a visitor +from the other world, and that the requiem would be his own; for he +was exhausted with labor and sickness, and easily became the prey of +superstitious fancies. When his wife returned, she found him with a +fatal pallor on his face, silent and melancholy, laboring with intense +absorption on the funereal mass. He would sit brooding over the score +till he swooned away in his chair, and only come to consciousness to +bend his waning energies again to their ghastly work. The mysterious +visitor, whom Mozart believed to be the precursor of his death, we now +know to have been Count Walseck, who had recently lost his wife, and +wished a musical memorial. + +His final sickness attacked the composer while laboring at the requiem. +The musical world was ringing with the fame of his last opera. To the +dying man was brought the offer of the rich appointment of organist of +St. Stephen's Cathedral. Most flattering propositions were made him by +eager managers, who had become thoroughly awake to his genius when it +was too late. The great Mozart was dying in the very prime of his youth +and his powers, when success was in his grasp and the world opening wide +its arms to welcome his glorious gifts with substantial recognition; +but all too late; for he was doomed to die in his spring-tide, though "a +spring mellow with all the fruits of autumn." + +The unfinished requiem lay on the bed, and his last efforts were to +imitate some peculiar instrumental effects, as he breathed out his life +in the arms of his wife and his friend Süssmaier. + +The epilogue to this life-drama is one of the saddest in the history of +art: a pauper funeral for one of the world's greatest geniuses. "It was +late one winter afternoon," says an old record, "before the coffin was +deposited on the side aisles on the south side of St. Stephen's. Van +Swieten, Salieri, Süssmaier, and two unknown musicians were the only +persons present besides the officiating priest and the pall-bearers. +It was a terribly inclement day; rain and sleet came down fast; and an +eye-witness describes how the little band of mourners stood shivering +in the blast, with their umbrellas up, round the hearse, as it left +the door of the church. It was then far on in the dark cold December +afternoon, and the evening was fast closing in before the solitary +hearse had passed the Stubenthor, and reached the distant graveyard of +St. Marx, in which, among the 'third class,' the great composer of the +'G minor Symphony' and the 'Requiem' found his resting-place. By this +time the weather had proved too much for all the mourners; they had +dropped off one by one, and Mozart's body was accompanied only by the +driver of the carriage. There had been already two pauper funerals that +day--one of them a midwife--and Mozart was to be the third in the grave +and the uppermost. + +"When the hearse drew up in the slush and sleet at the gate of the +graveyard, it was welcomed by a strange pair, Franz Harruschka, the +assistant grave-digger, and his mother Katharina, known as 'Frau Katha,' +who filled the quaint office of official mendicant to the place. + +"The old woman was the first to speak: 'Any coaches or mourners coming?' + +"A shrug from the driver of the hearse was the only response. + +"'Whom have you got there, then?' continued she. + +"'A band-master,' replied the other. + +"'A musician? they're a poor lot; then I've no more money to look for +to-day. It is to be hoped we shall have better luck in the morning.' + +"To which the driver said, with a laugh: 'I'm devilish thirsty, too--not +a kreutzer of drink-money have I had.' + +"After this curious colloquy the coffin was dismounted and shoved into +the top of the grave already occupied by the two paupers of the morning; +and such was Mozart's last appearance on earth." + +To-day no stone marks the spot where were deposited the last remains +of one of the brightest of musical spirits; indeed, the very grave is +unknown, for it was the grave of a pauper. + + +IV. + +Mozart's charming letters reveal to us such a gentle, sparkling, +affectionate nature, as to inspire as much love for the man as +admiration for his genius. Sunny humor and tenderness bubble in almost +every sentence. A clever writer says that "opening these is like +opening a painted tomb.... The colors are all fresh, the figures are all +distinct." + +No better illustration of the man Mozart can be had than in a few +extracts from his correspondence. + +He writes to his sister from Rome while yet a mere lad: + +"I am, thank God! except my miserable pen, well, and send you and mamma +a thousand kisses. I wish you were in Rome; I am sure it would please +you. Papa says I am a little fool, but that is nothing new. Here we have +but one bed; it is easy to understand that I can't rest comfortably +with papa. I shall be glad when we get into new quarters. I have just +finished drawing the Holy Peter with his keys, the Holy Paul with his +sword, and the Holy Luke with my sister. I have had the honor of kissing +St. Peter's foot; and because I am so small as to be unable to reach it, +they had to lift me up. I am the same old +"Wolfgang." + +Mozart was very fond of this sister Nannerl, and he used to write to +her in a playful mosaic of French, German, and Italian. Just after his +wedding he writes: + +"My darling is now a hundred times more joyful at the idea of going to +Salzburg, and I am willing to stake--ay, my very life, that you will +rejoice still more in my happiness when you know her; if, indeed, in +your estimation, as in mine, a high-principled, honest, virtuous, and +pleasing wife ought to make a man happy." + +Late in his short life he writes the following characteristic note to a +friend, whose life does not appear to have been one of the most regular: + +"Now tell me, my dear friend, how you are. I hope you are all as well as +we are. You cannot fail to be happy, for you possess everything that +you can wish for at your age and in your position, especially as you +now seem to have entirely given up your former mode of life. Do you not +every day become more convinced of the truth of the little lectures I +used to inflict on you? Are not the pleasures of a transient, capricious +passion widely different from the happiness produced by rational and +true love? I feel sure that you often in your heart thank me for my +admonitions. I shall feel quite proud if you do. But, jesting apart, +you do really owe me some little gratitude if you are become worthy of +Fräulein N------, for I certainly played no insignificant part in your +improvement or reform. + +"My great-grandfather used to say to his wife, my great-grandmother, +who in turn told it to her daughter, my mother, who repeated it to her +daughter, my own sister, that it was a very great art to talk eloquently +and well, but an equally great one to know the right moment to stop. I +therefore shall follow the advice of my sister, thanks to our mother, +grandmother, and great-grandmother, and thus end, not only my moral +ebullition, but my letter." + +His playful tenderness lavished itself on his wife in a thousand quaint +ways. He would, for example, rise long before her to take his horseback +exercise, and always kiss her sleeping face and leave a little note like +the following resting on her forehead: "Good-morning, dear little wife! +I hope you have had a good sleep and pleasant dreams. I shall be back in +two hours. Behave yourself like a good little girl, and don't run away +from your husband." + +Speaking of an infant child, our composer would say merrily, "That boy +will be a true Mozart, for he always cries in the very key in which I am +playing." + +Mozart's musical greatness, shown in the symmetry of his art as well as +in the richness of his inspirations, has been unanimously acknowledged +by his brother composers. Meyerbeer could not restrain his tears when +speaking of him. Weber, Mendelssohn, Rossini, and Wagner always praise +him in terms of enthusiastic admiration. Haydn called him the greatest +of composers. In fertility of invention, beauty of form, and exactness +of method, he has never been surpassed, and has but one or two rivals. +The composer of three of the greatest operas in musical history, besides +many of much more than ordinary excellence; of symphonies that rival +Haydn's for symmetry and melodic affluence; of a great number of +quartets, quintets, etc.; and of pianoforte sonatas which rank high +among the best; of many masses that are standard in the service of the +Catholic Church; of a great variety of beautiful songs--there is hardly +any form of music which he did not richly adorn with the treasures of +his genius. We may well say, in the words of one of his most competent +critics: + +"Mozart was a king and a slave--king in his own beautiful realm of +music; slave of the circumstances and the conditions of this world. +Once over the boundaries of his own kingdom, and he was supreme; but the +powers of the earth acknowledged not his sovereignty." + + + + +BEETHOVEN. + + +I. + +The name and memory of this composer awaken, in the heart of the lover +of music, sentiments of the deepest reverence and admiration. His life +was so marked with affliction and so isolated as to make him, in his +environment of conditions as a composer, a unique figure. + +The principal fact which made the exterior life of Beethoven so bare of +the ordinary pleasures that brighten and sweeten existence, his total +deafness, greatly enriched his spiritual life. Music finally became to +him a purely intellectual conception, for he was without any sensual +enjoyment of its effects. To this Samson of music, for whom the ear was +like the eye to other men, Milton's lines may indeed well apply: + + "Oh! dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon! + Irrecoverably dark--total eclipse, + Without all hope of day! + Oh first created Beam, and thou, great Word, + 'Let there be light,' and light was over all, + Why am I thus bereaved thy prime decree? + The sun to me is dark." + +To his severe affliction we owe alike many of the defects of his +character and the splendors of his genius. All his powers, concentrated +into a spiritual focus, wrought such things as lift him into a solitary +greatness. The world has agreed to measure this man as it measures +Homer, Dante, and Shakespeare. We do not compare him with others. + +Beethoven had the reputation among his contemporaries of being harsh, +bitter, suspicious, and unamiable. There is much to justify this in the +circumstances of his life; yet our readers will discover much to show, +on the other hand, how deep, strong, and tender was the heart which was +so wrung and tortured, and wounded to the quick by-- + +"The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune." + +Weber gives a picture of Beethoven: "The square Cyclopean figure attired +in a shabby coat with torn sleeves." Everybody will remember his noble, +austere face, as seen in the numerous prints: the square, massive head, +with the forest of rough hair; the strong features, so furrowed with the +marks of passion and sadness; the eyes, with their look of introspection +and insight; the whole expression of the countenance as of an ancient +prophet. Such was the impression made by Beethoven on all who saw him, +except in his moods of fierce wrath, which toward the last were not +uncommon, though short-lived. A sorely tried, sublimely gifted man, he +met his fate stubbornly, and worked out his great mission with all his +might and main, through long years of weariness and trouble. Posterity +has rewarded him by enthroning him on the highest peaks of musical fame. + + +II. + +Ludwig van Beethoven was born at Bonn, in 1770. It is a singular fact +that at an early age he showed the deepest distaste for music, unlike +the other great composers, who evinced their bent from their earliest +years. His father was obliged to whip him severely before he would +consent to sit down at the harpsichord; and it was not till he was +past ten that his genuine interest in music showed itself. His first +compositions displayed his genius. Mozart heard him play them, and said, +"Mind, you will hear that boy talked of." Haydn, too, met Beethoven for +the first and only time when the former was on his way to England, +and recognized his remarkable powers. He gave him a few lessons in +composition, and was after that anxious to claim the young Titan as a +pupil. + +"Yes," growled Beethoven, who for some queer reason never liked Haydn, +"I had some lessons of him, indeed, but I was not his disciple. I never +learned anything from him." + +Beethoven made a profound impression even as a youth on all who +knew him. Aside from the palpable marks of his power, there was +an indomitable _hauteur_, a mysterious, self-wrapped air as of one +constantly communing with the invisible, an unconscious assertion of +mastery about him, which strongly impressed the imagination. + +At the very outset of his career, when life promised all fair and bright +things to him, two comrades linked themselves to him, and ever after +that refused to give him up--grim poverty and still grimmer disease. +About the same time that he lost a fixed salary through the death of +his friend the Elector of Cologne, he began to grow deaf. Early in +1800, walking one day in the woods with his devoted friend and pupil, +Ferdinand Ries, he disclosed the sad secret to him that the whole joyous +world of sound was being gradually closed up to him; the charm of the +human voice, the notes of the woodland birds, the sweet babblings of +Nature, jargon to others, but intelligible to genius, the full-born +splendors of _heard_ music--all, all were fast receding from his grasp. + +Beethoven was extraordinarily sensitive to the influences of Nature. +Before his disease became serious he writes: "I wander about here with +music-paper among the hills, and dales, and valleys, and scribble a good +deal. No man on earth can love the country as I do." But one of Nature's +most delightful modes of speech to man was soon to be utterly lost to +him. At last he became so deaf that the most stunning crash of thunder +or the _fortissimo_ of the full orchestra were to him as if they were +not. His bitter, heartrending cry of agony, when he became convinced +that the misfortune was irremediable, is full of eloquent despair: "As +autumn leaves wither and fall, so are my hopes blighted. Almost as I +came, I depart. Even the lofty courage, which so often animated me in +the lovely days of summer, is gone forever. O Providence! vouchsafe me +one day of pure felicity! How long have I been estranged from the glad +echo of true joy! When, O my God! when shall I feel it again in the +temple of Nature and man? Never!" + +And the small-souled, mole-eyed gossips and critics called him hard, +churlish, and cynical--him, for whom the richest thing in Nature's +splendid dower had been obliterated, except a soul, which never in its +deepest sufferings lost its noble faith in God and man, or allowed its +indomitable courage to be one whit weakened. That there were periods +of utterly rayless despair and gloom we may guess; but not for long did +Beethoven's great nature cower before its evil genius. + + +III. + +Within three years, from 1805 to 1808, Beethoven composed some of his +greatest works: the oratorio of "The Mount of Olives," the opera of +"Fidelio," and the two noble symphonies, "Pastorale" and "Eroica," +besides a large number of concertos, sonatas, songs, and other +occasional pieces. However gloomy the externals of his life, his +creative activities knew no cessation. + +The "Sinfonia Eroica," the "Choral" only excepted, is the longest of +the immortal nine, and is one of the greatest examples of musical +portraiture extant. All the great composers from Handel to Wagner have +attempted what is called descriptive music with more or less success, +but never have musical genius and skill achieved a result so admirable +in its relation to its purpose and by such strictly legitimate means as +in this work. + +"The 'Eroica,'" says a great writer, "is an attempt to draw a musical +portrait of an historical character--a great statesman, a great +general, a noble individual; to represent in music--Beethoven's own +language--what M. Thiers has given in words and Paul Delaroche in +painting." Of Beethoven's success another writer has said: "It wants +no title to tell its meaning, for throughout the symphony the hero is +visibly portrayed." + +It is anything but difficult to realize why Beethoven should have +admired the first Napoleon. Both the soldier and musician were made +of that sturdy stuff which would and did defy the world; and it is not +strange that Beethoven should have desired in some way--and he knew +of no better course than through his art--to honor one so +characteristically akin to himself, and who at that time was the most +prominent man in Europe. Beethoven began the work in 1802, and in 1804 +it was completed, and bore the following title: + + Sinfonia grande + + "Napoleon Bonaparte" + + 1804 in August + + del Sigr + + Louis van Beethoven + + Sinfonia 3. + + Op. 55. + + +This was copied and the original score dispatched to the embassador for +presentation, while Beethoven retained the copy. Before the composition +was laid before Napoleon, however, the great general had accepted the +title of Emperor. No sooner did Beethoven hear of this from his pupil +Ries than he started up in a rage, and exclaimed: "After all, then, he's +nothing but an ordinary mortal! He will trample the rights of men under +his feet!" saying which, he rushed to his table, seized the copy of the +score, and tore the title-page completely off. From this time Beethoven +hated Napoleon, and never again spoke of him in connection with the +symphony until he heard of his death in St. Helena, when he observed, "I +have already composed music for this calamity," evidently referring to +the "Funeral March" in this symphony. + +The opera of "Fidelio," which he composed about the same time, may be +considered, in the severe sense of a great and symmetrical musical work, +the finest lyric drama ever written, with the possible exception of +Gluck's "Orpheus and Eurydice" and "Iphigenia in Tauris." It is rarely +performed, because its broad, massive, and noble effects are beyond +the capacity of most singers, and belong to the domain of pure music, +demanding but little alliance with the artistic clap-trap of startling +scenery and histrionic extravagance. Yet our composer's conscience shows +its completeness in his obedience to the law of opera; for the music he +has written to express the situations cannot be surpassed for beauty, +pathos, and passion. Beethoven, like Mendelssohn, revolted from the idea +of lyric drama as an art-inconsistency, but he wrote "Fidelio" to show +his possibilities in a direction with which he had but little sympathy. + +He composed four overtures for this opera at different periods, on +account of the critical caprices of the Viennese public--a concession to +public taste which his stern independence rarely made. + + +IV. + +Beethoven's relations with women were peculiar and characteristic, as +were all the phases of a nature singularly self-poised and robust. Like +all men of powerful imagination and keen (though perhaps not delicate) +sensibility, he was strongly attracted toward the softer sex. But a +certain austerity of morals, and that purity of feeling which is the +inseparable shadow of one's devotion to lofty aims, always kept +him within the bounds of Platonic affection. Yet there is enough +in Beethoven's letters, as scanty as their indications are in this +direction, to show what ardor and glow of feeling he possessed. + +About the time that he was suffering keenly with the knowledge of his +fast-growing infirmity, he was bound by a strong tie of affection to +Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, his "immortal beloved," "his angel," +"his all," "his life," as he called her in a variety of passionate +utterances. It was to her that he dedicated his song "Adelaida," which +as an expression of lofty passion is world-famous. Beethoven was very +much dissatisfied with the work even in the glow of composition. Before +the notes were dry on the music paper, the composer's old friend Barth +was announced. "Here," said Beethoven, putting a roll of score paper in +Earth's hands, "look at that. I have just finished it, and don't like +it. There is hardly fire enough in the stove to burn it, but I will +try." Barth glanced through the composition, then sang it, and soon grew +into such enthusiasm as to draw from Beethoven the expression, "No? +then we will not burn it, old fellow." Whether it was the reaction of +disgust, which so often comes to genius after the tension of work, or +whether his ideal of its lovely theme was so high as to make all effort +seem inadequate, the world came very near losing what it could not +afford to have missed. + +The charming countess, however, preferred rank, wealth, and unruffled +ease to being linked even with a great genius, if, indeed, the affair +ever looked in the direction of marriage. She married another, and +Beethoven does not seem to have been seriously disturbed. It may be +that, like Goethe, he valued the love of woman not for itself or its +direct results, but as an art-stimulus which should enrich and fructify +his own intellectual life. + +We get glimpses of successors to the fair countess. The beautiful Marie +Pachler was for some time the object of his adoration. The affair is a +somewhat mysterious one, and the lady seems to have suffered from the +fire through which her powerful companion passed unscathed. Again, +quaintest and oddest of all, is the fancy kindled by that "mysterious +sprite of genius," as one of her contemporaries calls her, Bettina +Brentano, the gifted child-woman, who fascinated all who came within her +reach, from Goethe and Beethoven down to princes and nobles. Goethe's +correspondence with this strange being has embalmed her life in classic +literature. + +Our composer's intercourse with women--for he was always alive to the +charms of female society--was for the most part homely and practical in +the extreme, after his deafness destroyed the zest of the more romantic +phases of the divine passion. He accepted adoration, as did Dean Swift, +as a right. He permitted his female admirers to knit him stockings and +comforters, and make him dainty puddings and other delicacies, which he +devoured with huge gusto. He condescended, in return, to go to sleep on +their sofas, after picking his teeth with the candle-snuffers (so +says scandal), while they thrummed away at his sonatas, the artistic +slaughter of which Beethoven was mercifully unable to hear. + + +V. + +The friendship of the Archduke Rudolph relieved Beethoven of the +immediate pressure of poverty; for in 1809 he settled a small +life-pension upon him. The next ten years were passed by him in +comparative ease and comfort, and in this time he gave to the world five +of his immortal symphonies, and a large number of his finest sonatas and +masses. His general health improved very much; and in his love for his +nephew Karl, whom Beethoven had adopted, the lonely man found an outlet +for his strong affections, which was medicine for his soul, though the +object was worthless and ungrateful. + +We get curious and amusing insights into the daily tenor of Beethoven's +life during this period--things sometimes almost grotesque, were they +not so sad. The composer lived a solitary life, and was very much at the +mercy of his servants on account of his self-absorption and deafness. +He was much worried by these prosaic cares. One story of a slatternly +servant is as follows: The master was working at the mass in D, the +great work which he commenced in 1819 for the celebration of the +appointment of the Archduke Rudolph as Archbishop of Olmutz, and which +should have been completed by the following year. Beethoven, however, +became so engrossed with his work, and increased its proportions so +much, that it was not finished until some two years after the event +which it was intended to celebrate. While Beethoven was engaged upon +this score, he one day woke up to the fact that some of his pages were +missing. "Where on earth could they be?" he asked himself, and the +servant too; but the problem remained unsolved. Beethoven, beside +himself, spent hours and hours in searching, and so did the servant, but +it was all in vain. At last they gave up the task as a useless one, and +Beethoven, mad with despair, and pouring the very opposite to blessings +upon the head of her who, he believed, was the author of the mischief, +sat down with the conclusion that he must rewrite the missing part. He +had no sooner commenced a new Kyrie--for this was the movement which was +not to be found--than some loose sheets of score paper were discovered +in the kitchen! Upon examination they proved to be the identical pages +that Beethoven so much desired, and which the woman, in her anxiety to +be "tidy" and to "keep things straight," had appropriated at some time +or other for wrapping up, not only old boots and clothes, but also some +superannuated pots and pans that were greasy and black! + +Thus he was continually fretted by the carelessness or the rascality of +the servants in whom he was obliged to trust. He writes in his diary: +"Nancy is too uneducated for a housekeeper--indeed, quite a beast." "My +precious servants were occupied from seven o'clock till ten trying to +kindle a fire." "The cook's off again." "I shied half a dozen books at +her head." They made his dinner so nasty he couldn't eat it. "No soup +to-day, no beef, no eggs. Got something from the inn at last." + +His temper and peculiarities, too, made it difficult for him to live in +peace with landlords and fellow-lodgers. As his deafness increased, he +struck and thumped harder at the keys of his piano, the sound of which +he could scarcely hear. Nor was this all. The music that filled his +brain gave him no rest. He became an inspired madman. For hours he would +pace the room "howling and roaring" (as his pupil Ries puts it); or he +would stand beating time with hand and foot to the music which was +so vividly present to his mind. This soon put him into a feverish +excitement, when, to cool himself, he would take his water-jug, and, +thoughtless of everything, pour its contents over his hands, after which +he could sit down to his piano. With all this it can easily be imagined +that Beethoven was frequently remonstrated with. The landlord complained +of a damaged ceiling, and the fellow-lodgers declared that either they +or the madman must leave the house, for they could get no rest where he +was. So Beethoven never for long had a resting-place. Impatient at being +interfered with, he immediately packed up and went off to some other +vacant lodging. From this cause he was at one time paying the rent of +four lodgings at once. At times he would get tired of this changing from +one place to another--from the suburbs to the town--and then he would +fall back upon the hospitable home of a patron, once again taking +possession of an apartment which he had vacated, probably without +the least explanation or cause. One admirer of his genius, who always +reserved him a chamber in his establishment, used to say to his +servants: "Leave it empty; Beethoven is sure to come back again." + +The instant that Beethoven entered the house he began to write and +cipher on the walls, the blinds, the table, everything, in the most +abstracted manner. He frequently composed on slips of paper, which he +afterward misplaced, so that he had great difficulty in finding them. At +one time, indeed, he forgot his own name and the date of his birth. + +It is said that he once went into a Viennese restaurant, and, instead of +giving an order, began to write a score on the back of the bill-of-fare, +absorbed and unconscious of time and place. At last he asked how much +he owed. "You owe nothing, sir," said the waiter. "What! do you think I +have not dined?" "Most assuredly." "Very well, then, give me something." +"What do you wish?" "Anything." + +These infirmities do not belittle the man of genius, but set off his +greatness as with a foil. They illustrate the thought of Goethe: "It is +all the same whether one is great or small, he has to pay the reckoning +of humanity." + + +VI. + +Yet beneath these eccentricities what wealth of tenderness, sympathy, +and kindliness existed! His affection for his graceless nephew Karl is a +touching picture. With the rest of his family he had never been on very +cordial terms. His feeling of contempt for snobbery and pretense is very +happily illustrated in his relations with his brother Johann. The latter +had acquired property, and he sent Ludwig his card, inscribed "Johann +van Beethoven, land-owner." The caustic reply was a card, on which +was written, "Ludwig van Beethoven, brain-owner." But on Karl all the +warmest feelings of a nature which had been starving to love and be +loved poured themselves out. He gave the scapegrace every luxury and +indulgence, and, self-absorbed as he was in an ideal sphere, felt the +deepest interest in all the most trivial things that concerned him. Much +to the uncle's sorrow, Karl cared nothing for music; but, worst of +all, he was an idle, selfish, heartless fellow, who sneered at his +benefactor, and valued him only for what he could get from him. At last +Beethoven became fully aware of the lying ingratitude of his nephew, and +he exclaims: "I know now you have no pleasure in coming to see me, which +is only natural, for my atmosphere is too pure for you. God has never +yet forsaken me, and no doubt some one will be found to close my eyes." +Yet the generous old man forgave him, for he says in the codicil of his +will, "I appoint my nephew Karl my sole heir." + +Frequently, glimpses of the true vein showed themselves in such little +episodes as that which occurred when Moscheles, accompanied by his +brother, visited the great musician for the first time. + +"Arrived at the door of the house," writes Moscheles, "I had some +misgivings, knowing Beethoven's strong aversion to strangers. I +therefore told my brother to wait below. After greeting Beethoven, I +said: 'Will you permit me to introduce my brother to you?' + +"'Where is he?' he suddenly replied. + +"'Below.' + +"'What, down-stairs?' and Beethoven immediately rushed off, seized hold +of my brother, saying: 'Am I such a savage that you are afraid to come +near me?' + +"After this he showed great kindness to us." + +While referring to the relations of Moscheles and Beethoven, the +following anecdote related by Mme. Moscheles will be found suggestive. +The pianist had been arranging some numbers of "Fidelio," which he +took to the composer. He, _à la_ Haydn, had inscribed the score with the +words, "By God's help." Beethoven did not fail to perceive this, and he +wrote underneath this phylactory the characteristic advice: "O man, help +thyself." + +The genial and sympathetic nature of Beethoven is illustrated in this +quaint incident: + +It was in the summer of 1811 that Ludwig Lowe, the actor, first met +Beethoven in the dining-room of the Blue Star at Toplitz. Lowe was +paying his addresses to the landlord's daughter; and conversation being +impossible at the hour he dined there, the charming creature one day +whispered to him: "Come at a later hour when the customers are gone and +only Beethoven is here. He cannot hear, and will therefore not be in +the way." This answered for a time; but the stern parents, observing +the acquaintanceship, ordered the actor to leave the house and not to +return. "How great was our despair!" relates Lowe. "We both desired to +correspond, but through whom? Would the solitary man at the opposite +table assist us? Despite his serious reserve and seeming churlishness, +I believe he is not unfriendly. I have often caught a kind smile across +his bold, defiant face." Lôwe determined to try. Knowing Beethoven's +custom, he contrived to meet the master when he was walking in the +gardens. Beethoven instantly recognized him, and asked the reason why he +no longer dined at the Blue Star. A full confession was made, and then +Lowe timidly asked if he would take charge of a letter to give to the +girl. + +"Why not?" pleasantly observed the rough-looking musician. "You mean +what is right." + +So pocketing the note, he was making his way onward when Lowe again +interfered. + +"I beg your pardon, Herr van Beethoven, that is not all." + +"So, so," said the master. + +"You must also bring back the answer," Lowe went on to say. + +"Meet me here at this time to-morrow," said Beethoven. + +Lowe did so, and there found Beethoven awaiting him, with the coveted +reply from his lady-love. In this manner Beethoven carried the letters +backward and forward for some five or six weeks--in short, as long as he +remained in the town. + +His friendship with Ferdinand Ries commenced in a way which testified +how grateful he was for kindness. When his mother lay ill at Bonn, he +hurried home from Vienna just in time to witness her death. After the +funeral he suffered greatly from poverty, and was relieved by Ries the +violinist. Years afterward young Ries waited on Beethoven with a letter +of introduction from his father. The composer received him with cordial +warmth, and said: "Tell your father I have not forgotten the death of +my mother." Ever afterward he was a helpful and devoted friend to young +Ries, and was of inestimable value in forwarding his musical career. + +Beethoven in his poverty never forgot to be generous. At a concert given +in aid of wounded soldiers, where he conducted, he indignantly refused +payment with the words: "Say Beethoven never accepts anything where +humanity is concerned." To an Ursuline convent he gave an entirely new +symphony to be performed at their benefit concert. Friend or enemy +never applied to him for help that he did not freely give, even to the +pinching of his own comfort. + + +VII. + +Rossini could write best when he was under the influence of Italian wine +and sparkling champagne. Paesiello liked the warm bed in which to jot +down his musical notions, and we are told that "it was between the +sheets that he planned the 'Barber of Seville,' the 'Molinara,' and so +many other _chefs-d'oeuvre_ of ease and gracefulness." Mozart could chat +and play at billiards or bowls at the same time that he composed the +most beautiful music. Sacchini found it impossible to write anything of +any beauty unless a pretty woman was by his side, and he was surrounded +by his cats, whose graceful antics stimulated and affected him in a +marked fashion. "Gluck," Bombet says, "in order to warm his imagination +and to transport himself to Aulis or Sparta, was accustomed to place +himself in the middle of a beautiful meadow. In this situation, with his +piano before him, and a bottle of champagne on each side, he wrote in +the open air his two 'Iphigenias,' his 'Orpheus,' and some other +works." The agencies which stimulated Beethoven's grandest thoughts +are eminently characteristic of the man. He loved to let the winds +and storms beat on his bare head, and see the dazzling play of the +lightning. Or, failing the sublimer moods of Nature, it was his +delight to walk in the woods and fields, and take in at every pore the +influences which she so lavishly bestows on her favorites. His true life +was his ideal life in art. To him it was a mission and an inspiration, +the end and object of all things; for these had value only as they fed +the divine craving within. + +"Nothing can be more sublime," he writes, "than to draw nearer to the +Godhead than other men, and to diffuse here on earth these Godlike rays +among mortals." Again: "What is all this compared to the grandest of all +Masters of Harmony--above, above?" + + "All experience seemed an arch, wherethrough + Gleamed that untraveled world, whose margin fades + Forever and forever as we move." + +The last four years of our composer's life were passed amid great +distress from poverty and feebleness. He could compose but little; and, +though his friends solaced his latter days with attention and kindness, +his sturdy independence would not accept more. It is a touching fact +that Beethoven voluntarily suffered want and privation in his last +years, that he might leave the more to his selfish and ungrateful +nephew. He died in 1827, in his fifty-seventh year, and is buried in +the Wahring Cemetery near Vienna. Let these extracts from a testamentary +paper addressed to his brothers in 1802, in expectation of death, speak +more eloquently of the hidden life of a heroic soul than any other words +could: + +"O ye, who consider or declare me to be hostile, obstinate, or +misanthropic, what injustice ye do me! Ye know not the secret causes of +that which to you wears such an appearance. My heart and my mind were +from childhood prone to the tender feelings of affection. Nay, I was +always disposed even to perform great actions. But, only consider that, +for the last six years, I have been attacked by an incurable complaint, +aggravated by the unskillful treatment of medical men, disappointed from +year to year in the hope of relief, and at last obliged to submit to the +endurance of an evil the cure of which may last perhaps for years, if +it is practicable at all. Born with a lively, ardent disposition, +susceptible to to the diversions of society, I was forced at an early +age to renounce them, and to pass my life in seclusion. If I strove at +any time to set myself above all this, oh how cruelly was I driven back +by the doubly painful experience of my defective hearing! and yet it +was not possible for me to say to people, 'Speak louder--bawl--for I +am deaf!' Ah! how could I proclaim the defect of a sense that I once +possessed in the highest perfection--in a perfection in which few of my +colleagues possess or ever did possess it? Indeed, I cannot! Forgive +me, then, if ye see me draw back when I would gladly mingle among you. +Doubly mortifying is my misfortune to me, as it must tend to cause me to +be misconceived. From recreation in the society of my fellow-creatures, +from the pleasures of conversation, from the effusions of friendship, I +am cut off. Almost alone in the world, I dare not venture into society +more than absolute necessity requires. I am obliged to live as an +exile. If I go into company, a painful anxiety comes over me, since I am +apprehensive of being exposed to the danger of betraying my situation. +Such has been my state, too, during this half year that I have spent in +the country. Enjoined by my intelligent physician to spare my hearing +as much as possible, I have been almost encouraged by him in my present +natural disposition, though, hurried away by my fondness for society, I +sometimes suffered myself to be enticed into it. But what a humiliation +when any one standing beside me could hear at a distance a flute that I +could not hear, or any one heard the shepherd singing, and I could +not distinguish a sound! Such circumstances brought me to the brink of +despair, and had well-nigh made me put an end to my life: nothing but +my art held my hand. Ah! it seemed to me impossible to quit the world +before I had produced all that I felt myself called to accomplish. And +so I endured this wretched life--so truly wretched, that a somewhat +speedy change is capable of transporting me from the best into the +worst condition. Patience--so I am told--I must choose for my guide. +Steadfast, I hope, will be my resolution to persevere, till it shall +please the inexorable Fates to cut the thread. Perhaps there may be an +amendment--perhaps not; I am prepared for the worst--I, who so early +as my twenty-eighth year was forced to become a philosopher--it is not +easy--for the artist more difficult than for any other. O God! thou +lookest down upon my misery; thou knowest that it is accompanied with +love of my fellow-creatures, and a disposition to do good! O men! when +ye shall read this, think that ye have wronged me; and let the child of +affliction take comfort on finding one like himself, who, in spite of +all the impediments of Nature, yet did all that lay in his power to +obtain admittance into the rank of worthy artists and men.... I go to +meet death with joy. If he comes before I have had occasion to develop +all my professional abilities, he will come too soon for me, in spite +of my hard fate, and I should wish that he had delayed his arrival. But +even then I am content, for he will release me from a state of endless +suffering. Come when thou wilt, I shall meet thee with firmness. +Farewell, and do not quite forget me after I am dead; I have deserved +that you should think of me, for in my lifetime I have often thought of +you to make you happy. May you ever be so!" + + +VIII. + +The music of Beethoven has left a profound impress on art. In speaking +of his genius it is difficult to keep expression within the limits of +good taste. For who has so passed into the very inner _penetralia_ of +his great art, and revealed to the world such heights and depths of +beauty and power in sound? + +Beethoven composed nine symphonies, which, by one voice, are ranked as +the greatest ever written, reaching in the last, known as the "Choral," +the full perfection of his power and experience. Other musicians have +composed symphonic works remarkable for varied excellences, but in +Beethoven this form of writing seems to have attained its highest +possibilities, and to have been illustrated by the greatest variety of +effects, from the sublime to such as are simply beautiful and melodious. +His hand swept the whole range of expression with unfaltering mastery. +Some passages may seem obscure, some too elaborately wrought, some +startling and abrupt, but on all is stamped the die of his great genius. + +Beethoven's compositions for the piano, the sonatas, are no less notable +for range and power of expression, their adaptation to meet all the +varied moods of passion and sentiment. Other pianoforte composers have +given us more warm and vivid color, richer sensual effects of tone, more +wild and bizarre combination, perhaps even greater sweetness in melody; +but we look in vain elsewhere for the spiritual passion and poetry, the +aspiration and longing, the lofty humanity, which make the Beethoven +sonatas the _suspiria de pro-fundis_ of the composer's inner life. In +addition to his symphonies and sonatas, he wrote the great opera of +"Fidelio," and in the field of oratorio asserted his equality with +Handel and Haydn by composing "The Mount of Olives." A great variety of +chamber music, masses, and songs, bear the same imprint of power. He +may be called the most original and conscientious of all the composers. +Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, and Mendelssohn were inveterate +thieves, and pilfered the choicest gems from old and forgotten writers +without scruple. Beethoven seems to have been so fecund in great +conceptions, so lifted on the wings of his tireless genius, so austere +in artistic morality, that he stands for the most part above the +reproach deservedly borne by his brother composers. + +Beethoven's principal title to fame is in his superlative place as a +symphonic composer. In the symphony music finds its highest intellectual +dignity; in Beethoven the symphony has found its loftiest master. + + + + +SCHUBERT, SCHUMANN, AND FRANZ. + + +I. + +Heinrich Heine, in his preface to a translation of "Don Quixote," +discusses the creative powers of different peoples. To the Spaniard +Cervantes is awarded the first place in novel-writing, and to our own +Shakespeare, of course, the transcendent rank in drama. + +"And the Germans," he goes on to say, "what palm is due to them? Well, +we are the best writers of songs in the world. No people possesses such +beautiful _Lieder_ as the Germans. Just at present the nations have too +much political business on hand; but, after that has once been settled, +we Germans, English, Spaniards, Frenchmen, and Italians, will all go to +the green forest and sing, and the nightingale shall be umpire. I feel +sure that in this contest the song of Wolfgang Goethe will gain the +prize." + +There are few, if any, who will be disposed to dispute the verdict of +the German poet, himself no mean rival, in depth and variety of lyric +inspiration, even of the great Goethe. But a greater poet than either +one of this great pair bears the suggestive and impersonal name of "The +People." It is to the countless wealth of the German race in folk-songs, +an affluence which can be traced back to the very dawn of civilization +among them, that the possibility of such lyric poets as Goethe, Heine, +Ruckert, and Uhland is due. From the days of the "Nibelungenlied," that +great epic which, like the Homeric poems, can hardly be credited to any +one author, every hamlet has rung with beautiful national songs, which +sprung straight from the fervid heart of the people. These songs are +balmy with the breath of the forest, the meadow, and river, and +have that simple and bewitching freshness of motive and rhythm which +unconsciously sets itself to music. + +The German _Volkslied_, as the exponent of the popular heart, has a wide +range, from mere comment on historical events, and quaint, droll +satire, such as may be found in Hans Sachs, to the grand protest against +spiritual bondage which makes the burden of Luther's hymn, "Ein' feste +Burg." But nowhere is the beauty of the German song so marked as in +those _Lieder_ treating of love, deeds of arms, and the old mystic +legends so dear to the German heart. Tieck writes of the "Minnesinger +period:" "Believers sang of faith, lovers of love; knights described +knightly actions and battles, and loving, believing knights were their +chief audiences. The spring, beauty, gayety, were objects that could +never tire; great duels and deeds of arms carried away every hearer, the +more surely the stronger they were painted; and as the pillars and dome +of the church encircled the flock, so did Religion, as the highest, +encircle poetry and reality, and every heart in equal love humbled +itself before her." + +A similar spirit has always inspired the popular German song, a simple +and beautiful reverence for the unknown, the worship of heroism, a vital +sympathy with the various manifestations of Nature. Without the fire +of the French _chansons_, the sonorous grace of the Tuscan _stornelli_, +these artless ditties, with their exclusive reliance on true feeling, +possess an indescribable charm. + +The German _Lied_ always preserved its characteristic beauty. Goethe, +and the great school of lyric poets clustered around him, simply +perfected the artistic form, without departing from the simplicity and +soulfulness of the stock from which it came. Had it not been for the +rich soil of popular song, we should not have had the peerless lyrics +of modern Germany. Had it not been for the poetic inspiration of +such word-makers as Goethe and Heine, we should not have had such +music-makers in the sphere of song as Schubert and Franz. + +The songs of these masters appeal to the interest and admiration of the +world, then, not merely in virtue of musical beauty, but in that they +are the most vital outgrowths of Teutonic nationality and feeling. + +The immemorial melodies to which the popular songs of Germany were +set display great simplicity of rhythm, even monotony, with frequent +recurrence of the minor keys, so well adapted to express the melancholy +tone of many of the poems. The strictly strophic treatment is used, or, +in other words, the repetition of the melody of the first stanza in all +the succeeding ones. The chasm between this and the varied form of the +artistic modern song is deep and wide, yet it was overleaped in a single +swift bound by the remarkable genius of Franz Schubert, who, though his +compositions were many and matchless of their kind, died all too young; +for, as the inscription on his tombstone pathetically has it, he was +"rich in what he gave, richer in what he promised." + + +II. + +The great masters of the last century tried their hands in the domain +of song with only comparative success, partly because they did not fully +realize the nature of this form of art, partly because they could +not limit the sweep of the creative power within such narrow limits. +Schubert was a revelation to his countrymen in his musical treatment +of subjective passion, in his instinctive command over condensed, +epigrammatic expression. This rich and gifted life, however quiet in its +exterior facts, was great in its creative and spiritual manifestation. +Born at Vienna of humble parents, January 31, 1797, the early life of +Franz Schubert was commonplace in the extreme, the most interesting +feature being the extraordinary development of his genius. At the age of +fourteen he had made himself a master of counterpoint and harmony, and +composed a large mass of chamber-music and works for the piano. His +poverty was such that he was oftentimes unable to obtain the music-paper +with which to fasten the immortal thoughts that thronged through his +brain. It was two years later that his special creative function found +exercise in the production of the two great songs, the "Erl-King" and +the "Serenade," the former of which proved the source of most of the +fame and money emolument he enjoyed during life. It is hardly needful to +speak of the power and beauty of this composition, the weird sweetness +of its melodies, the dramatic contrasts, the wealth of color and +shading in its varying phrases, the subtilty of the accompaniment, which +elaborates the spirit of the song itself. The piece was composed in +less than an hour. One of Schubert's intimates tells us that he left him +reading Goethe's great poem for the first time. He instantly conceived +and arranged the melody, and when the friend returned after a short +absence Schubert was rapidly noting the music from his head on paper. +When the song was finished he rushed to the Stadtconvict school, his +only _alma mater_, and sang it to the scholars. The music-master, +Rucziszka, was overwhelmed with rapture and astonishment, and embraced +the young composer in a transport of joy. When this immortal music was +first sung to Goethe, the great poet said: "Had music, instead of words, +been my instrument of thought, it is so I would have framed the legend." + +The "Serenade" is another example of the swiftness of Schubert's +artistic imagination. He and a lot of jolly boon-companions sat one +Sunday afternoon in an obscure Viennese tavern, known as the Biersack. +The surroundings were anything but conducive to poetic fancies--dirty +tables, floor, and ceiling, the clatter of mugs and dishes, the loud +dissonance of the beery German roisterers, the squalling of children, +and all the sights and noises characteristic of the beer-cellar. One of +our composer's companions had a volume of poems, which Schubert looked +at in a lazy way, laughing and drinking the while. Singling out some +verses, he said: "I have a pretty melody in my head for these lines, if +I could only get a piece of ruled paper." Some staves were drawn on the +back of a bill-of-fare, and here, amid all the confusion and riot, the +divine melody of the "Serenade" was born, a tone-poem which embodies the +most delicate dream of passion and tenderness that the heart of man ever +conceived. + +Both these compositions were eccentric and at odds with the old canons +of song, fancied with a grace, warmth, and variety of color hitherto +characteristic only of the more pretentious forms of music, which had +already been brought to a great degree of perfection. They inaugurate +the genesis of the new school of musical lyrics, the golden wedding of +the union of poetry with music. + +For a long time the young composer was unsuccessful in his attempts to +break through the barren and irritating drudgery of a schoolmaster's +life. At last a wealthy young dilettante, Franz von Schober, who had +become an admirer of Schubert's songs, persuaded his mother to offer him +a fixed home in her house. The latter gratefully accepted the overture +of friendship, and thence became a daily guest at Schober's house. He +made at this time a number of strong friendships with obscure poets, +whose names only live through the music of the composer set to verses +furnished by them; for Schubert, in his affluence of creative power, +merely needed the slightest excuse for his genius to flow forth. But, +while he wrote nothing that was not beautiful, his masterpieces are +based only on themes furnished by the lyrics of such poets as Goethe, +Heine, and Rilckert. It is related, in connection with his friendship +with Mayrhofer, one of his rhyming associates of these days, that he +would set the verses to music much faster than the other could compose +them. + +The songs of the obscure Schubert were gradually finding their way to +favor among the exclusive circles of Viennese aristocracy. A celebrated +singer of the opera, Vogl, though then far advanced in years, was much +sought after for the drawing-room concerts so popular in Vienna, on +account of the beauty of his art. Vogl was a warm admirer of Schubert's +genius, and devoted himself assiduously to the task of interpreting +it--a friendly office of no little value. Had it not been for this, our +composer would have sunk to his early grave probably without even the +small share of reputation and monetary return actually vouchsafed +to him. The strange, dreamy unconsciousness of Schubert is very well +illustrated in a story told by Vogl after his friend's death. One day +Schubert left a new song at the singer's apartments, which, being too +high, was transposed. Vogl, a fortnight afterward, sang it in the lower +key to his friend, who remarked: "Really, that _Lied_ is not so bad; who +composed it?" + + +III. + +Our great composer, from the peculiar constitution of his gifts, the +passionate subjectiveness of his nature, might be supposed to have been +peculiarly sensitive to the fascinations of love, for it is in this +feeling that lyric inspiration has found its most fruitful root. But +not so. Warmly susceptible to the charms of friendship, Schubert for +the most part enacted the _rôle_ of the woman-hater, which was not all +affected; for the Hamletlike mood is only in part a simulated madness +with souls of this type. In early youth he would sneer at the amours +of his comrades. It is true he fell a victim to the charms of Theresa +Grobe, a beautiful soprano, who afterward became the spouse of a +master-baker. But the only genuine love-sickness of Schubert was of a +far different type, and left indelible traces on his nature, as its very +direction made it of necessity unfortunate. This was his attachment to +Countess Caroline Esterhazy. + +The Count Esterhazy, one of those great feudal princes still extant +among the Austrian nobility, took a traditional pride in encouraging +genius, and found in Franz Schubert a noble object for the exercise of +his generous patronage. He was almost a boy (only nineteen), except in +the prodigious development of his genius, when he entered the Esterhazy +family as teacher of music, though always treated as a dear and familiar +friend. During the summer months, Schubert went with the Esterhazy s to +their country-seat at Zelész, in Hungary. Here, amid beautiful scenery, +and the sweetness of a social life perfect of its kind, our poet's life +flew on rapid wings, the one bright, green spot of unalloyed happiness, +for the dream was delicious while it lasted. Here, too, his musical +life gathered a fresh inspiration, since he became acquainted with the +treasures of the national Hungarian music, with its weird, wild rhythms +and striking melodies. He borrowed the motives of many of his most +characteristic songs from these reminiscences of hut and hall, for +the Esterhazys were royal in their hospitality, and exercised a wide +patriarchal sway. + +The beautiful Countess Caroline, an enthusiastic girl of great beauty, +became the object of a romantic passion. A young, inexperienced maiden, +full of _naive_ sweetness, the finest flower of the haughty Austrian +caste, she stood at an infinite distance from Schubert, while she +treated him with childlike confidence and fondness, laughing at his +eccentricities, and worshiping his genius, lie bowed before this idol, +and poured out all the incense of his heart. Schubert's exterior was +anything but that of the ideal lover. Rude, unshapely features, thick +nose, coarse, protruding mouth, and a shambling, awkward figure, were +redeemed only by eyes of uncommon splendor and depth, aflame with the +unmistakable light of the soul. + +The inexperienced maiden hardly understood the devotion of the artist, +which found expression in a thousand ways peculiar to himself. Only +once he was on the verge of a full revelation. She asked him why he +had dedicated nothing to her. With abrupt, passionate intensity of tone +Schubert answered, "What's the use of that? Everything belongs to you!" +This brink of confession seems to have frightened him, for it is said +that after this he threw much more reserve about his intercourse with +the family, till it was broken off. Hints in his letters, and the deep +despondency which increased after this, indicate, however, that the +humbly-born genius never forgot his beautiful dream. + +He continued to pour out in careless profusion songs, symphonies, +quartets, and operas, many of which knew no existence but in the score +till after his death, hardly knowing of himself whether the productions +had value or not. He created because it was the essential law of his +being, and never paused to contemplate or admire the beauties of his own +work. Schubert's body had been mouldering for several years, when his +wonderful symphony in C major, one of the _chefs-d'oeuvre_ of orchestral +composition, was brought to the attention of the world by the critical +admiration of Robert Schumann, who won the admiration of lovers of +music, not less by his prompt vindication of neglected genius than by +his own creative powers. + +In the contest between Weber and Rossini which agitated Vienna, +Schubert, though deeply imbued with the seriousness of art, and +by nature closely allied in sympathies with the composer of "Der +Freischütz," took no part. He was too easy-going to become a volunteer +partisan, too shy and obscure to make his alliance a thing to be sought +after. Besides, Weber had treated him with great brusqueness, and damned +an opera for him, a slight which even good-natured Franz Schubert could +not easily forgive. + +The fifteen operas of Schubert, unknown now except to musicians, contain +a wealth of beautiful melody which could easily be spread over a score +of ordinary works. The purely lyric impulse so dominated him that +dramatic arrangement was lost sight of, and the noblest melodies were +likely to be lavished on the most unworthy situations. Even under +the operatic form he remained essentially the song-writer. So in +the symphony his affluence of melodic inspiration seems actually +to embarrass him, to the detriment of that breadth and symmetry of +treatment so vital to this form of art. It is in the musical lyric that +our composer stands matchless. + +During his life as an independent musician at Vienna, Schubert lived +fighting a stern battle with want and despondency, while the publishers +were commencing to make fortunes by the sale of his exquisite _Lieder_. +At that time a large source of income for the Viennese composers was the +public performance of their works in concerts under their own direction. +From recourse to this, Schubert's bashfulness and lack of skill as a +_virtuoso_ on any instrument helped to bar him, though he accompanied +his own songs with exquisite effect. Once only his friends organized +a concert for him, and the success was very brilliant. But he was +prevented from repeating the good fortune by that fatal illness +which soon set in. So he lived out the last glimmers of his life, +poverty-stricken, despondent, with few even of the amenities of +friendship to soothe his declining days. Yet those who know the +beautiful results of that life, and have even a faint glow of sympathy +with the life of a man of genius, will exclaim with one of the most +eloquent critics of Schubert: + +"But shall we, therefore, pity a man who all the while reveled in the +treasures of his creative ore, and from the very depths of whose despair +sprang the sweetest flowers of song? Who would not battle with the +iciest blast of the north if out of storm and snow he could bring back +to his chamber the germs of the 'Winterreise?' Who would grudge the +moisture of his eyes if he could render it immortal in the strains of +Schubert's 'Lob der Thrâne?'" + +Schubert died in the flower of his youth, November 19, 1828; but he left +behind him nearly a thousand compositions, six hundred of which were +songs. Of his operas only the "Enchanted Harp" and "Rosamond" were put +on the stage during his lifetime. "Fierabras," considered to be his +finest dramatic work, has never been produced. His church music, +consisting of six masses, many offertories, and the great "Hallelujah" +of Klopstock, is still performed in Germany. Several of his symphonies +are ranked among the greatest works of this nature. His pianoforte +compositions are brilliant, and strongly in the style of Beethoven, +who was always the great object of Schubert's devoted admiration, his +artistic idol and model. It was his dying request that he should be +buried by the side of Beethoven, of whom the art-world had been deprived +the year before. + +Compared with Schubert, other composers seem to have written in prose. +His imagination burned with a passionate love of Nature. The lakes, the +woods, the mountain heights, inspired him with eloquent reveries that +burst into song; but he always saw Nature through the medium of human +passion and sympathy, which transfigured it. He was the faithful +interpreter of spiritual suffering, and the joy which is born thereof. + +The genius of Schubert seems to have been directly formed for the +expression of subjective emotion in music. That his life should have +been simultaneous with the perfect literary unfolding of the old +_Volkslied_ in the superb lyrics of Goethe, Heine, and their school, +is quite remarkable. Poe-try and song clasped hands on the same lofty +summits of genius. Liszt has given to our composer the title of _le +musicien le plus poétique_, which very well expresses his place in art. + +In the song as created by Schubert and transmitted to his successors, +there are three forms, the first of which is that of the simple _Lied_, +with one unchanged melody. A good example of this is the setting of +Goethe's "Haideroslein," which is full of quaint grace and simplicity. +A second and more elaborate method is what the Germans call +"through-composed," in which all the different feelings are successively +embodied in the changes of the melody, the sense of unity being +preserved by the treatment of the accompaniment, or the recurrence of +the principal motive at the close of the song. Two admirable models of +this are found in the "Lindenbaum" and "Serenade." + +The third and finest art-method, as applied by Schubert to lyric music, +is the "declamatory." In this form we detect the consummate flower of +the musical lyric. The vocal part is lifted into a species of passionate +chant, full of dramatic fire and color, while the accompaniment, which +is extremely elaborate, furnishes a most picturesque setting. The genius +of the composer displays itself here fully as much as in the vocal +treatment. When the lyric feeling rises to its climax it expresses +itself in the crowning melody, this high tide of the music and poetry +being always in unison. As masterpieces of this form may be cited "Die +Stadt" and "Der Erlkönig," which stand far beyond any other works of the +same nature in the literature of music. + + +IV. + +Robert Schumann, the loving critic, admirer, and disciple of Schubert in +the province of song, was in most respects a man of far different +type. The son of a man of wealth and position, his mind and tastes were +cultivated from early youth with the utmost care. Schumann is known +in Germany no less as a philosophical thinker and critic than as +a composer. As the editor of the _Neue Zeitschrift für Musik_, he +exercised a powerful influence over contemporary thought in art-matters, +and established himself both as a keen and incisive thinker and as a +master of literary style. Schumann was at first intended for the law, +but his unconquerable taste for music asserted itself in spite of family +opposition. His acquaintance with the celebrated teacher Wieck, whose +gifted daughter Clara afterward became his wife, finally established +his career; for it was through Wieck's advice that the Schumann family +yielded their opposition to the young man's bent. + +Once settled in his new career, Schumann gave himself up to work with +the most indefatigable ardor. The early part of the present century was +a halcyon time for the _virtuosi_, and the fame and wealth that poured +themselves on such players as Paganini and Liszt made such a pursuit +tempting in the extreme. Fortunately, the young musician was saved from +such a career. In his zeal of practice and desire to attain a perfectly +independent action for each finger on the piano, Schumann devised some +machinery, the result of which was to weaken the sinews of his third +finger by undue distention. By this he lost the effective use of the +whole right hand, and of course his career as a _virtuoso_ practically +closed. + +Music gained in its higher walks what it lost in a lower. Schumann +devoted himself to composition and aesthetic criticism, after he had +passed through a thorough course of preparatory studies. Both as a +writer and a composer Schumann fought against Philistinism in music. +Ardent, progressive, and imaginative, he soon became the leader of the +romantic school, and inaugurated the crusade which had its parallel in +France in that carried on by Victor Hugo in the domain of poetry. His +early pianoforte compositions bear the strong impress of this fiery, +revolutionary spirit. I lis great symphonic works belong to a later +period, when his whole nature had mellowed and ripened without losing +its imaginative sweep and brilliancy. Schumann's compositions for the +piano and orchestra are those by which his name is most widely honored, +but nowhere do we find a more characteristic exercise of his genius than +in his songs, to which this article will call more special attention. + +Such works as the "Etudes Symphoniques" and the "Kreisleriana" express +much of the spirit of unrest and longing aspiration, the struggle to +get away from prison-bars and limits, which seem to have sounded the +key-note of Schumann's deepest nature. But these feelings could only +find their fullest outlet in the musical form expressly suited to +subjective emotion. Accordingly, the "Sturm and Drang" epoch of his +life, when all his thoughts and conceptions were most unsettled and +visionary, was most fruitful in lyric song. In Heinrich Heine he found +a fitting poetical co-worker, in whose moods he seemed to see a perfect +reflection of his own--Heine, in whom the bitterest irony was wedded to +the deepest pathos, "the spoiled favorite of the Graces," "the knight +with the laughing tear in his scutcheon"--Heine, whose songs are +charged with the brightest light and deepest gloom of the human heart. + +Schumann's songs never impress us as being deliberate attempts at +creative effort, consciously selected forms through which to express +thoughts struggling for speech. They are rather involuntary experiments +to relieve one's self of some wo-ful burden, medicine for the soul. +Schumann is never distinctively the lyric composer; his imagination had +too broad and majestic a wing. But in those moods, peculiar to genius, +where the soul is flung back on itself with a sense of impotence, our +composer instinctively burst into song. He did not in the least advance +or change its artistic form, as fixed by Schubert. This, indeed, would +have been irreconcilable with his use of the song as a simple medium of +personal feeling, an outlet and safeguard. + +The peculiar place of Schumann as a songwriter is indicated by his being +called the musical exponent of Heine, who seems to be the other half of +his soul. The composer enters into each shade and detail of the poet's +meaning with an intensity and fidelity which one can never cease +admiring. It is this phase which gives the Schumann songs their great +artistic value. In their clean-cut, abrupt, epigrammatic force there is +something different from the work of any other musical lyrist. So much +has this impressed the students of the composer that more than one +able critic has ventured to prophesy that Schumann's greatest claim to +immortality would yet be found in such works as the settings of "Ich +grolle nicht" and the "Dichterliebe" series--a perverted estimate, +perhaps, but with a large substratum of truth. The duration of +Schumann's song-time was short, the greater part of his _Lieder_ +having been written in 1840. After this he gave himself up to oratorio, +symphony, and chamber-music. + + +V. + +Among the contemporary masters of the musical lyric, the most shining +name is that of Robert Franz, a marked individuality, and, though +indirectly moulded by the influence of Schubert and Schumann, a creative +mind of a striking type. + +The art-impulse, strikingly characteristic of Franz as a song composer, +or, perhaps, to express it more accurately, the art-limitation, is that +the musical inspiration is directly dependent on the poetic strength of +the _Lied_. He would be utterly at a loss to treat a poem which lacked +beauty and force. With but little command over absolute music, that flow +of melody which pours from some natures like a perennial spring, the +poetry of word is necessary to evoke poetry of tone. + +Robert Franz, like Schumann, was embarrassed in his youth by the bitter +opposition of his family to his adoption of music, and, like the great +apostle of romantic music, his steady perseverance wore it out. He made +himself a severe student of the great masters, and rapidly acquired a +deep knowledge of the mysteries of harmony and counterpoint. There are +no songs with such intricate and difficult accompaniments, though always +vital to the lyrical motive, as those of Robert Franz. For a long time, +even after he felt himself fully equipped, Franz refrained from artistic +production, waiting till the processes of fermenting and clarifying +should end, in the mean while promising he would yet have a word to say +for himself. + +With him, as with many other men of genius, the blow which broke the +seal of inspiration was an affair of the heart. He loved a beautiful and +accomplished woman, but loved unfortunately. The catastrophe ripened him +into artistic maturity, and the very first effort of his lyric power was +marked by surprising symmetry and fullness of power. He wrote to give +overflow to his deep feelings, and the song came from his heart of +hearts. Robert Schumann, the generous critic, gave this first work an +enthusiastic welcome, and the young composer leaped into reputation at a +bound. Of the four hundred or more songs written by Robert Franz, there +are perhaps fifty which rank as masterpieces. His life has passed +devoid of incident, though rich in spiritual insight and passion, as +his _Lieder_ unmistakably show. Though the instrumental setting of this +composer's songs is so elaborate and beautiful oftentimes, we frequently +find him at his best in treating words full of the simplicity and +_naïvete_ of the old _Volkslied_. Many of his songs are set to the poems +of Robert Burns, one of the few British poets who have been able to give +their works the subtile singing quality which comes not merely of the +rhythm but of the feeling of the verse. Heine also furnished him with +the themes of many of his finest songs, for this poet has been an +inexhaustible treasure-trove to the modern lyric composer. One of the +most striking features of Franz as a composer is found in the delicate +light and shade, introduced into the songs by the simplest means, which +none but the man of genius would think of; for it is the great artist +who attains his ends through the simplest effects. + +While the same atmosphere of thought and feeling is felt in the +spiritual life of Robert Franz which colored the artistic being of +Schubert and Schumann, there is a certain repose and balance all +his own. We get the idea of one never carried away by his genius, or +delivering passionate utterances from the Delphic tripod, but the +master of all his powers, the conscious and skillful ruler of his own +inspirations. If the sense of spontaneous freshness is sometimes lost, +perhaps there is a gain in breadth and finish. If Schubert has unequaled +melody and dramatic force, Schumann drastic and pointed intensity, +Robert Franz deserves the palm for the finish and symmetry of his work. + +Of the great song composers, Franz Schubert is the unquestioned master. +To him the modern artistic song owes its birth, and, as in the myth of +Pallas, we find birth and maturity simultaneous. It bloomed at once into +perfect flower, and the wrorld will probably never see any essential +advances in it. It is this form of music which appeals most widely to +the human heart, to old and young, high and low, learned and ignorant. +It has "the one touch of Nature which makes the whole world kin." Even +the mind not attuned to sympathy with the more elaborate forms of music +is soothed and delighted by it; for-- + + "It is old and plain; + The spinsters and the knitters in the sun, + And the free maids that weave their thread with bones, + Do use to chant it; it is silly sooth, + And dallies with the innocence of love + Like the old age." + + + + +CHOPIN. + + +I. + +Never has Paris, the Mecca of European art, genius, and culture, +presented a more brilliant social spectacle than it did in 1832. Hither +ward came pilgrims from all countries, poets, painters, and musicians, +anxious to breathe the inspiring air of the French capital, where +society laid its warmest homage at the feet of the artist. Here came, +too, in dazzling crowds, the rich nobles and the beautiful women of +Europe to find the pleasure, the freedom, the joyous unrestraint, with +which Paris offers its banquet of sensuous and intellectual delights +to the hungry epicure. Then as now the queen of the art-world, Paris +absorbed and assimilated to herself the most brilliant influences in +civilization. + +In all of brilliant Paris there was no more charming and gifted circle +than that which gathered around the young Polish pianist and composer, +Chopin, then a recent arrival in the gay city. His peculiarly original +genius, his weird and poetic style of playing, which transported his +hearers into a mystic fairy-land of sunlight and shadow, his strangely +delicate beauty, the alternating reticence and enthusiasm of his +manners, made him the idol of the clever men and women, who courted the +society of the shy and sensitive musician; for to them he was a fresh +revelation. Dr. Franz Liszt gives the world some charming pictures of +this art-coterie, which was wont often to assemble at Chopin's rooms in +the Chaussée d'Antin. + +His room, taken by surprise, is all in darkness except the luminous ring +thrown off by the candles on the piano, and the flashes flickering from +the fireplace. The guests gather around informally as the piano sighs, +moans, murmurs, or dreams under the fingers of the player. Hein-rich +Heine, the most poetic of humorists, leans on the instrument, and asks, +as he listens to the music and watches the firelight, "if the roses +always glowed with a flame so triumphant? if the trees at moonlight sang +always so harmoniously?" Meyerbeer, one of the musical giants, sits near +at hand lost in reverie; for he forgets his own great harmonies, forged +with hammer of Cyclops, listening to the dreamy passion and poetry woven +into such quaint fabrics of sound. + +Adolphe Nourrit, passionate and ascetic, with the spirit of some +mediaeval monastic painter, an enthusiastic servant of art in its +purest, severest form, a combination of poet and anchorite, is also +there; for he loves the gentle musician, who seems to be a visitor from +the world of spirits. Eugène Delacroix, one of the greatest of modern +painters, his keen eyes half closed in meditation, absorbs the vague +mystery of color which imagination translates from the harmony, +and attains new insight and inspiration through the bright links of +suggestion by which one art lends itself to another. The two great +Polish poets, Nierncewicz and Mickiewicz (the latter the Dante of the +Slavic race), exiles from their unhappy land, feed their sombre sorrow, +and find in the wild, Oriental rhythms of the player only melancholy +memories of the past. Perhaps Victor Hugo, Balzac, Lamartine, or the +aged Chateaubriand, also drop in by-and-by, to recognize, in the music, +echoes of the daring romanticism which they opposed to the classic and +formal pedantry of the time. + +Buried in a fauteuil, with her arms resting upon a table, sits Mme. +George Sand (that name so tragically mixed with Chopin's life), +"curiously attentive, gracefully subdued." With the second sight of +genius, which pierces through the mask, she saw the sweetness, the +passion, the delicate emotional sensibility of Chopin; and her insatiate +nature must unravel and assimilate this new study in human enjoyment and +suffering. She had then just finished "Lelia," that strange and +powerful creation, in which she embodied all her hatred of the forms and +tyrannies of society, her craving for an impossible social ideal, her +tempestuous hopes and desires, in such startling types. Exhausted by the +struggle, she panted for the rest and luxury of a companionship in +which both brain and heart could find sympathy. She met Chopin, and she +recognized in the poetry of his temperament and the fire of his genius +what she desired. Her personality, electric, energetic, and imperious, +exercised the power of a magnet on the frail organization of Chopin, and +he loved once and forever, with a passion that consumed him; for in Mme. +Sand he found the blessing and curse of his life. This many-sided woman, +at this point of her development, found in the fragile Chopin one phase +of her nature which had never been expressed, and he was sacrificed +to the demands of an insatiable originality, which tried all things in +turn, to be contented with nothing but an ideal which could never be +attained. + +About the time of Chopin's arrival in Paris the political effervescence +of the recent revolution had passed into art and letters. It was the +oft-repeated battle of Romanticism against Classicism. There could be no +truce between those who believed that everything must be fashioned after +old models, that Procrustes must settle the height and depth, the length +and breadth of art-forms, and those who, inspired with the new wine of +liberty and free creative thought, held that the rule of form should +always be the mere expression of the vital, flexible thought. The one +side argued that supreme perfection already reached left the artist hope +only in imitation; the other, that the immaterial beautiful could have +no fixed absolute form. Victor Hugo among the poets, Delacroix among the +painters, and Berlioz among the musicians, led the ranks of the romantic +school. + +Chopin found himself strongly enlisted in this contest on the side of +the new school. His free, unconventional nature found in its teachings +a musical atmosphere true to the artistic and political proclivities of +his native Poland; for Chopin breathed the spirit and tendencies of his +people in every fibre of his soul, both as man and artist. Our +musician, however, in freeing himself from all servile formulas, sternly +repudiated the charlatanism which would replace old abuses with new +ones. + +Chopin, in his views of his art, did not admit the least compromise +with those who failed earnestly to represent progress, nor, on the other +hand, with those who sought to make their art a mere profitable +trade. With him, as with all the great musicians, his art was a +religion--something so sacred that it must be approached with unsullied +heart and hand. This reverential feeling was shown in the following +touching fact: It was a Polish custom to choose the garments in which +one would be buried. Chopin, though among the first of contemporary +artists, gave fewer concerts than any other; but, notwithstanding this, +he left directions to be borne to the grave in the clothes he had worn +on such occasions. + + +II. + +Frederick Francis Chopin was born near Warsaw, in 1810, of French +extraction. He learned music at the age of nine from Ziwny, a pupil of +Sebastian Bach, but does not seem to have impressed any one with his +remarkable talent except Madame Catalani, the great singer, who gave +him a watch. Through the kindness of Prince Radziwill, an enthusiastic +patron of art, he was sent to Warsaw College, where his genius began to +unfold itself. He afterward became a pupil of the Warsaw Conservatory, +and acquired there a splendid mastery over the science of music. His +labor was prodigious in spite of his frail health; and his knowledge of +contrapuntal forms was such as to exact the highest encomiums from his +instructors. + +Through his brother pupils he was introduced to the highest Polish +society, for his fellows bore some of the proudest names in Poland. +Chopin seems to have absorbed the peculiarly romantic spirit of his +race, the wild, imaginative melancholy, which, almost gloomy in the +Polish peasant, when united to grace and culture in the Polish noble, +offered an indescribable social charm. Balzac sketches the Polish woman +in these picturesque antitheses: "Angel through love, demon through +fantasy; child through faith, sage through experience; man through +the brain, woman through the heart; giant through hope, mother through +sorrow; and poet through dreams." The Polish gentleman was chivalrous, +daring, and passionate; the heir of the most gifted and brilliant of the +Slavic races, with a proud heritage of memory which gave his bearing +an indescribable dignity, though the son of a fallen nation. Ardently +devoted to pleasure, the Poles embodied in their national dances wild +and inspiring rhythms, a glowing poetry of sentiment as well as motion, +which mingled with their Bacchanal fire a chaste and lofty meaning that +became at times funereal. Polish society at this epoch pulsated with an +originality, an imagination, and a romance, which transfigured even the +common things of life. + +It was amid such an atmosphere that Chopin's early musical career was +spent, and his genius received its lasting impress. One afternoon in +after-years he was playing to one of the most distinguished women in +Paris, and she said that his music suggested to her those gardens in +Turkey where bright parterres of flowers and shady bowers were strewed +with gravestones and burial mounds. + +This underlying depth of melancholy Chopin's music expresses most +eloquently, and it may be called the perfect artistic outcome of his +people; for in his sweetest tissues of sound the imagination can detect +agitation, rancor, revolt, and menace, sometimes despair. Chateaubriand +dreamed of an Eve innocent, yet fallen; ignorant of all, yet knowing +all; mistress, yet virgin. He found this in a Polish girl of seventeen, +whom he paints as a "mixture of Odalisque and Valkyr." The romantic +and fanciful passion of the Poles, bold, yet unworldly, is shown in the +habit of drinking the health of a sweetheart from her own shoe. + +Chopin, intensely spiritual by temperament and fragile in health, born +an enthusiast, was colored through and through with the rich dyes of +Oriental passion; but with these were mingled the fantastic and ideal +elements which, + +"Wrapped in sense, yet dreamed of heavenlier joys." + +And so he went to Paris, the city of his fate, ripe for the tragedy of +his life. After the revolution of 1830, he started to go to London, and, +as he said, "passed through Paris." Yet Paris he did not leave till he +left it with Mme. Sand to live a brief dream of joy in the beautiful +isle of Majorca. + + +III. + +Liszt describes Chopin in these words: "His blue eyes were more +spiritual than dreamy; his bland smile never writhed into bitterness. +The transparent delicacy of his complexion pleased the eye; his fair +hair was soft and silky; his nose slightly aquiline; his bearing so +distinguished, and his manners stamped with such high breeding, that +involuntarily he was always treated _en prince_. His gestures were many +and graceful; the tones of his voice veiled, often stifled. His stature +was low, his limbs were slight." Again, Mme. Sand paints him even more +characteristically in her novel "Lucrezia Floriani:" "Gentle, sensitive, +and very lovely, he united the charm of adolescence with the suavity of +a more mature age; through the want of muscular development he retained +a peculiar beauty, an exceptional physiognomy, which, if we may venture +so to speak, belonged to neither age nor sex.... It was more like the +ideal creations with which the poetry of the middle ages adorned +the Christian temples. The delicacy of his constitution rendered him +interesting in the eyes of women. The full yet graceful cultivation of +his mind, the sweet and captivating originality of his conversation, +gained for him the attention of the most enlightened men; while those +less highly cultivated liked him for the exquisite courtesy of his +manners." + +All this reminds us of Shelley's dream of Hermaphroditus, or perhaps of +Shelley himself, for Chopin was the Shelley of music. + +His life in Paris was quiet and retired. The most brilliant and +beautiful women desired to be his pupils, but Chopin refused except +where he recognized in the petitioners exceptional earnestness and +musical talent. He gave but few concerts, for his genius could not cope +with great masses of people. He said to Liszt: "I am not suited for +concert-giving. The public intimidate me, their breath stifles me. You +are destined for it; for when you do not gain your public, you have the +force to assault, to overwhelm, to compel them." It was his delight to +play to a few chosen friends, and to evoke for them such dreams from the +ivory gate, which Virgil fabled to be the portal of Elysium, as to make +his music + + "The silver key of the fountain of tears, + Where the spirit drinks till the brain is wild: + Softest grave of a thousand fears, + Where their mother, Care, like a weary child, + Is laid asleep in a hed of flowers." + +He avoided general society, finding in the great artists and those +sympathetic with art his congenial companions. His life was given up to +producing those unique compositions which make him, _par excellence_, +the king of the pianoforte. He was recognized by Liszt, Kalkbrenner, Pie +y el, Field, and Meyerbeer, as being the most wonderful of players; yet +he seemed to disdain such a reputation as a cheap notoriety, ceasing +to appear in public after the first few concerts, which produced much +excitement and would have intoxicated most performers. He sought largely +the society of the Polish exiles, men and women of the highest rank who +had thronged to Paris. + +His sister Louise, whom he dearly loved, frequently came to Paris from +Warsaw to see him; and he kept up a regular correspondence with his own +family. Yet he abhorred writing so much that he would go to any shifts +to avoid answering a note. Some of his beautiful countrywomen, however, +possess precious memorials in the shape of letters written in Polish, +which he loved much more than French. His thoughtfulness was continually +sending pleasant little gifts and souvenirs to his Warsaw friends. +This tenderness and consideration displayed itself too in his love of +children. He would spend whole evenings in playing blind-man's-buff or +telling them charming fairy-stories from the folk-lore in which Poland +is singularly rich. + +Always gentle, he yet knew how to rebuke arrogance, and had sharp +repartees for those who tried to force him into musical display. On one +occasion, when he had just left the dining-room, an indiscreet host, who +had had the simplicity to promise his guests some piece executed by him +as a rare dessert, pointed him to an open piano. Chopin quietly refused, +but on being pressed said, with a languid and sneering drawl: "Ah, sir, +I have just dined; your hospitality, I see, demands payment." + + +IV. + +Mme. Sand, in her "Lettres d'un Voyageur," depicts the painful lethargy +which seizes the artist when, having incorporated the emotion which +inspired him in his work, his imagination still remains under the +dominance of the insatiate idea, without being able to find a new +incarnation. She was suffering in this way when the character of Chopin +excited her curiosity and suggested a healthful and happy relief. Chopin +dreaded to meet this modern Sibyl. The superstitious awe he felt was a +premonition whose meaning was hidden from him. They met, and Chopin lost +his fear in one of those passions which feed on the whole being with a +ceaseless hunger. + +In the fall of 1837 Chopin yielded to a severe attack of the disease +which was hereditary in his frame. In company with Mme. Sand, who had +become his constant companion, he went to the isle of Majorca, to find +rest and medicine in the balmy breezes of the Mediterranean. All the +happiness of Chopin's life was gathered in the focus of this experience. +He had a most loving and devoted nurse, who yielded to all his whims, +soothed his fretfulness, and watched over him as a mother does over +a child. The grounds of the villa where they lived were as perfect as +Nature and art could make them, and exquisite scenes greeted the eye at +every turn. Here they spent long golden days. + +The feelings of Chopin for his gifted companion are best painted +by herself in the pages of "Lucrezia Floriani," where she is the +"Floriani," Liszt "Count Salvator Albani," and Chopin "Prince Karol:" +"It seemed as if this fragile being was absorbed and consumed by the +strength of his affection.... But he loved for the sake of loving.... +His love was his life, and, delicious or bitter, he had not the power +of withdrawing himself a single moment from its domination." Slowly she +nursed him back into temporary health, and in the sunlight of her love +his mind assumed a gayety and cheerfulness it had never known before. + +It had been the passionate hope of Chopin to marry Mme. Sand, but +wedlock was alien alike to her philosophy and preference. After a +protracted intimacy, she wearied of his persistent entreaties, or +perhaps her self-development had exhausted what it sought in the +poet-musician. An absolute separation came, and his mistress buried +the episode in her life with the epitaph: "Two natures, one rich in its +exuberance, the other in its exclusiveness, could never really mingle, +and a whole world separated them." Chopin said: "All the cords that bind +me to life are broken." His sad summary of all was that his life had +been an episode which began and ended in Paris. What a contrast to the +being of a few years before, of whom it is written: "He was no longer +on the earth; he was in an empyrean of golden clouds and perfumes; his +imagination, so full of exquisite beauty, seemed engaged in a monologue +with God himself!"* + + * "Lucrezia Floriani." + +Both Liszt and Mme. Dudevant have painted Chopin somewhat as a sickly +sentimentalist, living in an atmosphere of moonshine and unreality. +Yet this was not precisely true. In spite of his delicacy of frame and +romantic imagination, Chopin was never ill till within the last ten +years of his life, when the seeds of hereditary consumption developed +themselves. As a young man he was lively and joyous, always ready +for frolic, and with a great fund of humor, especially in caricature. +Students of human character know how consistent these traits are with +a deep undercurrent of melancholy, which colors the whole life when the +immediate impulse of joy subsides. + +From the date of 1840 Chopin's health declined; but through the +seven years during which his connection with Mme. Sand continued, he +persevered actively in his work of composition. The final rupture with +the woman he so madly loved seems to have been his death-blow. He spoke +of Mme. Sand without bitterness, but his soul pined in the bitter-sweet +of memory. He recovered partially, and spent a short season of +concert-giving in London, where he was feted and caressed by the best +society as he had been in Paris. Again he was sharply assailed by his +fatal malady, and he returned to Paris to die. Let us describe one of +his last earthly experiences, on Sunday, the 15th of October, 1849. + +Chopin had lain insensible from one of his swooning attacks for some +time. His sister Louise was by his side, and the Countess Delphine +Potocka, his beautiful countrywoman and a most devoted friend, watched +him with streaming eyes. The dying musician became conscious, and +faintly ordered a piano to be rolled in from the adjoining room. He +turned to the countess, and whispered, feebly, "Sing." She had a lovely +voice, and, gathering herself for the effort, she sang that famous +canticle to the Virgin which, tradition says, saved Stradella's life +from assassins. "How beautiful it is!" he exclaimed. "My God! how very +beautiful!" Again she sang to him, and the dying musician passed into +a trance, from which he never fully aroused till he expired, two days +afterward, in the arms of his pupil, M. Gutman. + +Chopin's obsequies took place at the Madeleine Church, and Lablache sang +on this occasion the same passage, the "Tuba Mirum" of Mozart's Requiem +Mass, which he had sung at the funeral of Beethoven in 1827; while the +other solos were given by Mme. Viardot Garcia and Mme. Castellan. He +lies in Père Lachaise, beside Cherubini and Bellini. + + +V. + +The compositions of Chopin were exclusively for the piano; and alike as +composer and virtuoso he is the founder of a new school, or perhaps +may be said to share that honor with Robert Schumann--the school which +to-day is represented in its advanced form by Liszt and Von Billow. +Schumann called him "the boldest and proudest poetic spirit of +the times." In addition to this remarkable poetic power, he was a +splendidly-trained musician, a great adept in style, and one of the most +original masters of rhythm and harmony that the records of music show. +All his works, though wanting in breadth and robustness of tone, are +characterized by the utmost finish and refinement. Full of delicate and +unexpected beauties, elaborated with the finest touch, his effects are +so quaint and fresh as to fill the mind of the listener with pleasurable +sensations, perhaps not to be derived from grander works. + +Chopin was essentially the musical exponent of his nation; for he +breathed in all the forms of his art the sensibilities, the fires, the +aspirations, and the melancholy of the Polish race. This is not only +evident in his polonaises, his waltzes and mazurkas, in which the wild +Oriental rhythms of the original dances are treated with the creative +skill of genius; but also in the _études_, the preludes, nocturnes, +scherzos, ballads, etc., with which he so enriched musical literature. +His genius could never confine itself within classic bonds, but, +fantastic and impulsive, swayed and bent itself with easy grace to +inspirations that were always novel and startling, though his boldness +was chastened by deep study and fine art-sense. + +All of the suggestions of the quaint and beautiful Polish dance-music +were worked by Chopin into a variety of forms, and were greatly enriched +by his skill in handling. He dreamed out his early reminiscences in +music, and these national memories became embalmed in the history of +art. The polonaises are marked by the fire and ardor of his soldier +race, and the mazurkas are full of the coquetry and tenderness of his +countrywomen; while the ballads are a free and powerful rendering of +Polish folk-music, beloved alike in the herdsman's hut and the palace of +the noble. In deriving his inspiration direct from the national heart, +Chopin did what Schumann, Schubert, and Weber did in Germany, what +Rossini did in Italy, and shares with them a freshness of melodic power +to be derived from no other source. Rather tender and elegiac than +vigorous, the deep sadness underlying the most sparkling forms of his +work is most notable. One can at times almost recognize the requiem of +a nation in the passionate melancholy on whose dark background his fancy +weaves such beautiful figures and colors. + +Franz Liszt, in characterizing Chopin as a composer, furnishes an +admirable study: "We meet with beauties of a high order, expressions +entirely new, and a harmonic tissue as original as erudite. In his +compositions boldness is always justified; richness, often exuberance, +never interferes with clearness; singularity never degenerates into the +uncouth and fantastic; the sculpturing is never disordered; the luxury +of ornament never overloads the chaste eloquence of the principal lines. +His best works abound in combinations which may be said to be an epoch +in the handling of musical style. Daring, brilliant, and attractive, +they disguise their profundity under so much grace, their science +under so many charms, that it is with difficulty we free ourselves +sufficiently from their magical inthrallment, to judge coldly of their +theoretical value." + +As a romance composer Chopin struck out his own path, and has no +rival. Full of originality, his works display the utmost dignity and +refinement. He revolted from the bizarre and eccentric, though the +peculiar influences which governed his development might well have +betrayed one less finely organized. + +As a musical poet, embodying the feelings and tendencies of a people, +Chopin advances his chief claim to his place in art. He did not task +himself to be a national musician; for he is utterly without pretense +and affectation, and sings spontaneously without design or choice, from +the fullness of a rich nature. He collected "in luminous sheaves the +impressions felt everywhere through his country--vaguely felt, it is +true, yet in fragments pervading all hearts." + +Chopin was repelled by the lusty and almost coarse humor sometimes +displayed by Schubert, for he was painfully fastidious. He could not +fully understand nor appreciate Beethoven, whose works are full of +lion-marrow, robust and masculine alike in conception and treatment. He +did not admire Shakespeare, because his great delineations are too vivid +and realistic. Our musician was essentially a dreamer and idealist. His +range was limited, but within it he reached perfection of finish +and originality never surpassed. But, with all his limitations, the +art-judgment of the world places him high among those + + ".... whom Art's service pure + Hallows and claims, whose hearts are made her throne, + "Whose lips her oracle, ordained secure + To lead a priestly life and feed the ray + Of her eternal shrine; to them alone + Her glorious countenance unveiled is shown." + + + + +WEBER. + + +I. + +The genius which inspired the three great works, "Der Freischutz," +"Euryanthe," and "Oberon," has stamped itself as one of the most +original and characteristic in German music. Full of bold and surprising +strokes of imagination, these operas are marked by the true atmosphere +of national life and feeling, and Ave feel in them the fresh, rich color +of the popular traditions, and song-music which make the German _Lieder_ +such an inexhaustible treasure-trove. As Weber was maturing into that +fullness of power which gave to the world his greater works, Germany had +been wrought into a passionate patriotism by the Napoleonic wars. The +call to arms resounded from one end of the Fatherland to the other. +Every hamlet thrilled with fervor, and all the resources of national +tradition were evoked to heighten the love of country into a puissance +which should save the land. Germany had been humiliated by a series of +crushing defeats, and national pride was stung to vindicate the +grand old memories. France, in answer to a similar demand for some +art-expression of its patriotism, had produced its Rouget de-Lisle; +Germany produced the poet Korner and the musician Weber. + +It is not easy to appreciate the true quality and significance of +Weber's art-life without considering the peculiar state of Germany at +the time; for if ever creative imagination was forged and fashioned by +its environments into a logical expression of public needs and impulses, +it was in the case of the father of German romantic opera. This +inspiration permeated the whole soil of national thought, and its +embodiment in art and letters has hardly any parallel except in that +brilliant morning of English thought which we know as the Elizabethan +era. To understand Weber the composer, then, we must think of him not +only as the musician, but as the patriot and revivalist of ancient +tendencies in art, drawn directly from the warm heart of the people. + +Karl Maria von Weber was born at Eutin, in Holstein, December 18, 1786. +His father had been a soldier, but, owing to extravagance and folly, had +left the career of arms, and, being an educated musician, had become by +turns attached to an orchestra, director of a theatre, Kapellmeister, +and wandering player--never remaining long in one position, for he was +essentially vagrant and desultory in character. Whatever Karl Maria had +to suffer from his father's folly and eccentricity, he was indebted to +him for an excellent training in the art of which he was to become +so brilliant an ornament. He had excellent masters in singing and the +piano, as also in drawing and engraving. So he grew up a melancholy, +imaginative, recluse, absorbed in his studies, and living in a +dream-land of his own, which he peopled with ideal creations. His +passionate love of Nature, tinged with old German superstition, planted +in his imagination those fruitful germs which bore such rich results in +after-years. + +In 1797 Weber studied the piano and composition under Ilanschkel, a +thoroughly scientific musician, and found in his severe drill a happy +counter-balancing influence to the more desultory studies which had +preceded. Major Weber's restless tendencies did not permit his family +to remain long in one place. In 1798 they moved to Salzburg, where +young Weber was placed at the musical institute of which Michael Haydn, +brother of the great Joseph, was director. Here a variety of misfortunes +assailed the Weber family. Major Franz Anton was unsuccessful in all +his theatrical undertakings, and extreme poverty stared them all in the +face. The gentle mother, too, whom Karl so dearly loved, sickened and +died. This was a terrible blow to the affectionate boy, from which he +did not soon recover. + +The next resting-place in the pilgrimage of the Weber family was Munich, +where Major Weber, who, however flagrant his shortcomings in other ways, +was resolved that the musical powers of his son should be thoroughly +trained, placed him under the care of the organist Kalcher for studies +in composition. + +For several years, Karl was obliged to lead the same shifting, nomadic +sort of life, never stopping long, but dragged hither and thither in +obedience to his father's vagaries and necessities, but always studying +under the best masters who could be obtained. While under Kalcher, +several masses, sonatas, trios, and an opera, "Die Macht der Liebe und +des Weins" ("The Might of Love and Wine"), were written. Another opera, +"Das Waldmäd-chen" ("The Forest Maiden"), was composed and produced +when he was fourteen; and two years later in Salzburg he composed "Peter +Schmoll und seine Nachbarn," an operetta, which exacted warm praise from +Michael Haydn. + +At the age of seventeen he became the pupil of the great teacher Abbé +Vogler, under whose charge also Meyerbeer was then studying. Our young +composer worked with great assiduity under the able instruction of +Vogier, who was of vast service in bringing the chaos of his previous +contradictory teachings into order and light. All these musical +_Wanderjahre_, however trying, had steeled Karl Maria into a stern +self-reliance, and he found in his skill as an engraver the means to +remedy his father's wastefulness and folly. + + +II. + +A curious episode in Weber's life was his connection with the royal +family of Wurtemberg, where he found a dissolute, poverty-stricken +court, and a whimsical, arrogant, half-crazy king. Here he remained four +years in a half-official musical position, his nominal duty being that +of secretary to the king's brother, Prince Ludwig. This part of +his career was almost a sheer waste, full of dreary and irritating +experiences, which Weber afterward spoke of with disgust and regret. +His spirit revolted from the capricious tyranny which he was obliged to +undergo, but circumstances seem to have coerced him into a protracted +endurance of the place. His letters tell us how bitterly he detested the +king and his dull, pompous court, though Prince Ludwig in a way seemed +to have been attached to his secretary. One of his biographers says: + +"Weber hated the king, of whose wild caprice and vices he witnessed +daily scenes, before whose palace-gates he was obliged to slink +bareheaded, and who treated him with unmerited ignominy. Sceptre and +crown had never been imposing objects in his eyes, unless worn by a +worthy man; and consequently he was wont, in the thoughtless levity +of youth, to forget the dangers he ran, and to answer the king with a +freedom of tone which the autocrat was all unused to hear. In turn he +was detested by the monarch. As negotiator for the spendthrift Prince +Ludwig, he was already obnoxious enough; and it sometimes happened that, +by way of variety to the customary torrent of invective, the king, after +keeping the secretary for hours in his antechamber, would receive him +only to turn him rudely out of the room, without hearing a word he had +to say." + +At last Karl Maria's indignation burst over bounds at some unusual +indignity; and he played a practical joke on the king. Meeting an old +woman in the palace one day near the door of the royal sanctum, she +asked him where she could find the court-washerwoman. "There," said the +reckless Weber, pointing to the door of the king's cabinet. The +king, who hated old women, was in a transport of rage, and, on her +terror-stricken explanation of the intrusion, had no difficulty in +fixing the mischief in the right quarter. Weber was thrown into prison, +and had it not been for Prince Ludwig's intercession he would have +remained there for several years. While confined he managed to compose +one of his most beautiful songs, "Ein steter Kampf ist unser Leben." He +had not long been released when he was again imprisoned on account of +some of his father's wretched follies, that arrogant old gentleman being +utterly reckless how he involved others, so long as he carried out his +own selfish purposes and indulgence. His friend Danzi, director of the +royal opera at Stuttgart, proved his good genius in this instance; for +he wrangled with the king till his young friend was released. + +Weber's only consolations during this dismal life in Stuttgart were the +friendship of Danzi, and his love for a beautiful singer named Gretchen. +Danzi was a true mentor and a devoted friend. He was wont to say to +Karl: "To be a true artist, you must be a true man." But the lovely +Gretchen, however she may have consoled his somewhat arid life, was not +a beneficial influence, for she led him into many sad extravagances and +an unwholesome taste for playing the cavalier. + +In spite of his discouraging surroundings, Weber's creative power was +active during this period, and showed how, perhaps unconsciously to +himself, he was growing in power and depth of experience. He wrote the +cantata "Der erste Ton," a large number of songs, the first of his great +piano sonatas, several overtures and symphonies, and the opera "Sylvana" +("Das Waldmädchen" rewritten and enlarged), which, both in its music +and libretto, seems to have been the precursor of his great works "Der +Freischutz" and "Euryanthe." At the first performance of "Sylvana" in +Frankfort, September 16, 1810, he met Miss Caroline Brandt, who sang +the principal character. She afterward became his wife, and her love and +devotion were the solace of his life. + +Weber spent most of the year 1810 in Darmstadt, where he again met +Vogler and Meyerbeer. Vogler's severe artistic instructions were of +great value to Weber in curbing his extravagance, and impressing on him +that restraint was one of the most valuable factors in art. What Vogler +thought of Weber we learn from a letter in which he writes: "Had I been +forced to leave the world before I found these two, Weber and Meyerbeer, +I should have died a miserable man." + + +III. + +It was about this time, while visiting Mannheim, that the idea of "Der +Freischutz" first entered his mind. His friend the poet Kind was with +him, and they were ransacking an old book, Apel's "Ghost Stories." +One of these dealt with the ancient legend of the hunter Bartusch, a +woodland myth ranking high in German folk-lore. They were both delighted +with the fantastic and striking story, full of the warm coloring of +Nature, and the balmy atmosphere of the forest and mountain. They +immediately arranged the framework of the libretto, afterward written by +Kind, and set to such weird and enchanting music by Weber. + +In 1811 Weber began to give concerts, for his reputation was becoming +known far and wide as a brilliant composer and virtuoso. For two years +he played a round of concerts in Munich, Leipsic, Gotha, Weimar, Berlin, +and other places. He was everywhere warmly welcomed. Lichten-stein, in +his "Memoir of Weber," writes of his Berlin reception: "Young artists +fell on their knees before him; others embraced him wherever they could +get at him. All crowded around him, till his head was crowned, not with +a chaplet of flowers, but a circlet of happy faces." The devotion of his +friends, his happy family relations, the success of his published works, +conspired to make Weber cheerful and joyous beyond his wont, for he was +naturally of a melancholy and serious turn, disposed to look at life +from its tragic side. + +In 1813 he was called to Prague to direct the music of the German opera +in that Bohemian capital. The Bohemians had always been a highly musical +race, and their chief city is associated in the minds of the students of +music as the place where many of the great operas were first presented +to the public. Mozart loved Prague, for he found in its people the +audiences who appreciated and honored him the most. Its traditions were +honored in their treatment of Weber, for his three years there were +among the happiest of his life. + +Our composer wrote his opera of "Der Freischütz" in Dresden. It was +first produced in the opera-house of that classic city, but it was +not till 1821, when it was performed in Berlin, that its greatness was +recognized. Weber can best tell the story of its reception himself. In +his letter to his co-author, Kind, he writes: + +"The free-shooter has hit the mark. The second representation has +succeeded as well as the first; there was the same enthusiasm. All the +places in the house are taken for the third, which comes off to-morrow. +It is the greatest triumph one can have. You cannot imagine what a +lively interest your text inspires from beginning to end. How happy I +should have been if you had only been present to hear it for yourself! +Some of the scenes produced an effect which I was far from anticipating; +for example, that of the young girls. If I see you again at Dresden, I +will tell you all about it; for I cannot do it justice in writing. How +much I am indebted to you for your magnificent poem! I embrace you with +the sincerest emotion, returning to your muse the laurels I owe her. +God grant that you may be happy. Love him who loves you with infinite +respect. "Your Weber." + +"Der Freischütz" was such a success as to place the composer in the +front ranks of the lyric stage. The striking originality, the fire, the +passion of his music, the ardent national feeling, and the freshness of +treatment, gave a genuine shock of delight and surprise to the German +world. + + +IV. + +The opera of "Preciosa," also a masterpiece, was given shortly after +with great _eclat_, though it failed to inspire the deep enthusiasm +which greeted "Der Freischütz." In 1823, "Euryanthe" was produced in +Berlin--a work on which Weber exhausted all the treasures of his musical +genius. Without the elements of popular success which made his first +great opera such an immediate favorite, it shows the most finished and +scholarly work which Weber ever attained. Its symmetry and completeness, +the elaboration of all the forms, the richness and variety of the +orchestration, bear witness to the long and thoughtful labor expended +on it. It gradually won its way to popular recognition, and has always +remained one of the favorite works of the German stage. + +The opera of "Oberon" was Weber's last great production. The celebrated +poet Wieland composed the poem underlying the libretto, from the +mediæval romance of Huon of Bordeaux. The scenes are laid in fairy-land, +and it may be almost called a German "Midsummer-Night's Dream," +though the story differs widely from the charming phantasy of our own +Shakespeare. The opera of "Oberon" was written for Kemble, of the Covent +Garden theatre, in London, and was produced by Weber under circumstances +of failing health and great mental depression. The composer pressed +every energy to the utmost to meet his engagement, and it was feared by +his friends that he would not live to see it put on the stage. It did, +indeed, prove the song of the dying swan, for he only lived four months +after reaching London. "Oberon" was performed with immense success under +the direction of Sir George Smart, and the fading days of the author +were cheered by the acclamations of the English public; but the work +cost him his life. He died in London, June 5,1826. His last words were: +"God reward you for all your kindness to me.--Now let me sleep." + +Apart from his dramatic compositions, Weber is known for his many +beautiful overtures and symphonies for the orchestra, and his various +works for the piano, from sonatas to waltzes and minuets. Among his most +pleasing piano-works are the "Invitation to the Waltz," the "Perpetual +Rondo," and the "Polonaise in E major." Many of his songs rank among the +finest German lyrics. He would have been recognized as an able composer +had he not produced great operas; but the superior excellence of these +cast all his other compositions in the shade. + +Weber was fortunate in having gifted poets to write his dramas. As rich +as he was in melodic affluence, his creative faculty seems to have had +its tap-root in deep personal feelings and enthusiasms. One of the +most poetic and picturesque of composers, he needed a powerful exterior +suggestion to give his genius wings and fire. The Germany of his time +was alive with patriotic ardor, and the existence of the nation gathered +from its emergencies new strength and force. The heart of Weber beat +strong with the popular life. Romantic and serious in his taste, his +imagination fed on old German tradition and song, and drew from them its +richest food. The whole life of the Fatherland, with its glow of +love for home, its keen sympathies with the influences of Nature, its +fantastic play of thought, its tendency to embody the primitive forces +in weird myths, found in Weber an eloquent exponent; and we perceive in +his music all the color and vividness of these influences. + +Weber's love of Nature was singularly keen. The woods, the mountains, +the lakes, and the streams, spoke to his soul with voices full of +meaning. He excelled in making these voices speak and sing; and he may, +therefore, be entitled the father of the romantic and descriptive school +in German operatic music. With more breadth and robustness, he expressed +the national feelings of his people, even as Chopin did those of dying +Poland. Weber's motives are generally caught from the immemorial airs +which resound in every village and hamlet, and the fresh beat of the +German heart sends its thrill through almost every bar of his music. +Here is found the ultimate significance of his art-work, apart from the +mere musical beauty of his compositions. + + + + +MENDELSSOHN. + + +I. + +Few careers could present more startling contrasts than those of Mozart +and Mendelssohn, in many respects of similar genius, but utterly opposed +in the whole surroundings of their lives. Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy +was the grandson of the celebrated philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, and +the son of a rich Hamburg banker. His uncles were distinguished in +literary and social life. His friends from early childhood were eminent +scholars, poets, painters, and musicians, and his family moved in the +most refined and wealthy circles. He was nursed in the lap of luxury, +and never knew the cold and hunger of life. All the good fairies and +graces seemed to have smiled benignly on his birth, and to have showered +on him their richest gifts. Many successful wooers of the muse have +been, fortunately for themselves, the heirs of poverty, and became +successful only to yield themselves to fat and slothful ease. But, with +every incitement to an idle and contented life, Mendelssohn toiled like +a galley-slave, and saw in his wealth only the means of a more exclusive +consecration to his art. A passionate impulse to labor was the law of +his life. + +Many will recollect the brilliant novel "Charles Auchester," in which, +under the names of Seraphael, Aronach, Charles Auchester, Julia Bennett, +and Starwood Burney, are painted the characters of Mendelssohn, Zelter +his teacher, Joachim the violinist, Jenny Lind, and Sterndale Bennett +the English composer. The brilliant coloring does not disguise nor +flatter the lofty Christian purity, the splendid genius, and the great +personal charm of the composer, who shares in largest measure the homage +which the English public lays at the feet of Handel. + +As child and youth Mendelssohn, born at Hamburg, February 3, 1809, +displayed the same precocity of talent as was shown by Mozart. Sir +Julius Benedict relates his first meeting with him. He was walking in +Berlin with Von Weber, and the latter called his attention to a boy +about eleven years old, who, perceiving the author of "Der Freischütz," +gave him a hearty greeting. "'Tis Felix Mendelssohn," said Weber, +introducing the marvelous boy. Benedict narrates his amazement to find +the extraordinary attainments of this beautiful youth, with curling +auburn hair, brilliant clear eyes, and lips smiling with innocence and +candor. Five minutes after young Mendelssohn had astonished his English +friend by his admirable performance of several of his own compositions, +he forgot Weber, quartets, and counterpoint, to leap over the garden +hedges and climb the trees like a squirrel. When scarcely twenty years +old he had composed his octet, three quartets for the piano and strings, +two sonatas, two symphonies, his first violin quartet, various operas, +many songs, and the immortal overture of "A Midsummer-Night's Dream." + +Mendelssohn received an admirable education, was an excellent classicist +and linguist, and during a short residence at Dusseldorf showed such +talent for painting as to excite much wonder. Before he was twenty he +was the friend of Goethe and Herder, who delighted in a genius so +rich and symmetrical. Some of Goethe's letters are full of charming +expressions of praise and affection, for the aged Jupiter of German +literature found in the promise of this young Apollo something of the +many-sided power which made himself so remarkable. + + +II. + +The Mendelssohn family had moved to Berlin when Felix was only three +years old, and the Berliners always claimed him as their own. Strange +to say, the city of his birth did not recognize his talent for many +years. At the age of twenty he went to England, and the high breeding, +personal beauty, and charming manner of the young musician gave him +the _entrée_ into the most fastidious and exclusive circles. His first +symphony and the "Midsummer-Night's Dream" overture stamped his power +with the verdict of a warm enthusiasm; for London, though cold and +conservative, is prompt to recognize a superior order of merit. + +His travels through Scotland inspired Mendelssohn with sentiments +of great admiration. The scenery filled his mind with the highest +suggestions of beauty and grandeur. He afterward tells us that "he +preferred the cold sky and the pines of the north to charming scenes in +the midst of landscapes bathed in the glowing rays of the sun and azure +light." The vague Ossianic figures that raised their gigantic heads in +the fog-wreaths of clouded mountain-tops and lonely lochs had a peculiar +fascination for him, and acted like wine on his imagination. The +"Hebrides" overture was the fruit of this tour, one of the most powerful +and characteristic of his minor compositions. His sister Fanny (Mrs. +Hensel) asked him to describe the gray scenery of the north, and +he replied in music by improvising his impressions. This theme was +afterward worked out in the elaborate overture. + +We will not follow him in his various travels through France and Italy. +Suffice it to say that his keen and passionate mind absorbed everything +in art which could feed the divine hunger, for he was ever discontented, +and had his mind fixed on an absolute and determined ideal. During this +time of travel he became intimate with the sculptor Thorwaldsen, and +the painters Leopold Robert and Horace Vernet. This period produced +"Walpurgis Night," the first of the "Songs without Words," the great +symphony in A major, and the "Melusine" overture. He is now about to +enter on the epoch which puts to the fullest test the varied resources +of his genius. To Moscheles he writes, in answer to his old teacher's +warm praise: "Your praise is better than three orders of nobility." For +several years we see him busy in multifarious ways, composing, leading +musical festivals, concert-giving, directing opera-houses, and +yet finding time to keep up a busy correspondence with the most +distinguished men in Europe; for Mendelssohn seemed to find in +letter-writing a rest for his overtaxed brain. + +In 1835 he completed his great oratorio of "St. Paul," for Leipsic. The +next year he received the title of Doctor of Philosophy and the Fine +Arts; and in 1837 he married the charming Cécile Jean-renaud, who made +his domestic life so gentle and harmonious. It has been thought strange +that Mendelssohn should have made so little mention of his lovely wife +in his letters, so prone as he was to speak of affairs of his daily +life. Be this as it may, his correspondence with Moscheles, Devrient, +and others, as well as the general testimony of his friends, shows us +unmistakably that his home-life was blessed in an exceptional degree +with intellectual sympathy, and the tenderest, most thoughtful love. + +In 1841 Mendelssohn became Kapellmeister of the Prussian court. He now +wrote the "Athalie" music, the "Midsummer-Night's Dream," and a large +number of lesser pieces, including the "Songs without Words," and piano +sonatas, as well as much church music. The greatest work of this +period was the "Hymn of Praise," a symphonic cantata for the Leipsic +anniversary of the invention of printing, regarded by many as his finest +composition. + +Mendelssohn always loved England, and made frequent visits across the +Channel; for he felt that among the English he was fully appreciated, +both as man and composer. + +His oratorio of "Elijah" was composed for the English public, and +produced at the great Birmingham festival in 1846, under his own +direction, with magnificent success. It was given a second time in +April, 1847, with his final refinements and revisions; and the event was +regarded in England as one of the greatest since the days of Handel, to +whom, as well as to Haydn and Beethoven, Mendelssohn showed himself +a worthy rival in the field of oratorio composition. Of this visit to +England Lampadius, his friend and biographer, writes: "Her Majesty, +who as well as her husband was a great friend of art, and herself a +distinguished musician, received the distinguished German in her own +sitting-room, Prince Albert being the only one present besides herself. +As he entered she asked his pardon for the somewhat disorderly state +of the room, and began to rearrange the articles with her own hands, +Mendelssohn himself gallantly offering his assistance. Some parrots +whose cages hung in the room she herself carried into the next room, in +which Mendelssohn helped her also. She then requested her guest to play +something, and afterward sang some songs of his which she had sung at +a court concert soon after the attack on her person. She was not wholly +pleased, however, with her own performance, and said pleasantly to +Mendelssohn: 'I can do better--ask Lablache if I cannot; but I am afraid +of you!'" + +This anecdote was related by Mendelssohn himself to show the +graciousness of the English queen. It was at this time that Prince +Albert sent to Mendelssohn the book of the oratorio "Elijah" with +which he used to follow the performance, with the following autographic +inscription: + +"To the noble artist, who, surrounded by the Baal worship of corrupted +art, has been able by his genius and science to preserve faithfully like +another Elijah the worship of true art, and once more to accustom our +ear, lost in the whirl of an empty play of sounds, to the pure notes of +expressive composition and legitimate harmony--to the great master, who +makes us conscious of the unity of his conception through the whole maze +of his creation, from the soft whispering to the mighty raging of +the elements: Written in token of grateful remembrance by Albert. +"Buckingham Palace, April 24, 1847." + +An occurrence at the Birmingham festival throws a clear light +on Mendelssohn's presence of mind, and on his faculty of instant +concentration. On the last day, among other things, one of Handel's +anthems was given. The concert was already going on, when it was +discovered that the short recitative which precedes the "Coronation +Hymn," and which the public had in the printed text, was lacking in the +voice parts. The directors were perplexed. Mendelssohn, who was sitting +in an ante-room of the hall, heard of it, and said, "Wait, I will help +you." He sat down directly at a table, and composed the music for the +recitative and the orchestral accompaniment in about half an hour. It +was at once transcribed, and given without any rehearsal, and went very +finely. + +On returning to Leipsic he determined to pass the summer in Vevay, +Switzerland, on account of his failing health, which had begun to alarm +himself and his friends. His letters from Switzerland at this period +show how the shadow of rapidly approaching death already threw a deep +gloom over his habitually cheerful nature. He returned to Leipsic, and +resumed hard work. His operetta entitled "Return from among Strangers" +was his last production, with the exception of some lively songs and a +few piano pieces of the "Lieder ohne Worte," or "Songs without Words," +series. Mendelssohn was seized with an apoplectic attack on October +9,1847. Second and third seizures quickly followed, and he died November +4th, aged thirty-eight years. + +All Germany and Europe sorrowed over the loss of this great musician, +and his funeral was attended by many of the most distinguished persons +from all parts of the land, for the loss was felt to be something like a +national calamity. + + +III. + +Mendelssohn was one of the most intelligent and scholarly composers of +the century. Learned in various branches of knowledge, and personally +a man of unusual accomplishments, his career was full of manly energy, +enlightened enthusiasm, and severe devotion to the highest forms of the +art of music. Not only his great oratorios, "St. Paul" and "Elijah," but +his music for the piano, including the "Songs without Words," sonatas, +and many occasional pieces, have won him a high place among his musical +brethren. As an orchestral composer, his overtures are filled with +strikingly original thoughts and elevated conceptions, expressed with +much delicacy of instrumental coloring. He was brought but little in +contact with the French and Italian schools, and there is found in his +works a severity of art-form which shows how closely he sympathized with +Bach and Handel in his musical tendencies. He died while at the very +zenith of his powers, and we may well believe that a longer life would +have developed much richer beauty in his compositions. Short as his +career was, however, he left a great number of magnificent works, which +entitle him to a place among the Titans of music. + + + + +RICHARD WAGNER. + + +I. + +It is curious to note how often art-controversy has become edged with +a bitterness rivaling even the gall and venom of religious dispute. +Scholars have not yet forgotten the fiery war of words which raged +between Richard Bentley and his opponents concerning the authenticity +of the "Epistles of Phalaris," nor how literary Germany was divided into +two hostile camps by Wolf's attack on the personality of Homer. It is +no less fresh in the minds of critics how that modern Jupiter, Lessing, +waged a long and bitter battle with the Titans of the French +classical drama, and finally crushed them with the thunderbolt of the +"Dramaturgie;" nor what acrimony sharpened the discussion between +the rival theorists in music, Gluck and Piccini, at Paris. All of the +intensity of these art-campaigns, and many of the conditions of +the last, enter into the contest between Richard Wagner and the +_Italianissimi_ of the present day. + +The exact points at issue were for a long time so befogged by the smoke +of the battle that many of the large class who are musically interested, +but never had an opportunity to study the question, will find an +advantage in a clear and comprehensive sketch of the facts and +principles involved. Until recently, there were still many people who +thought of Wagner as a youthful and eccentric enthusiast, all afire with +misdirected genius, a mere carpet-knight on the sublime battle-field +of art, a beginner just sowing his wild-oats in works like "Lohengrin," +"Tristan and Iseult," or the "Rheingold." It is a revelation full of +suggestive value for these to realize that he is a musical thinker, ripe +with sixty years of labor and experience; that he represents the rarest +and choicest fruits of modern culture, not only as musician, but as poet +and philosopher; that he is one of the few examples in the history of +the art where massive scholarship and the power of subtile analysis +have been united, in a preeminent degree, with great creative genius. +Preliminary to a study of what Wagner and his disciples entitle the +"Artwork of the Future," let us take a swift survey of music as a medium +of expression for the beautiful, and some of the forms which it has +assumed. + +This Ariel of the fine arts sends its messages to the human soul by +virtue of a fourfold capacity: Firstly, the imitation of the voices +of Nature, such as the winds, the waves, and the cries of animals; +secondly, its potential delight as melody, modulation, rhythm, +harmony--in other words, its simple worth as a "thing of beauty," +without regard to cause or consequence; thirdly, its force of boundless +suggestion; fourthly, that affinity for union with the more definite +and exact forms of the imagination (poetry), by which the intellectual +context of the latter is raised to a far higher power of grace, beauty, +passion, sweetness, without losing individuality of outline--like, +indeed, the hazy aureole which painters set on the brow of the man +Jesus, to fix the seal of the ultimate Divinity. Though several or all +of these may be united in the same composition, each musical work may +be characterized in the main as descriptive, sensuous, suggestive, or +dramatic, according as either element contributes most largely to its +purpose. Simple melody or harmony appeals mostly to the sensuous love +of sweet sounds. The symphony does this in an enlarged and complicated +sense, but is still more marked by the marvelous suggestive energy +with which it unlocks all the secret raptures of fancy, floods the +border-lands of thought with a glory not to be found on sea or land, +and paints ravishing pictures, that come and go like dreams, with colors +drawn from the "twelve-tinted tone-spectrum." + +Shelley describes this peculiar influence of music in his "Prometheus +Unbound," with exquisite beauty and truth: + + "My soul is an enchanted boat, + Which, like a sleeping swan, doth float + Upon the silver waves of thy sweet singing; + And thine doth like an angel sit + Beside the helm conducting it, + While all the waves with melody are ringing. + It seems to float ever, forever, + Upon that many-winding river, + Between mountains, woods, abysses, + A paradise of wildernesses." + +As the symphony best expresses the suggestive potency in music, the +operatic form incarnates its capacity of definite thought, and the +expression of that thought. The term "lyric," as applied to the genuine +operatic conception, is a misnomer. Under the accepted operatic form, +however, it has relative truth, as the main musical purpose of opera +seems, hitherto, to have been less to furnish expression for exalted +emotions and thoughts, or exquisite sentiments, than to grant the vocal +_virtuoso_ opportunity to display phenomenal qualities of voice and +execution. But all opera, however it may stray from the fundamental +idea, suggests this dramatic element in music, just as mere lyricism +in the poetic art is the blossom from which is unfolded the full-blown +perfection of the word-drama, the highest form of all poetry. + + +II. + +That music, by and of itself, cannot express the intellectual element in +the beautiful dream-images of art with precision, is a palpable truth. +Yet, by its imperial dominion over the sphere of emotion and sentiment, +the connection of the latter with complicated mental phenomena is +made to bring into the domain of tone vague and shifting fancies and +pictures. How much further music can be made to assimilate to the other +arts in directness of mental suggestion, by wedding to it the noblest +forms of poetry, and making each the complement of the other, is the +knotty problem which underlies the great art-controversy about which +this article concerns itself. On the one side we have the claim that +music is the all-sufficient law unto itself; that its appeal to +sympathy is through the intrinsic sweetness of harmony and tune, and the +intellect must be satisfied with what it may accidentally glean in +this harvest-field; that, in the rapture experienced in the sensuous +apperception of its beauty, lies the highest phase of art-sensibility. +Therefore, concludes the syllogism, it matters nothing as to the +character of the libretto or poem to whose words the music is arranged, +so long as the dramatic framework suffices as a support for the flowery +festoons of song, which drape its ugliness and beguile attention by the +fascinations of bloom and grace. On the other hand, the apostles of the +new musical philosophy insist that art is something more than a vehicle +for the mere sense of the beautiful, an exquisite provocation wherewith +to startle the sense of a selfish, epicurean pleasure; that its highest +function--to follow the idea of the Greek Plato, and the greatest of his +modern disciples, Schopenhauer--is to serve as the incarnation of the +true and the good; and, even as Goethe makes the Earth-Spirit sing in +"Faust"-- + + "'Tis thus over at the loom of Time I ply, + And weave for God the garment thou seest him by"-- + +so the highest art is that which best embodies the immortal thought of +the universe as reflected in the mirror of man's consciousness; that +music, as speaking the most spiritual language of any of the art-family, +is burdened with the most pressing responsibility as the interpreter +between the finite and the infinite; that all its forms must be measured +by the earnestness and success with which they teach and suggest what is +best in aspiration and truest in thought; that music, when wedded to the +highest form of poetry (the drama), produces the consummate art-result, +and sacrifices to some extent its power of suggestion, only to acquire +a greater glory and influence, that of investing definite intellectual +images with spiritual raiment, through which they shine on the supreme +altitudes of ideal thought; that to make this marriage perfect as an +art-form and fruitful in result, the two partners must come as equals, +neither one the drudge of the other; that in this organic fusion +music and poetry contribute, each its best, to emancipate art from its +thralldom to that which is merely trivial, commonplace, and accidental, +and make it a revelation of all that is most exalted in thought, +sentiment, and purpose. Such is the aesthetic theory of Richard Wagner's +art-work. + + +III. + +It is suggestive to note that the earliest recognized function of music, +before it had learned to enslave itself to mere sensuous enjoyment, was +similar in spirit to that which its latest reformer demands for it in +the art of the future. The glory of its birth then shone on its brow. It +was the handmaid and minister of the religious instinct. The imagination +became afire with the mystery of life and Nature, and burst into the +flames and frenzies of rhythm. Poetry was born, but instantly sought the +wings of music for a higher flight than the mere word would permit. Even +the great epics of the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" were originally sung or +chanted by the Ilomerido, and the same essential union seems to have +been in some measure demanded afterward in the Greek drama, which, at +its best, was always inspired with the religious sentiment. There +is every reason to believe that the chorus of the drama ofÆschylus, +Sophocles, and Euripides uttered their comments on the action of the +play with such a prolongation and variety of pitch in the rhythmic +intervals as to constitute a sustained and melodic recitative. Music at +this time was an essential part of the drama. When the creative genius +of Greece had set toward its ebb, they were divorced, and music was only +set to lyric forms. Such remained the status of the art till, in the +Italian Renaissance, modern opera was born in the reunion of music and +the drama. Like the other arts, it assumed at the outset to be a mere +revival of antique traditions. The great poets of Italy had then passed +way, and it was left for music to fill the void. + +The muse, Polyhymnia, soon emerged from the stage of childish +stammering. Guittone di Arezzo taught her to fix her thoughts in +indelible signs, and two centuries of training culminated in the +inspired composers, Orlando di Lasso and Pales-trina. Of the gradual +degradation of the operatic art as its forms became more elaborate and +fixed; of the arbitrary transfer of absolute musical forms like the +aria, duet, finale, etc., into the action of the opera without regard to +poetic propriety; of the growing tendency to treat the human voice like +any other instrument, merely to show its resources as an organ; of +the final utter bondage of the poet to the musician, till opera became +little more than a congeries of musico-gymnastic forms, wherein the +vocal soloists could display their art, it needs not to speak at length, +for some of these vices have not yet disappeared. In the language of +Dante's guide through the Inferno, at one stage of their wanderings, +when the sights were peculiarly mournful and desolate-- + + + "Non raggioniam da lor, ma guarda e passa." + + +The loss of all poetic verity and earnestness in opera furnished the +great composer Gluck with the motive of the bitter and protracted +contest which he waged with varying success throughout Europe, though +principally in Paris. Gluck boldly affirmed, and carried out the +principle in his compositions, that the task of dramatic music was to +accompany the different phases of emotion in the text, and give them +their highest effect of spiritual intensity. The singer must be the +mouthpiece of the poet, and must take extreme care in giving the full +poetical burden of the song. Thus, the declamatory music became of +great importance, and Gluck's recitative reached an unequaled degree of +perfection. + +The critics of Gluck's time hurled at him the same charges which are +familiar to us now as coming from the mouths and pens of the enemies of +Wagner's music. Yet Gluck, however conscious of the ideal unity between +music and poetry, never thought of bringing this about by a sacrifice +of any of the forms of his own peculiar art. His influence, however, was +very great, and the traditions of the great _maestro's_ art have +been kept alive in the works of his no less great disciples, Méhul, +Cherubini, Spontini, and Meyerbeer. + +Two other attempts to ingraft new and vital power on the rigid and +trivial sentimentality of the Italian forms of opera were those of +Rossini and Weber. The former was gifted with the greatest affluence +of pure melodiousness ever given to a composer. But even his sparkling +originality and freshness did little more than reproduce the old forms +under a more attractive guise. Weber, on the other hand, stood in the +van of a movement which had its fountain-head in the strong romantic and +national feeling, pervading the whole of society and literature. There +was a general revival of mediaeval and popular poetry, with its balmy +odor of the woods, and fields, and streams. Weber's melody was the +direct offspring of the tunefulness of the German _Volkslied_, and so +it expressed, with wonderful freshness and beauty, all the range +of passion and sentiment within the limits of this pure and simple +language. But the boundaries were far too narrow to build upon them the +ultimate union of music and poetry, which should express the perfect +harmony of the two arts. While it is true that all of the great German +composers protested, by their works, against the spirit and character +of the Italian school of music, Wagner claims that the first abrupt and +strongly-defined departure toward a radical reform in art is found in +Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with chorus. Speaking of this remarkable leap +from instrumental to vocal music in a professedly symphonic composition, +Wagner, in his "Essay on Beethoven," says: "We declare that the work of +art, which was formed and quickened entirely by that deed, must present +the most perfect artistic form, i.e., that form in which, as for the +drama, so also and especially for music, every conventionality would +be abolished." Beethoven is asserted to have founded the new musical +school, when he admitted, by his recourse to the vocal cantata in the +greatest of his symphonic works, that he no longer recognized absolute +music as sufficient unto itself. + +In Bach and Handel, the great masters of fugue and counterpoint; in +Rossini, Mozart, and Weber, the consummate creators of melody--then, +according to this view, we only recognize thinkers in the realm of pure +music. In Beethoven, the greatest of them all, was laid the basis of the +new epoch of tone-poetry. In the immortal songs of Schubert, Schumann, +Mendelssohn, Liszt, and Franz, and the symphonies of the first four, +the vitality of the reformatory idea is richly illustrated. In the +music-drama of Wagner, it is claimed by his disciples, is found the full +flower and development of the art-work. + +William Richard Wagner, the formal projector of the great changes whose +details are yet to be sketched, was born at Leipsic in 1813. As a child +he displayed no very marked artistic tastes, though his ear and memory +for music were quite remarkable. When admitted to the Kreuzschule of +Dresden, the young student, however, distinguished himself by his very +great talent for literary composition and the classical languages. To +this early culture, perhaps, we are indebted for the great poetic power +which has enabled him to compose the remarkable libretti which have +furnished the basis of his music. His first creative attempt was a +blood-thirsty drama, where forty-two characters are killed, and the few +survivors are haunted by the ghosts. Young Wagner soon devoted himself +to the study of music, and, in 1833, became a pupil of Theodor Weinlig, +a distinguished teacher of harmony and counterpoint. His four years of +study at this time were also years of activity in creative experiment, +as he composed four operas. + +His first opera of note was "Rienzi," with which he went to Paris +in 1837. In spite of Meyerbeer's efforts in its favor, this work was +rejected, and laid aside for some years. Wagner supported himself by +musical criticism and other literary work, and soon was in a position +to offer another opera, "Der fliegende Hollander," to the authorities of +the Grand Opera-House. Again the directors refused the work, but were so +charmed with the beauty of the libretto that they bought it to be +reset to music. Until the year 1842, life was a trying struggle for the +indomitable young musician. "Rienzi" was then produced at Dresden, so +much to the delight of the King of Saxony that the composer was made +royal Kapellmeister and leader of the orchestra. The production of +"Der fliegende Hollander" quickly followed; next came "Tanhäuser" +and "Lohengrin," to be swiftly succeeded by the "Meistersinger von +Nürnberg." This period of our _maestro's_ musical activity also +commenced to witness the development of his theories on the philosophy +of his art, and some of his most remarkable critical writings were then +given to the world. + +Political troubles obliged Wagner to spend seven years of exile in +Zurich; thence he went to London, where he remained till 1861 as +conductor of the London Philharmonic Society. In 1861 the exile +returned to his native country, and spent several years in Germany and +Russia--there having arisen quite a _furore_ for his music in the latter +country. The enthusiasm awakened in the breast of King Louis of Bavaria +by "Der fliegende Holländer" resulted in a summons to Wagner to settle +at Munich, and with the glories of the Royal Opera-House in that +city his name has since been principally connected. The culminating +art-splendor of his life, however, was the production of his stupendous +tetralogy, the "Ring der Nibelungen," at the great opera-house at +Baireuth, in the summer of the year 1876. + + +IV. + +The first element to be noted in Wagner's operatic forms is the +energetic protest against the artificial and conventional in music. The +utter want of dramatic symmetry and fitness in the operas we have been +accustomed to hear could only be overlooked by the force of habit, and +the tendency to submerge all else in the mere enjoyment of the music. +The utter variance of music and poetry was to Wagner the stumbling-block +which, first of all, must be removed. So he crushed at one stroke all +the hard, arid forms which existed in the lyrical drama as it had been +known. His opera, then, is no longer a congeries of separate musical +numbers, like duets, arias, chorals, and finales, set in a flimsy web +of formless recitative, without reference to dramatic economy. His great +purpose is lofty dramatic truth, and to this end he sacrifices the whole +framework of accepted musical forms, with the exception of the chorus, +and this he remodels. The musical energy is concentrated in the dialogue +as the main factor of the dramatic problem, and fashioned entirely +according to the requirements of the action. The continuous flow of +beautiful melody takes the place alike of the dry recitative and the set +musical forms which characterize the accepted school of opera. As +the dramatic _motif_ demands, this "continuous melody" rises into the +highest ecstasies of the lyrical fervor, or ebbs into a chant-like +swell of subdued feeling, like the ocean after the rush of the storm. +If Wagner has destroyed musical forms, he has also added a positive +element. In place of the aria we have the _logos_. This is the musical +expression of the principal passion underlying the action of the drama. +Whenever, in the course of the development of the story, this passion +comes into ascendency, the rich strains of the _logos_ are heard anew, +stilling all other sounds. Gounod has, in part, applied this principle +in "Faust." All opera-goers will remember the intense dramatic effect +arising from the recurrence of the same exquisite lyric outburst from +the lips of Marguerite. + +The peculiar character of Wagner's word-drama next arouses critical +interest and attention. The composer is his own poet, and his creative +genius shines no less here than in the world of tone. The musical energy +flows entirely from the dramatic conditions, like the electrical current +from the cups of the battery; and the rhythmical structure of the +_melos_ (tune) is simply the transfiguration of the poetical basis. The +poetry, then, is all-important in the music-drama. Wagner has rejected +the forms of blank verse and rhyme as utterly unsuited to the lofty +purposes of music, and has gone to the metrical principle of all the +Teutonic and Slavonic poetry. This rhythmic element of alliteration, +or _staffrhyme_, we find magnificently illustrated in the Scandinavian +Eddas, and even in our own Anglo-Saxon fragments of the days of Cædmon +and Alcuin. By the use of this new form, verse and melody glide together +in one exquisite rhythm, in which it seems impossible to separate the +one from the other. The strong accents of the alliterating syllables +supply the music with firmness, while the low-toned syllables give +opportunity for the most varied _nuances_ of declamation. + +The first radical development of Wagner's theories we see in "The Flying +Dutchman." In "Tanhhäser" and "Lohengrin" they find full sway. The utter +revolt of his mind from the trivial and commonplace sentimentalities of +Italian opera led him to believe that the most heroic and lofty motives +alone should furnish the dramatic foundation of opera. For a while he +oscillated between history and legend, as best adapted to furnish his +material. In his selection of the dream-land of myth and legend, we +may detect another example of the profound and _exigeant_ art-instincts +which have ruled the whole of Wagner's life. There could be no question +as to the utter incongruity of any dramatic picture of ordinary events, +or ordinary personages, finding expression in musical utterance. Genuine +and profound art must always be consistent with itself, and what we +recognize as general truth. Even characters set in the comparatively +near hack-ground of history are too closely related to our own familiar +surroundings of thought and mood to be regarded as artistically natural +in the use of music as the organ of the every-day life of emotion and +sentiment. But with the dim and heroic shapes that haunt the border-land +of the supernatural, which we call legend, the case is far different. +This is the drama of the demigods, living in a different atmosphere from +our own, however akin to ours may be their passions and purposes. For +these we are no longer compelled to regard the medium of music as a +forced and untruthful expression, for do they not dwell in the magic +lands of the imagination? All sense of dramatic inconsistency instantly +vanishes, and the conditions of artistic illusion are perfect. + + "'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view, + And clothes the mountains with their azure hue." + +Thus all of Wagner's works, from "Der fliegende Hollander" to the "Ring +der Nibelungen," have been located in the world of myth, in obedience +to a profound art-principle. The opera of "Tristan and Iseult," first +performed in 1865, announced Wagner's absolute emancipation, both in +the construction of music and poetry, from the time-honored and +time-corrupted canons, and, aside from the last great work, it may be +received as the most perfect representation of his school. + +The third main feature in the Wagner music is the wonderful use of the +orchestra as a factor in the solution of the art-problem. This is no +longer a mere accompaniment to the singer, but translates the passion +of the play into a grand symphony, running parallel and commingling with +the vocal music. Wagner, as a great master of orchestration, has had +few equals since Beethoven; and he uses his power with marked effect to +heighten the dramatic intensity of the action, and at the same time +to convey certain meanings which can only find vent in the vague and +indistinct forms of pure music. The romantic conception of the mediæval +love, the shudderings and raptures of Christian revelation, have certain +phases that absolute music alone can express. The orchestra, then, +becomes as much an integral part of the music-drama, in its actual +current movement, as the chorus or the leading performers. Placed on the +stage, yet out of sight, its strains might almost be fancied the sound +of the sympathetic communion of good and evil spirits, with whose +presence mystics formerly claimed man was constantly surrounded. +Wagner's use of the orchestra may be illustrated from the opera of +"Lohengrin." + +The ideal background, from which the emotions of the human actors in the +drama are reflected with supernatural light, is the conception of the +"Holy Graal," the mystic symbol of the Christian faith, and its descent +from the skies, guarded by hosts of seraphim. This is the subject of the +orchestral prelude, and never have the sweetnesses and terrors of the +Christian ecstasy been more potently expressed. The prelude opens with +long-drawn chords of the violins, in the highest octaves, in the most +exquisite _pianissimo_. The inner eye of the spirit discerns in this the +suggestion of shapeless white clouds, hardly discernible from the aerial +blue of the sky. Suddenly the strings seem to sound from the farthest +distance, in continued _pianissimo_, and the melody, the Graal-motive, +takes shape. Gradually, to the fancy, a group of angels seem to reveal +themselves, slowly descending from the heavenly heights, and bearing +in their midst the _Sangréal_. The modulations throb through the air, +augmenting in richness and sweetness, till the _fortissimo_ of the full +orchestra reveals the sacred mystery. With this climax of spiritual +ecstasy the harmonious waves gradually recede and ebb away in dying +sweetness, as the angels return to their heavenly abode. This orchestral +movement recurs in the opera, according to the laws of dramatic fitness, +and its melody is heard also in the _logos_ of Lohengrin, the knight of +the Graal, to express certain phases of his action. The immense power +which music is thus made to have in dramatic effect can easily be +fancied. + +A fourth prominent characteristic of the Wagner music-drama is that, to +develop its full splendor, there must be a cooperation of all the arts, +painting, sculpture, and architecture, as well as poetry and music. +Therefore, in realizing its effects, much importance rests in the +visible beauties of action, as they may be expressed by the painting +of scenery and the grouping of human figures. Well may such a grand +conception be called the "Art-work of the Future." + +Wagner for a long time despaired of the visible execution of his +ideas. At last the celebrated pianist Tausig suggested an appeal to the +admirers of the new music throughout the world for means to carry +out the composer's great idea, viz., to perform the "Nibelungen" at a +theatre to be erected for the purpose, and by a select company, in the +manner of a national festival, and before an audience entirely removed +from the atmosphere of vulgar theatrical shows. After many delays +Wagner's hopes were attained, and in the summer of 1876 a gathering of +the principal celebrities of Europe was present to criticise the fully +perfected fruit of the composer's theories and genius. This festival +was so recent, and its events have been the subject of such elaborate +comment, that further description will be out of place here. + +As a great musical poet, rather epic than dramatic in his powers, +there can be no question as to Wagner's rank. The performance of the +"Nibelungenring," covering "Rheingold," "Die Walküren," "Siegfried," and +"Götterdämmerung," was one of the epochs of musical Germany. However +deficient Wagner's skill in writing for the human voice, the power and +symmetry of his conceptions, and his genius in embodying them in +massive operatic forms, are such as to storm even the prejudices of his +opponents. The poet-musician rightfully claims that in his music-drama +is found that wedding of two of the noblest of the arts, pregnantly +suggested by Shakespeare: + + "If Music and sweet Poetry both agree, + As they must needs, the sister and the brother; + One God is God of both, as poets feign." + +THE END. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Great German Composers, by George T. 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Ferris +</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body {background:#faebd7; text-align:justify} + P { margin:10%; + text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + hr { width: 50%; } + hr.full { width: 100%; } + .foot { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 95%; } + img {border: 0;} + HR { width: 33%; text-align: center; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 10%; margin-left: 1%;} + .toc { margin-left: 15%; margin-bottom: 0em;} + CENTER { padding: 10px;} + PRE { font-size: 90%; margin-left: 20%;} + // --> +</style> + +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The Great German Composers, by George T. Ferris + +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: The Great German Composers + +Author: George T. Ferris + +Release Date: January 4, 2006 [EBook #17461] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT GERMAN COMPOSERS *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + +<br /> +<br /> + + + +<h1> + THE GREAT GERMAN COMPOSERS +</h1><br /> +<br /> + +<h2> +By George T. Ferris +</h2> + + +<br /> +<br /> +<center> +<img alt="spines (110K)" src="images/spines.jpg" height="757" width="720" /> +</center> +<br /> +<br /> + + +<br /> +<br /> +<center> +<img alt="german-tp (28K)" src="images/german-tp.jpg" height="581" width="361" /> +</center> +<br /> +<br /> + + +<a name="2H_4_0001"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + NOTE. +</h2> +<p> +The sketches of composers contained in this volume may seem arbitrary in +the space allotted to them. The special attention given to certain names +has been prompted as much by their association with great art-epochs as +by the consideration of their absolute rank as composers. +</p> +<p> +The introduction of Chopin, born a Pole, and for a large part of his +life a resident of France, among the German composers, may require +an explanatory word. Chopin's whole early training was in the German +school, and he may be looked on as one of the founders of the latest +school of pianoforte composition, whose highest development is in +contemporary Germany. He represents German music by his affinities +and his influences in art, and bears too close a relation to important +changes in musical form to be omitted from this series. +</p> +<p> +The authorities to which the author is most indebted for material are: +Schoelcher's "Life of Handel;" Liszt's "Life of Chopin;" Elise +Polko's "Reminiscences;" Lampadius's "Life of Mendelssohn;" Chorley's +"Reminiscences;" Urbino's "Musical Composers;" Franz Heuffner's "Wagner +and the Music of the Future;" Haweis's "Music and Morals;" and articles +in the leading Cyclopædias. +</p> + + + + +<br /> +<br /> +<hr> +<br /> +<br /> + + + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<center> +<table summary=""> +<tr><td> + + +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_4_0001"> +NOTE. +</a></p> + +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_4_0002"> +BACH. +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_4_0003"> +HANDEL. +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_4_0004"> +GLUCK +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_4_0005"> +HAYDN. +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_4_0006"> +MOZART. +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_4_0007"> +BEETHOVEN. +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_4_0008"> +SCHUBERT, SCHUMANN, AND FRANZ. +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_4_0009"> +CHOPIN. +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_4_0010"> +WEBER. +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_4_0011"> +MENDELSSOHN. +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_4_0012"> +RICHARD WAGNER. +</a></p> + + + +</td></tr> +</table> +</center> + + +<br /> +<br /> +<hr> +<br /> +<br /> + + + +<h1>THE GREAT GERMAN COMPOSERS.</h1> + +<a name="2H_4_0002"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + BACH. +</h2> +<h3> + I. +</h3> +<p> +The growth and development of German music are eminently noteworthy +facts in the history of the fine arts. In little more than a century +and a half it reached its present high and brilliant place, its progress +being so consecutive and regular that the composers who illustrated +its well-defined epochs might fairly have linked hands in one connected +series. +</p> +<p> +To Johann Sebastian Bach must be accorded the title of "father of modern +music." All succeeding composers have bowed with reverence before his +name, and acknowledged in him the creative mind which not only placed +music on a deep scientific basis, but perfected the form from Which +have been developed the wonderfully rich and varied phases of orchestral +composition. +</p> +<p> +Handel, who was his contemporary, having been born the same year, spoke +of him with sincere admiration, and called him the giant of music. Haydn +wrote: "Whoever understands me knows that I owe much to Sebastian Bach, +that I have studied him thoroughly and well, and that I acknowledge him +only as my model." Mozart's unceasing research brought to light many of +his unpublished manuscripts, and helped Germany to a full appreciation +of this great master. In like manner have the other luminaries of music +placed on record their sense of obligation to one whose name is obscure +to the general public in comparison with many of his brother composers. +</p> +<p> +Sebastian Bach was born at Eisenach on the 21st of March, 1685, the son +of one of the court musicians. Left in the care of his elder brother, +who was an organist, his brilliant powers displayed themselves at an +early period. He was the descendant of a race of musicians, and even at +that date the wide-spread branches of the family held annual gatherings +of a musical character. Young Bach mastered for himself, without much +assistance, a thorough musical education at Lüne-burg, where he studied +in the gymnasium and sang in the cathedral choir; and at the age of +eighteen we find him court musician at Weimar, where a few years later +he became organist and director of concerts. He had in the mean time +studied the organ at Lübeck under the celebrated Buxtehude, and made +himself thoroughly a master of the great Italian composers of sacred +music—Palestrina, Lotti, Vivaldi, and others. +</p> +<p> +At this period Germany was beginning to experience its musical +<i>renaissance</i>. The various German courts felt that throb of life and +enthusiasm which had distinguished the Italian principalities in the +preceding century in the direction of painting and sculpture. Every +little capital was a focus of artistic rays, and there was a general +spirit of rivalry among the princes, who aspired to cultivate the arts +of peace as well as those of war. Bach had become known as a gifted +musician, not only by his wonderful powers as an organist, but by two +of his earlier masterpieces—"Gott ist mein König" and "Ich hatte viel +Bektlmmerniss." Under the influence of an atmosphere so artistic, Bach's +ardor for study increased with his success, and his rapid advancement in +musical power met with warm appreciation. +</p> +<p> +While Bach held the position of director of the chapel of Prince Leopold +of Anhalt-Kothen, which he assumed about the year 1720, he went to +Hamburg on a pilgrimage to see old Reinke, then nearly a centenarian, +whose fame as an organist was national, and had long been the object +of Bach's enthusiasm. The aged man listened while his youthful rival +improvised on the old choral, "Upon the Rivers of Babylon." He shed +tears of joy while he tenderly embraced Bach, and said: "I did think +that this art would die with me; but I see that you will keep it alive." +</p> +<p> +Our musician rapidly became known far and wide throughout the musical +centres of Germany as a learned and recondite composer, as a brilliant +improviser, and as an organist beyond rivalry. Yet it was in these last +two capacities that his reputation among his contemporaries was the most +marked. It was left to a succeeding generation to fully enlighten the +world in regard to his creative powers as a musical thinker. +</p> +<center> +II. +</center> +<p> +Though Bach's life was mostly spent at Weimar and Leipsic, he was at +successive periods chapel-master and concert-director at several of the +German courts, which aspired to shape public taste in matters of musical +culture and enthusiasm. But he was by nature singularly retiring and +unobtrusive, and he recoiled from several brilliant offers which would +have brought him too much in contact with the gay world of fashion, +apparently dreading any diversion from a severe and exclusive art-life; +for within these limits all his hopes, energies, and wishes were +focalized. Yet he was not without that keen spirit of rivalry, that love +of combat, which seems to be native to spirits of the more robust and +energetic type. +</p> +<p> +In the days of the old Minnesingers, tournaments of music shared the +public taste with tournaments of arms. In Bach's time these public +competitions were still in vogue. One of these was held by Augustus +II., Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, one of the most munificent +art-patrons of Europe, but best known to fame from his intimate part in +the wars of Charles XII. of Sweden and Peter the Great of Russia. Here +Bach's principal rival was a French <i>virtuoso</i>, Marchand, who, an exile +from Paris, had delighted the king by the lightness and brilliancy of +his execution. They were both to improvise on the same theme. Marchand +heard Bach's performance, and signalized his own inferiority by +declining to play, and secretly leaving the city of Dresden. Augustus +sent Bach a hundred louis d'or, but this splendid <i>douceur</i> never +reached him, as it was appropriated by one of the court officials. +</p> +<p> +In Bach's half-century of a studious musical life there is but little +of stirring incident to record. The significance of his career was +interior, not exterior. Twice married, and the father of twenty +children, his income was always small even for that age. Yet, by +frugality, the simple wants of himself and his family never overstepped +the limit of supply; for he seems to have been happily mated with wives +who sympathized with his exclusive devotion to art, and united with this +the virtues of old-fashioned German thrift. +</p> +<p> +Three years before his death, Bach, who had a son in the service of the +King of Prussia, yielded to the urgent invitation of that monarch to +go to Berlin. Frederick II., the conqueror of Rossbach, and one of the +greatest of modern soldiers, was a passionate lover of literature and +art, and it was his pride to collect at his court all the leading lights +of European culture. He was not only the patron of Voltaire, whose +connection with the Prussian monarch has furnished such rich material +to the anecdote-history of literature, but of all the distinguished +painters, poets, and musicians, whom he could persuade by his +munificent offers (but rarely fulfilled) to suffer the burden of his +eccentricities. Frederick was not content with playing the part of +patron, but must himself also be poet, philosopher, painter, and +composer. +</p> +<p> +On the night of Bach's arrival Frederick was taking part in a concert +at his palace, and, on hearing that the great musician whose name was +in the mouths of all Germany had come, immediately sent for him without +allowing him to don a court dress, interrupting his concert with the +enthusiastic announcement, "Gentlemen, Bach is here." The cordial +hospitality and admiration of Frederick was gratefully acknowledged by +Bach, who dedicated to him a three-part fugue on a theme composed by the +king, known under the name of "A Musical Offering." But he could not be +persuaded to remain long from his Leipsic home. +</p> +<p> +Shortly before Bach's death, he was seized with blindness, brought on by +incessant labor; and his end was supposed to have been hastened by the +severe inflammation consequent on two operations performed by an English +oculist. He departed this life July 30, 1750, and was buried in St. +John's churchyard, universally mourned by musical Germany, though his +real title to exceptional greatness was not to be read until the next +generation. +</p> +<center> +III. +</center> +<p> +Sebastian Bach was not only the descendant of a widely-known musical +family, but was himself the direct ancestor of about sixty of the +best-known organists and church composers of Germany. As a master of +organ-playing, tradition tells us that no one has been his equal, with +the possible exception of Handel. He was also an able performer on +various stringed instruments, and his preference for the clavichord * +led him to write a method for that instrument, which has been the basis +of all succeeding methods for the piano. Bach's teachings and influence +may be said to have educated a large number of excellent composers and +organ and piano players, among whom were Emanuel Bach, Cramer, Hummel, +and Clementi; and on his school of theory and practice the best results +in music have been built. +</p> +<pre> + * An old instrument which may be called the nearest + prototype of the modern square piano. +</pre> +<p> +That Bach's glory as a composer should be largely posthumous is probably +the result of his exceeding simplicity and diffidence, for he always +shrank from popular applause; therefore we may believe his compositions +were not placed in the proper light during his life. It was through +Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven, that the musical world learned what a +master-spirit had wrought in the person of John Sebastian Bach. The +first time Mozart heard one of Bach's hymns, he said, "Thank God! I +learn something absolutely new." Bach's great compositions include his +"Preludes and Fugues" for the organ, works so difficult and elaborate +as perhaps to be above the average comprehension, but sources of delight +and instruction to all musicians; the "Matthäus Passion," for two +choruses and two orchestras, one of the masterpieces in music, which was +not produced till a century after it was written; the "Oratorio of the +Nativity of Jesus Christ;" and a very large number of masses, anthems, +cantatas, chorals, hymns, etc. These works, from their largeness and +dignity of form, as also from their depth of musical science, have been +to all succeeding composers an art-armory, whence they have derived +and furbished their brightest weapons. In the study of Bach's works the +student finds the deepest and highest reaches in the science of music; +for his mind seems to have grasped all its resources, and to have +embodied them with austere purity and precision of form. As Spenser +is called the poet for poets, and Laplace the mathematician for +mathematicians, so Bach is the musician for musicians. While Handel may +be considered a purely independent and parallel growth, it is not too +much to assert that without Sebastian Bach and his matchless studies +for the piano, organ, and orchestra, we could not have had the varied +musical development in sonata and symphony from such masters as +Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Three of Sebastian Bach's sons became +distinguished musicians, and to Emanuel we owe the artistic development +of the sonata, which in its turn became the foundation of the symphony. +</p> +<a name="2H_4_0003"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + HANDEL. +</h2> +<center> +I. +</center> +<p> +To the modern Englishman Handel is almost a contemporary. Paintings and +busts of this great minstrel are scattered everywhere throughout the +land. He lies in Westminster Abbey among the great poets, warriors, and +statesmen, a giant memory in his noble art. A few hours after death +the sculptor Roubiliac took a cast of his face, which he wrought into +imperishable marble; "moulded in colossal calm," he towers above his +tomb, and accepts the homage of the world benignly like a god. Exeter +Hall and the Foundling Hospital in London are also adorned with marble +statues of him. +</p> +<p> +There are more than fifty known pictures of Handel, some of them by +distinguished artists. In the best of these pictures Handel is seated in +the gay costume of the period, with sword, shot-silk breeches, and coat +embroidered with gold. The face is noble in its repose. Benevolence +is seated about the finely-shaped mouth, and the face wears the +mellow dignity of years, without weakness or austerity. There are few +collectors of prints in England and America who have not a woodcut or +a lithograph of him. His face and his music are alike familiar to the +English-speaking world. +</p> +<p> +Handel came to England in the year 1710, at the age of twenty-five. Four +years before he had met, at Naples, Scarlatti, Porpora, and Corelli. +That year had been the turning-point in his life. With one stride he +reached the front rank, and felt that no musician alive could teach him +anything. +</p> +<p> +George Frederick Handel (or Handel, as the name is written in German) +was born at Halle, Lower Saxony, in the year 1685. Like German +literature, German music is a comparatively recent growth. What little +feeling existed for the musical art employed itself in cultivating the +alien flowers of Italian song. Even eighty years after this Mozart and +Haydn were treated like lackeys and vagabonds, just as great actors were +treated in England at the same period. Handel's father looked on music +as an occupation having very little dignity. +</p> +<p> +Determined that his young son should become a doctor like himself, and +leave the divine art to Italian fiddlers and French buffoons, he did not +allow him to go to a public school even, for fear he should learn the +gamut. But the boy Handel, passionately fond of sweet sounds, had, with +the connivance of his nurse, hidden in the garret a poor spinet, and in +stolen hours taught himself how to play. At last the senior Handel had +a visit to make to another son in the service of the Duke of +Saxe-Weissenfels, and the young George was taken along to the ducal +palace. The boy strayed into the chapel, and was irresistibly drawn to +the organ. His stolen performance was made known to his father and the +duke, and the former was very much enraged at such a direct evidence of +disobedience. The duke, however, being astonished at the performance of +the youthful genius, interceded for him, and recommended that his taste +should be encouraged and cultivated instead of repressed. +</p> +<p> +From this time forward fortune showered upon him a combination of +conditions highly favorable to rapid development. Severe training, +ardent friendship, the society of the first composers, and incessant +practice were vouchsafed him. As the pupil of the great organist Zachau, +he studied the whole existing mass of German and Italian music, and soon +exacted from his master the admission that he had nothing more to teach +him. Thence he went to Berlin to study the opera-school, where Ariosti +and Bononcini were favorite composers. The first was friendly, but the +latter, who with a first-rate head had a cankered heart, determined +to take the conceit out of the Saxon boy. He challenged him to play at +sight an elaborate piece. Handel played it with perfect precision, and +thenceforward Bononcini, though he hated the youth as a rival, treated +him as an equal. +</p> +<p> +On the death of his father Handel secured an engagement at the Hamburg +opera-house, where he soon made his mark by the ability with which, on +several occasions, he conducted rehearsals. +</p> +<p> +At the age of nineteen Handel received the offer of the Lübeck organ, on +condition that he would marry the daughter of the retiring organist. He +went down with his friend Mattheson, who it seems had been offered +the same terms. They both returned, however, in single blessedness to +Hamburg. +</p> +<p> +Though the Lübeck maiden had stirred no bad blood between them, musical +rivalry did. A dispute in the theatre resulted in a duel. The only thing +that saved. Handel's life was a great brass button that shivered his +antagonist's point, when they were parted to become firm friends again. +</p> +<p> +While at Hamburg Handel's first two operas were composed, "Almira" and +"Nero." Both of these were founded on dark tales of crime and sorrow, +and, in spite of some beautiful airs and clever instrumentation, were +musical failures, as might be expected. +</p> +<p> +Handel had had enough of manufacturing operas in Germany, and so in +July, 1706, he went to Florence. Here he was cordially received; for +Florence was second to no city in Italy in its passion for encouraging +the arts. Its noble specimens of art creations in architecture, +painting, and sculpture, produced a powerful impression upon the young +musician. In little more than a week's time he composed an opera, +"Rodrigo," for which he obtained one hundred sequins. His next visit +was to Venice, where he arrived at the height of the carnival. Whatever +effect Venice, with its weird and mysterious beauty, with its marble +palaces, façades, pillars, and domes, its magnificent shrines and +frescoes, produced on Handel, he took Venice by storm. Handel's power as +an organist and a harpsichord player was only second to his strength as +a composer, even when, in the full zenith of his maturity, he composed +the "Messiah" and "Judas Maccabæus." +</p> +<p> +"Il caro Sassone," the dear Saxon, found a formidable opponent as well +as dear friend in the person of Scarlatti. One night at a masked ball, +given by a nobleman, Handel was present in disguise. He sat at the +harpsichord, and astonished the company with his playing; but no one +could tell who it was that ravished the ears of the assembly. Presently +another masquerader came into the room, walked up to the instrument, and +called out: "It is either the devil or the Saxon!" This was Scarlatti, +who afterward had with Handel, in Florence and Rome, friendly contests +of skill, in which it seemed difficult to decide which was victor. To +satisfy the Venetian public, Handel composed the opera "Agrippina," +which made a <i>furore</i> among all the connoisseurs of the city. +</p> +<p> +So, having seen the summer in Florence and the carnival in Venice, he +must hurry on to be in time for the great Easter celebrations in Rome. +Here he lived under the patronage of Cardinal Otto-boni, one of the +wealthiest and most liberal of the Sacred College. The cardinal was +a modern representative of the ancient patrician. Living himself in +princely luxury, he endowed hospitals and surgeries for the public. He +distributed alms, patronized men of science and art, and entertained +the public with comedies, operas, oratorios, puppet-shows, and academic +disputes. Under the auspices of this patron, Handel composed three +operas and two oratorios. Even at this early period the young composer +was parting company with the strict old musical traditions, and his +works showed an extraordinary variety and strength of treatment. +</p> +<p> +From Rome he went to Naples, where he spent his second Italian summer, +and composed the original Italian "Aci e Galatea," which in its English +version, afterward written for the Duke of Chandos, has continued a +marked favorite with the musical world. Thence, after a lingering return +through the sunny land where he had been so warmly welcomed, and which +had taught him most effectually, in convincing him that his musical life +had nothing in common with the traditions of Italian musical art, he +returned to Germany, settling at the court of George of Brunswick, +Elector of Hanover, and afterward King of England. He received +commission in the course of a few months from the elector to visit +England, having been warmly invited thither by some English noblemen. On +his return to Hanover, at the end of six months, he found the dull and +pompous little court unspeakably tiresome after the bustle of London. +So it is not to be marveled at that he took the earliest opportunity of +returning to the land which he afterward adopted. At this period he was +not yet twenty-five years old, but already famous as a performer on the +organ and harpsichord, and as a composer of Italian operas. +</p> +<p> +When Queen Anne died and Handel's old patron became King of England, +Handel was forbidden to appear before him, as he had not forgotten the +musician's escapade; but his peace was at last made by a little ruse. +Handel had a friend at court, Baron Kilmansegge, from whom he learned +that the king was, on a certain day, going to take an excursion on the +Thames. So he set to work to compose music for the occasion, which he +arranged to have performed on a boat which followed the king's barge. +As the king floated down the river he heard the new and delightful +"Water-Music." He knew that only one man could have composed such music; +so he sent for Handel, and sealed his pardon with a pension of two +hundred pounds a year. +</p> +<center> +II. +</center> +<p> +Let us take a glance at the society in which the composer moved in the +heyday of his youth. His greatness was to be perfected in after-years +by bitter rivalries, persecution, alternate oscillations of poverty +and affluence, and a multitude of bitter experiences. But at this time +Handel's life was a serene and delightful one. Rival factions had not +been organized to crush him. Lord Burlington lived much at his mansion, +which was then out of town, although the house is now in the heart of +Piccadilly. The intimate friendship of this nobleman helped to bring the +young musician into contact with many distinguished people. +</p> +<p> +It is odd to think of the people Handel met daily without knowing that +their names and his would be in a century famous. The following picture +sketches Handel and his friends in a sprightly fashion: +</p> +<p> +"Yonder heavy, ragged-looking youth standing at the corner of Regent +Street, with a slight and rather more refined-looking companion, is +the obscure Samuel Johnson, quite unknown to fame. He is walking with +Richard Savage. As Signor Handel, 'the composer of Italian music,' +passes by, Savage becomes excited, and nudges his friend, who takes only +a languid interest in the foreigner. Johnson did not care for music; of +many noises he considered it the least disagreeable. +</p> +<p> +"Toward Charing Cross comes, in shovel-hat and cassock, the renowned +ecclesiastic Dean Swift. He has just nodded patronizingly to Bononcini +in the Strand, and suddenly meets Handel, who cuts him dead. Nothing +disconcerted, the dean moves on, muttering his famous epigram: +</p> +<pre> + 'Some say that Signor Bononcini, + Compared to Handel, is a ninny; + While others vow that to him Handel + Is hardly fit to hold a candle. + Strange that such difference should be + 'Twixt tweedledum and tweedledee.' +</pre> +<p> +"As Handel enters the 'Turk's Head' at the corner of Regent Street, +a noble coach and four drives up. It is the Duke of Chandos, who is +inquiring for Mr. Pope. Presently a deformed little man, in an iron-gray +suit, and with a face as keen as a razor, hobbles out, makes a low bow +to the burly Handel, who, helping him into the chariot, gets in after +him, and they drive off together to Cannons, the duke's mansion at +Edge-ware. There they meet Mr. Addison, the poet Gay, and the witty +Arbuthnot, who have been asked to luncheon. The last number of the +<i>Spectator</i> is on the table, and a brisk discussion soon arises between +Pope and Addison concerning the merits of the Italian opera, in which +Pope would have the better if he only knew a little more about music, +and could keep his temper. Arbuthnot sides with Pope in favor of Mr. +Handel's operas; the duke endeavors to keep the peace. Handel probably +uses his favorite exclamation, 'Vat te tevil I care!' and consumes the +<i>recherche</i> wines and rare viands with undiminished gusto. +</p> +<p> +"The Magnificent, or the Grand Duke, as he was called, had built himself +a palace for £230,000. He had a private chapel, and appointed Handel +organist in the room of the celebrated Dr. Pepusch, who retired with +excellent grace before one manifestly his superior. On week-days the +duke and duchess entertained all the wits and grandees in town, and on +Sundays the Edgeware Road was thronged with the gay equipages of those +who went to worship at the ducal chapel and hear Mr. Handel play on the +organ. +</p> +<p> +"The Edgeware Road was a pleasant country drive, but parts of it were +so solitary that highwaymen were much to be feared. The duke was himself +attacked on one occasion; and those who could afford it never traveled +so far out of town without armed retainers. Cannons was the pride of the +neighborhood, and the duke—of whom Pope wrote, +</p> +<pre> + 'Thus gracious Chandos is beloved at sight'— +</pre> +<p> +was as popular as he was wealthy. But his name is made still more +illustrious by the Chandos anthems. They were all written at Cannons +between 1718 and 1720, and number in all eleven overtures, thirty-two +solos, six duets, a trio, quartet, and forty-seven choruses. Some of the +above are real masterpieces; but, with the exception of 'The waves of +the sea rage horribly,' and 'Who is God but the Lord?' few of them +are ever heard now. And yet these anthems were most significant in the +variety of the choruses and in the range of the accompaniments; and it +was then, no doubt, that Handel was feeling his way toward the great +and immortal sphere of his oratorio music. Indeed, his first oratorio, +'Esther,' was composed at Cannons, as also the English version of 'Acis +and Galatea.'" +</p> +<p> +But Handel had other associates, and we must now visit Thomas Britton, +the musical coal-heaver. "There goes the famous small-coal man, a lover +of learning, a musician, and a companion of gentlemen." So the folks +used to say as Thomas Britton, the coal-heaver of Clerkenwell Green, +paced up and down the neighboring streets with his sack of small coal on +his back, destined for one of his customers. Britton was great among the +great. He was courted by the most fashionable folk of his day. He was +a cultivated coal-heaver, who, besides his musical taste and ability, +possessed an extensive knowledge of chemistry and the occult sciences. +</p> +<p> +Britton did more than this. He gave concerts in Aylesbury Street, +Clerkenwell, where this singular man had formed a dwelling-house, with +a concert-room and a coal-store, out of what was originally a stable. +On the ground-floor was the small-coal repository, and over that the +concert-room—very long and narrow, badly lighted, and with a ceiling +so low that a tall man could scarcely stand upright in it. The stairs to +this room were far from pleasant to ascend, and the following facetious +lines by Ward, the author of the "London Spy," confirm this: +</p> +<pre> + "Upon Thursdays repair + To my palace, and there + Hobble up stair by stair + But I pray ye take care + That you break not your shins by a stumble; + + "And without e'er a souse + Paid to me or my spouse, + Sit as still as a mouse + At the top of the house, + And there you shall hear how we fumble." +</pre> +<p> +Nevertheless beautiful duchesses and the best society in town flocked +to Britton's on Thursdays—not to order coals, but to sit out his +concerts. +</p> +<p> +Let us follow the short, stout little man on a concert-day. The +customers are all served, or as many as can be. The coal-shed is made +tidy and swept up, and the coal-heaver awaits his company. There he +stands at the door of his stable, dressed in his blue blouse, +dustman's hat, and maroon kerchief tightly fastened round his neck. The +concert-room is almost full, and, pipe in hand, Britton awaits a new +visitor—the beautiful Duchess of B———. She is somewhat late (the +coachman, possibly, is not quite at home in the neighborhood). +</p> +<p> +Here comes a carriage, which stops at the coal-shop; and, laying down +his pipe, the coal-heaver assists her grace to alight, and in the +genteelest manner escorts her to the narrow staircase leading to +the music-room. Forgetting Ward's advice, she trips laughingly and +carelessly up the stairs to the room, from which proceed faint sounds of +music, increasing to quite an <i>olla podri-da</i> of sound as the apartment +is reached—for the musicians are tuning up. The beautiful duchess is +soon recognized, and as soon in deep gossip with her friends. But who is +that gentlemanly man leaning over the chamber-organ? That is Sir Roger +L'Estrange, an admirable performer on the violoncello, and a great lover +of music. He is watching the subtile fingering of Mr. Handel, as his +dimpled hands drift leisurely and marvelously over the keys of the +instrument. +</p> +<p> +There, too, is Mr. Bannister with his fiddle—the first Englishman, +by-the-by, who distinguished himself upon the violin; there is Mr. +Woolaston, the painter, relating to Dr. Pepusch of how he had that +morning thrown up his window upon hearing Britton crying "Small coal!" +near his house in Warwick Lane, and, having beckoned him in, had made a +sketch for a painting of him; there, too, is Mr. John Hughes, author of +the "Siege of Damascus." In the background also are Mr. Philip Hart, Mr. +Henry Symonds, Mr. Obadiah Shuttleworth, Mr. Abiell Whichello; while in +the extreme corner of the room is Robe, a justice of the peace, letting +out to Henry Needier of the Excise Office the last bit of scandal that +has come into his court. And now, just as the concert has commenced, in +creeps "Soliman the Magnificent," also known as Mr. Charles Jennens, of +Great Ormond Street, who wrote many of Handel's librettos, and arranged +the words for the "Messiah." +</p> +<p> +"Soliman the Magnificent" is evidently resolved to do justice to +his title on this occasion with his carefully-powdered wig, frills, +maroon-colored coat, and buckled shoes; and as he makes his progress up +the room, the company draw aside for him to reach his favorite seat near +Handel. A trio of Corelli's is gone through; then Madame Cuzzoni sings +Handel's last new air; Dr. Pepusch takes his turn at the harpsichord; +another trio of Hasse, or a solo on the violin by Bannister; a selection +on the organ from Mr. Handel's new oratorio; and then the day's +programme is over. +</p> +<p> +Dukes, duchesses, wits and philosophers, poets and musicians, make their +way down the satirized stairs to go, some in carriages, some in chairs, +some on foot, to their own palaces, houses, or lodgings. +</p> +<center> +III. +</center> +<p> +We do not now think of Handel in connection with the opera. To the +modern mind he is so linked to the oratorio, of which he was the father +and the consummate master, that his operas are curiosities but little +known except to musical antiquaries. Yet some of the airs from the +Handel operas are still cherished by singers as among the most beautiful +songs known to the concert-stage. +</p> +<p> +In 1720 Handel was engaged by a party of noblemen, headed by his Grace +of Chandos, to compose operas for the Royal Academy of Music at the +Haymarket. An attempt had been made to put this institution on a firm +foundation by a subscription of £50,000, and it was opened on May 2d +with a full company of singers engaged by Handel. In the course of eight +years twelve operas were produced in rapid succession: "Floridante," +December 9, 1721; "Ottone," January 12, 1723; "Flavio" and "Giulio +Cesare," 1723; "Tamerlano," 1724; "Rodelinda," 1725; "Scipione," 1726; +"Alessandro," 1726; "Admeto," 727; "Siroe," 1728; and "Tolommeo," 1728. +They made as great a <i>furore</i> among the musical public of that day as +would an opera from Gounod or Verdi in the present. The principal airs +were sung throughout the land, and published as harpsichord pieces; for +in these halcyon days of our composers the whole atmosphere of the land +was full of the flavor and color of Handel. Many of the melodies in +these now forgotten operas have been worked up by modern composers, and +so have passed into modern music unrecognized. It is a notorious fact +that the celebrated song, "Where the Bee sucks," by Dr. Arne, is taken +from a movement in "Rinaldo." Thus the new life of music is ever growing +rich with the dead leaves of the past. The most celebrated of these +operas was entitled "Otto." It was a work composed of one long string of +exquisite gems, like Mozart's "Don Giovanni" and Gounod's "Faust." Dr. +Pepusch, who had never quite forgiven Handel for superseding him as the +best organist in England, remarked, of one of the airs, "That great bear +must have been inspired when he wrote that air." The celebrated Madame +Cuzzoni made her <i>début</i> in it. On the second night the tickets rose +to four guineas each, and Cuzzoni received two thousand pounds for the +season. +</p> +<p> +The composer had already begun to be known for his irascible temper. +It is refreshing to learn that operatic singers of the day, however +whimsical and self-willed, were obliged to bend to the imperious genius +of this man. In a spirit of ill-timed revolt Cuzzoni declined to sing +an air. She had already given him trouble by her insolence and freaks, +which at times were unbearable. Handel at last exploded. He flew at the +wretched woman and shook her like a rat. "Ah! I always knew you were +a fery tevil," he cried, "and I shall now let you know that I am +Beelzebub, the prince of de tevils!" and, dragging her to the open +window, was just on the point of pitching her into the street when, +in every sense of the word, she recanted. So, when Carestini, the +celebrated tenor, sent back an air, Handel was furious. Rushing into the +trembling Italian's house, he said, in his four- or five-language style: +"You tog! don't I know better as yourself vaat it pest for you to sing? +If you vill not sing all de song vaat I give you, I vill not pay you ein +stiver." Among the anecdotes told of Handel's passion is one growing out +of the composer's peculiar sensitiveness to discords. The dissonance +of the tuning-up period of an orchestra is disagreeable to the most +patient. Handel, being peculiarly sensitive to this unfortunate +necessity, always arranged that it should take place before the +audience assembled, so as to prevent any sound of scraping or blowing. +Unfortunately, on one occasion, some wag got access to the orchestra +where the ready-tuned instruments were lying, and with diabolical +dexterity put every string and crook out of tune. Handel enters. All +the bows are raised together, and at the given beat all start off <i>con +spirito</i>. The effect was startling in the extreme. The unhappy <i>maestro</i> +rushes madly from his place, kicks to pieces the first double-bass he +sees, and, seizing a kettle-drum, throws it violently at the leader of +the band. The effort sends his wig flying, and, rushing bareheaded to +the footlights, he stands a few moments amid the roars of the house, +snorting with rage and choking with passion. Like Burleigh's nod, +Handel's wig seemed to have been a sure guide to his temper. When things +went well, it had a certain complacent vibration; but when he was out of +humor, the wig indicated the fact in a very positive way. The Princess +of Wales was wont to blame her ladies for talking instead of listening. +"Hush, hush!" she would say. "Don't you see Handel's wig?" +</p> +<p> +For several years after the subscription of the nobility had been +exhausted, our composer, having invested £10,000 of his own in the +Haymarket, produced operas with remarkable affluence, some of them +<i>pasticcio</i> works, composed of all sorts of airs, in which the +singers could give their <i>bravura songs</i>. These were "Lotario," +1729; "Partenope," 1730; "Poro," 1731; "Ezio," 1732; "Sosarme," 1732; +"Orlando," 1733; "Ariadne," 1734; and also several minor works. Handel's +operatic career was not so much the outcome of his choice as dictated +to him by the necessity of time and circumstance. As time went on, his +operas lost public interest. The audiences dwindled, and the overflowing +houses of his earlier experience were replaced by empty benches. This, +however, made little difference with Handel's royal patrons. The king +and the Prince of Wales, with their respective households, made it +an express point to show their deep interest in Handel's success. +In illustration of this, an amusing anecdote is told of the Earl of +Chesterfield. During the performance of "Rinaldo" this nobleman, then +an equerry of the king, was met quietly retiring from the theatre in the +middle of the first act. Surprise being expressed by a gentleman who +met the earl, the latter said: "I don't wish to disturb his Majesty's +privacy." +</p> +<p> +Handel paid his singers in those days what were regarded as enormous +prices. Senisino and Carestini had each twelve hundred pounds, and +Cuzzoni two thousand, for the season. Toward the end of what may be +called the Handel season nearly all the singers and nobles forsook him, +and supported Farinelli, the greatest singer living, at the rival house +in Lincoln's Inn Fields. +</p> +<center> +IV. +</center> +<p> +From the year 1729 the career of Handel was to be a protracted battle, +in which he was sometimes victorious, sometimes defeated, but always +undaunted and animated with a lofty sense of his own superior power. +Let us take a view of some of the rival musicians with whom he came +in contact. Of all these Bononcini was the most formidable. He came to +England in 1720 with Ariosti, also a meritorious composer. Factions +soon began to form themselves around Handel and Bononcini, and a bitter +struggle ensued between these old foes. The same drama repeated itself, +with new actors, about thirty years afterward, in Paris. Gluck was then +the German hero, supported by Marie Antoinette, and Piccini fought for +the Italian opera under the colors of the king's mistress Du Barry, +while all the <i>litterateurs</i> and nobles ranged themselves on either +side in bitter contest. The battle between Handel and Bononcini, as the +exponents of German and Italian music, was also repeated in after-years +between Mozart and Salieri, Weber and Rossini, and to-day is seen in +the acrimonious disputes going on between Wagner and the Italian school. +Bononcini's career in England came to an end very suddenly. It was +discovered that a madrigal brought out by him was pirated from another +Italian composer; whereupon Bononcini left England, humiliated to the +dust, and finally died obscure and alone, the victim of a charlatan +alchemist, who succeeded in obtaining all his savings. +</p> +<p> +Another powerful rival of Handel was Porpora, or, as Handel used to +call him, "old Borbora." Without Bononcini's fire or Handel's daring +originality, he represented the dry contrapuntal school of Italian +music. He was also a great singing-master, famous throughout Europe, +and upon this his reputation had hitherto principally rested. He came to +London in 1733, under the patronage of the Italian faction, especially +to serve as a thorn in the side of Handel. His first opera, "Ariadne," +was a great success; but when he had the audacity to challenge the great +German in the field of oratorio, his defeat was so overwhelming that +he candidly admitted his rival's superiority. But he believed that no +operas in the world were equal to his own, and he composed fifty of them +during his life, extending to the days of Haydn, whom he had the honor +of teaching, while the father of the symphony, on the other hand, +cleaned Por-pora's boots and powdered his wig for him. +</p> +<p> +Another Italian opponent was Hasse, a man of true genius, who in his old +age instructed some of the most splendid singers in the history of the +lyric stage. He also married one of the most gifted and most beautiful +divas of Europe, Faustina Bordoni. The following anecdote does equal +credit to Hasse's heart and penetration: In after-years, when he had +left England, he was again sent for to take Handel's place as conductor +of opera and oratorio. Hasse inquired, "What! is Handel dead?" On +being told no, he indignantly refused, saying he was not worthy to tie +Handel's shoe-latchets. +</p> +<p> +There are also Dr. Pepusch, the Anglicized Prussian, and Dr. Greene, +both names well known in English music. Pepusch had had the leading +place, before Handel's arrival, as organist and conductor, and made a +distinct place for himself even after the sun of Handel had obscured all +of his contemporaries. He wrote the music of the "Beggar's Opera," which +was the great sensation of the times, and which still keeps possession +of the stage. Pepusch was chiefly notable for his skill in arranging the +popular songs of the day, and probably did more than any other composer +to give the English ballad its artistic form. +</p> +<p> +The name of Dr. Greene is best known in connection with choral +compositions. His relations with Handel and Bononcini are hardly +creditable to him. He seems to have flattered each in turn. He upheld +Bononcini in the great madrigal controversy, and appears to have wearied +Handel by his repeated visits. The great Saxon easily saw through the +flatteries of a man who was in reality an ambitious rival, and joked +about him, not always in the best taste. When he was told that Greene +was giving concerts at the "Devil Tavern," near Temple Bar, "Ah!" he +exclaimed, "mein poor friend Toctor Greene—so he is gone to de Tevil!" +</p> +<p> +From 1732 to 1740 Handel's life presents the suggestive and +often-repeated experience in the lives of men of genius—a soul with a +great creative mission, of which it is half unconscious, partly +yielding to and partly struggling against the tendencies of the age, yet +gradually crystallizing into its true form, and getting consecrated to +its true work. In these eight years Handel presented to the public ten +operas and five oratorios. It was in 1731 that the great significant +fact, though unrecognized by himself and others, occurred, which stamped +the true bent of his genius. This was the production of his first +oratorio in England. He was already playing his operas to empty houses, +the subject of incessant scandal and abuse on the part of his enemies, +but holding his way with steady cheerfulness and courage. Twelve years +before this he had composed the oratorio of "Esther," but it was still +in manuscript, uncared for and neglected. It was finally produced by a +society called Philharmonic, under the direction of Bernard Gates, the +royal chapel-master. Its fame spread wide, and we read these significant +words in one of the old English newspapers: "'Esther,' an English +oratorio, was performed six times, and very full." +</p> +<p> +Shortly after this Handel himself conducted "Esther" at the Haymarket +by royal command. His success encouraged him to write "Deborah," another +attempt in the same field, and it met a warm reception from the public, +March 17, 1733. +</p> +<p> +For about fifteen years Handel had struggled heroically in the +composition of Italian operas. With these he had at first succeeded; but +his popularity waned more and more, and he became finally the continued +target for satire, scorn, and malevolence. In obedience to the drift +of opinion, all the great singers, who had supported him at the outset, +joined the rival ranks or left England. In fact it may be almost said +that the English public were becoming dissatisfied with the whole system +and method of Italian music. Colley Cibber, the actor and dramatist, +explains why Italian opera could never satisfy the requirement of +Handel, or be anything more than an artificial luxury in England: "The +truth is, this kind of entertainment is entirely sensational." Still +both Handel and his friends and his foes, all the exponents of musical +opinion in England, persevered obstinately in warming this foreign +exotic into a new lease of life. +</p> +<p> +The quarrel between the great Saxon composer and his opponents +raged incessantly both in public and private. The newspaper and the +drawing-room rang alike with venomous diatribes. Handel was called a +swindler, a drunkard, and a blasphemer, to whom Scripture even was +not sacred. The idea of setting Holy Writ to music scandalized the +Pharisees, who reveled in the licentious operas and love-songs of +the Italian school. All the small wits of the time showered on Handel +epigram and satire unceasingly. The greatest of all the wits, however, +Alexander Pope, was his firm friend and admirer; and in the "Dunciad," +wherein the wittiest of poets impaled so many of the small fry of the +age with his pungent and vindictive shaft, he also slew some of the most +malevolent of Handel's foes. +</p> +<p> +Fielding, in "Tom Jones," has an amusing hit at the taste of the period: +"It was Mr. Western's custom every afternoon, as soon as he was drunk, +to hear his daughter play on the harpsichord; for he was a great lover +of music, and perhaps, had he lived in town, might have passed as a +connoisseur, for he always excepted against the finest compositions of +Mr. Handel." +</p> +<p> +So much had it become the fashion to criticise Handel's new effects in +vocal and instrumental composition, that some years later Mr. Sheridan +makes one of his characters fire a pistol simply to shock the audience, +and makes him say in a stage whisper to the gallery, "This hint, +gentlemen, I took from Handel." +</p> +<p> +The composer's Oxford experience was rather amusing and suggestive. +We find it recorded that in July, 1733, "one Handell, a foreigner, was +desired to come to Oxford to perform in music." Again the same writer +says: "Handell with his lousy crew, a great number of foreign fiddlers, +had a performance for his own benefit at the theatre." One of the dons +writes of the performance as follows: "This is an innovation; but every +one paid his five shillings to try how a little fiddling would sit upon +him. And, notwithstanding the barbarous and inhuman combination of such +a parcel of unconscionable scamps, he [Handel] disposed of the most of +his tickets." +</p> +<p> +"Handel and his lousy crew," however, left Oxford with the prestige of +a magnificent victory. His third oratorio, "Athaliah," was received with +vast applause by a great audience. Some of his university admirers, who +appreciated academic honors more than the musician did, urged him to +accept the degree of Doctor of Music, for which he would have to pay a +small fee. The characteristic reply was a Parthian arrow: "Vat te tevil +I trow my money away for dat vich the blockhead vish'? I no vant!" +</p> +<center> +V. +</center> +<p> +In 1738 Handel was obliged to close the theatre and suspend payment. +He had made and spent during his operatic career the sum of £10,000 +sterling, besides dissipating the sum of £50,000 subscribed by his noble +patrons. The rival house lasted but a few months longer, and the Duchess +of Marlborough and her friends, who ruled the opposition clique and +imported Bononcini, paid £12,000 for the pleasure of ruining Handel. His +failure as an operatic composer is due in part to the same causes +which constituted his success in oratorio and cantata. It is a little +significant to notice that, alike by the progress of his own genius and +by the force of conditions, he was forced out of the operatic field at +the very time when he strove to tighten his grip on it. +</p> +<p> +His free introduction of choral and instrumental music, his creation of +new forms and remodeling of old ones, his entire subordination of the +words in the story to a pure musical purpose, offended the singers and +retarded the action of the drama in the eyes of the audience; yet it was +by virtue of these unpopular characteristics that the public mind was +being moulded to understand and love the form of the oratorio. +</p> +<p> +From 1734 to 1738 Handel composed and produced a number of operatic +works, the principal ones of which were "Alcina," 1735; "Arminio," 1737; +and "Berenice," 1737. He also during these years wrote the magnificent +music to Dryden's "Alexander's Feast," and the great funeral anthem on +the occasion of Queen Caroline's death in the latter part of the year +1737. +</p> +<p> +We can hardly solve the tenacity of purpose with which Handel persevered +in the composition of operatic music after it had ruined him; but it was +still some time before he fully appreciated the true turn of his genius, +which could not be trifled with or ignored. In his adversity he had some +consolation. His creditors were patient, believing in his integrity. The +royal family were his firm friends. +</p> +<p> +Southey tells us that Handel, having asked the youthful Prince of +Wales, then a child, and afterward George the Third, if he loved music, +answered, when the prince expressed his pleasure: "A good boy, a good +boy! You shall protect my fame when I am dead." Afterward, when the +half-imbecile George was crazed with family and public misfortunes, he +found his chief solace in the Waverley novels and Handel's music. +</p> +<p> +It is also an interesting fact that the poets and thinkers of the age +were Handel's firm admirers. Such men as Gay, Arbuthnot, Hughes, Colley +Cibber, Pope, Fielding, Hogarth, and Smollett, who recognized the deep, +struggling tendencies of the times, measured Handel truly. They defended +him in print, and never failed to attend his performances, and at +his benefit concerts their enthusiastic support always insured him an +overflowing house. +</p> +<p> +The popular instinct was also true to him. The aristocratic classes +sneered at his oratorios and complained at his innovations. His music +was found to be good bait for the popular gardens and the holiday-makers +of the period. Jonathan Tyers was one of the most liberal managers +of this class. He was proprietor of Vauxhall Gardens, and Handel +(<i>incognito</i>) supplied him with nearly all his music. The composer did +much the same sort of thing for Marylebone Gardens, furbishing up old +and writing new strains with an ease that well became the urgency of the +circumstances. +</p> +<p> +"My grandfather," says the Rev. J. Fountagne, "as I have been told, was +an enthusiast in music, and cultivated most of all the friendship of +musical men, especially of Handel, who visited him often, and had a +great predilection for his society. This leads me to relate an anecdote +which I have on the best authority. While Marylebone Gardens were +flourishing, the enchanting music of Handel, and probably of Arne, was +often heard from the orchestra there. One evening, as my grandfather and +Handel were walking together and alone, a new piece was struck up by the +band. 'Come, Mr. Fountagne,' said Handel, 'let us sit down and listen +to this piece; I want to know your opinion about it.' Down they sat, and +after some time the old parson, turning to his companion, said, 'It +is not worth listening to; it's very poor stuff.' 'You are right, Mr. +Fountagne,' said Handel, 'it is very poor stuff; I thought so myself +when I had finished it.' The old gentleman, being taken by surprise, was +beginning to apologize; but Handel assured him there was no necessity, +that the music was really bad, having been composed hastily, and his +time for the production limited; and that the opinion given was as +correct as it was honest." +</p> +<center> +VI. +</center> +<p> +The period of Handel's highest development had now arrived. For seven +years his genius had been slowly but surely maturing, in obedience +to the inner law of his being. He had struggled long in the bonds of +operatic composition, but even here his innovations showed conclusively +how he was reaching out toward the form with which his name was to +be associated through all time. The year 1739 was one of prodigious +activity. The oratorio of "Saul" was produced, of which the "Dead March" +is still recognized as one of the great musical compositions of all +time, being one of the few intensely solemn symphonies written in a +major key. Several works now forgotten were composed, and the great +"Israel in Egypt" was written in the incredibly short space of +twenty-seven days. Of this work a distinguished writer on music says: +Handel was now fifty-five years old, and had entered, after many a +long and weary contest, upon his last and greatest creative period. +His genius culminates in the 'Israel.' Elsewhere he has produced longer +recitatives and more pathetic arias; nowhere has he written finer tenor +songs than 'The enemy said,' or finer duets than 'The Lord is a man of +war;' and there is not in the history of music an example of choruses +piled up like so many Ossas on Pelions in such majestic strength, and +hurled in open defiance at a public whose ears were itching for Italian +love-lays and English ballads. In these twenty-eight colossal choruses +we perceive at once a reaction against and a triumph over the tastes of +the age. The wonder is, not that the 'Israel' was unpopular, but that +it should have been tolerated; but Handel, while he appears to have been +for years driven by the public, had been, in reality, driving them. His +earliest oratorio, 'Il Trionfo del Tempo' (composed in Italy), had +but two choruses; into his operas more and more were introduced, with +disastrous consequences; but when, at the zenith of his strength, he +produced a work which consisted almost entirely of these unpopular +peculiarities, the public treated him with respect, and actually sat +out three performances in one season! In addition to these two great +oratorios, our composer produced the beautiful music to Dryden's +"St. Cæcilia Ode," and Milton's "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso." +Henceforth neither praise nor blame could turn Handel from his appointed +course. He was not yet popular with the musical <i>dilettanti</i>, but we +find no more catering to an absurd taste, no more writing of silly +operatic froth. +</p> +<p> +Our composer had always been very fond of the Irish, and, at the +invitation of the lord-lieutenant and prominent Dublin amateurs, +he crossed the channel in 1741. He was received with the greatest +enthusiasm, and his house became the resort of all the musical people in +the city of Dublin. One after another his principal works were produced +before admiring audiences in the new Music Hall in Fishamble Street. The +crush to hear the "Allegro" and "Penseroso" at the opening performances +was so great that the doors had to be closed. The papers declared there +never had been seen such a scene before in Dublin. +</p> +<p> +Handel gave twelve performances at very short intervals, comprising +all of his finest works. In these concerts the "Acis and Galatea" and +"Alexander's Feast" were the most admired; but the enthusiasm culminated +in the rendition of the "Messiah," produced for the first time on April +13, 1742. The performance was a beneficiary one in aid of poor and +distressed prisoners for debt in the Marshalsea in Dublin. So, by a +remarkable coincidence, the first performance of the "Messiah" literally +meant deliverance to the captives. The principal singers were Mrs. +Cibber (daughter-in-law of Colley Cibber, and afterward one of the +greatest actresses of her time), Mrs. Avoglio, and Mr. Dubourg. The +town was wild with excitement. Critics, poets, fine ladies, and men of +fashion tore rhetoric to tatters in their admiration. A clergyman so +far forgot his Bible in his rapture as to exclaim to Mrs. Cibber, at +the close of one of her airs, "Woman, for this be all thy sins forgiven +thee." The penny-a-liners wrote that "words were wanting to express the +exquisite delight," etc. And—supreme compliment of all, for Handel was +a cynical bachelor—the fine ladies consented to leave their hoops at +home for the second performance, that a couple of hundred or so extra +listeners might be accommodated. This event was the grand triumph of +Handel's life. Years of misconception, neglect, and rivalry were swept +out of mind in the intoxicating delight of that night's success. +</p> +<center> +VII. +</center> +<p> +Handel returned to London, and composed a new oratorio, "Samson," for +the following Lenten season. This, together with the "Messiah," heard +for the first time in London, made the stock of twelve performances. +The fashionable world ignored him altogether; the newspapers kept a +contemptuous silence; comic singers were hired to parody his noblest +airs at the great houses; and impudent Horace Walpole had the audacity +to say that he "had hired all the goddesses from farces and singers of +roast-beef, from between the acts of both theatres, with a man with one +note in his voice, and a girl with never a one; and so they sang and +made brave hallelujahs." +</p> +<p> +The new field into which Handel had entered inspired his genius to +its greatest energy. His new works for the season of 1744 were the +"Det-tingen Te Deum," "Semele," and "Joseph and his Brethren;" for +the next year (he had again rented the Haymarket Theatre), "Hercules," +"Belshazzar," and a revival of "Deborah." All these works were produced +in a style of then uncommon completeness, and the great expense he +incurred, combined with the active hostility of the fashionable world, +forced him to close his doors and suspend payment. From this time +forward Handel gave concerts whenever he chose, and depended on the +people, who so supported him by their gradually growing appreciation, +that in two years he had paid off all his debts, and in ten years had +accumulated a fortune of £10,000. The works produced during these latter +years were "Judas Maccabæus," 1747; "Alexander," 1748; "Joshua," +1748; "Susannah," 1749; "Solomon," 1749; "Theodora," 1750; "Choice of +Hercules," 1751; "Jephthah," 1752, closing with this a stupendous series +of dramatic oratorios. While at work on the last, his eyes suffered an +attack which finally resulted in blindness. +</p> +<p> +Like Milton in the case of "Paradise Lost," Handel preferred one of his +least popular oratorios, "Theodora." It was a great favorite with him, +and he used to say that the chorus, "He saw the lovely youth," was finer +than anything in the "Messiah." The public were not of this opinion, and +he was glad to give away tickets to any professors who applied for them. +When the "Messiah" was again produced, two of these gentlemen who had +neglected "Theodora" applied for admission. "Oh! your sarvant, meine +Herren!" exclaimed the indignant composer. "You are tamnable dainty! +You would not go to 'Theodora'—dere was room enough to dance dere when +dat was perform." When Handel heard that an enthusiast had offered to +make himself responsible for all the boxes the next time the despised +oratorio should be given—"He is a fool," said he; "the Jews will not +come to it as to 'Judas Maccabæus,' because it is a Christian story; and +the ladies will not come, because it is a virtuous one." +</p> +<p> +Handel's triumph was now about to culminate in a serene and acknowledged +preeminence. The people had recognized his greatness, and the reaction +at last conquered all classes. Publishers vied with each other in +producing his works, and their performance was greeted with great +audiences and enthusiastic applause. His last ten years were a peaceful +and beautiful ending of a stormy career. +</p> +<center> +VIII. +</center> +<p> +Thought lingers pleasantly over this sunset period. Handel throughout +life was so wedded to his art, that he cared nothing for the delights of +woman's love. His recreations were simple—rowing, walking, visiting his +friends, and playing on the organ. He would sometimes try to play the +people out at St. Paul's Cathedral, and hold them indefinitely. He would +resort at night to his favorite tavern, the "Queen's Head," where +he would smoke and drink beer with his chosen friends. Here he would +indulge in roaring conviviality and fun, and delight his friends with +sparkling satire and pungent humor, of which he was a great master, +helped by his amusing compound of English, Italian, and German. Often +he would visit the picture galleries, of which he was passionately fond. +His clumsy but noble figure could be seen almost any morning rolling +through Charing Cross; and every one who met old Father Handel treated +him with the deepest reverence. +</p> +<p> +The following graphic narrative, taken from the "Somerset House +Gazette," offers a vivid portraiture. Schoelcher, in his "Life of +Handel," says that "its author had a relative, Zachary Hardcastle, +a retired merchant, who was intimately acquainted with all the +most distinguished men of his time, artists, poets, musicians, and +physicians." This old gentleman, who lived at Paper Buildings, was +accustomed to take his morning walk in the garden of Somerset House, +where he happened to meet with another old man, Colley Cibber, and +proposed to him to go and hear a competition which was to take place +at midday for the post of organist to the Temple, and he invited him to +breakfast, telling him at the same time that Dr. Pepusch and Dr. +Arne were to be with him at nine o'clock. They go in; Pepusch arrives +punctually at the stroke of nine; presently there is a knock, the door +is opened, and Handel unexpectedly presents himself. Then follows the +scene: +</p> +<p> +"Handel: 'Vat! mein dear friend Hardgasdle—vat! you are merry py +dimes! Vat! and Misder Golley Cibbers too! ay, and Togder Peepbush +as veil! Vell, dat is gomigal. Veil, mein friendts, andt how vags the +vorldt wid you, mein tdears? Bray, bray, do let me sit town a momend.' +</p> +<p> +"Pepusch took the great man's hat, Colley Cibber took his stick, and my +great-uncle wheeled round his reading-chair, which was somewhat about +the dimensions of that in which our kings and queens are crowned; and +then the great man sat him down. +</p> +<p> +"'Vell, I thank you, gentlemen; now I am at mein ease vonce more. Upon +mein vord, dat is a picture of a ham. It is very pold of me to gome +to preak my fastd wid you uninvided; and I have brought along wid me +a nodable abbetite; for the wader of old Fader Dems is it not a fine +pracer of the stomach?' +</p> +<p> +"'You do me great honor, Mr. Handel,' said my great-uncle. 'I take this +early visit as a great kindness.' +</p> +<p> +"'A delightful morning for the water,' said Colley Cibber. +</p> +<p> +"'Pray, did you come with oars or scullers, Mr. Handel?' said Pepusch. +</p> +<p> +"'Now, how gan you demand of me dat zilly question, you who are a +musician and a man of science, Togder Peepbush? Vat gan it concern you +whether I have one votdermans or two votd-ermans—whether I bull out +mine burce for to pay von shilling or two? Diavolo! I gannot go here, or +I gannot go dere, but some one shall send it to some newsbaber, as +how Misder Chorge Vreder-ick Handel did go somedimes last week in a +votderman's wherry, to preak his fastd wid Misder Zac. Hardgasdle; but +it shall be all the fault wid himself, if it shall be but in print, +whether I was rowed by one votdermans or by two votdermans. So, Togder +Peepbush, you will blease to excuse me from dat.' +</p> +<p> +"Poor Dr. Pepusch was for a moment disconcerted, but it was soon +forgotten in the first dish of coffee. +</p> +<p> +"'Well, gentlemen,' said my great-uncle Zachary, looking at his tompion, +'it is ten minutes past nine. Shall we wait more for Dr. Arne?" +</p> +<p> +"'Let us give him another five minutes' chance, Master Hardcastle,' said +Colley Cibber; 'he is too great a genius to keep time.' +</p> +<p> +"'Let us put it to the vote,' said Dr. Pepusch, smiling. 'Who holds up +hands?' +</p> +<p> +"'I will segond your motion wid all mine heardt,' said Handel. 'I will +hold up mine feeble hands for mine oldt friendt Custos (Arne's name was +Augustine), for I know not who I wouldt waidt for, over andt above mine +oldt rival, Master Dom (meaning Pepusch). Only by your bermission, I +vill dake a snag of your ham, andt a slice of French roll, or a modicum +of chicken; for to dell you the honest fagd, I am all pote famished, +for I laid me down on mine billow in bed the lastd nightd widout +mine supper, at the instance of mine physician, for which I am not +altogeddere inglined to extend mine fastd no longer.' Then, laughing: +'Berhaps, Mister Golley Cibbers, you may like to pote this to the vote? +But I shall not segond the motion, nor shall I holdt up mine hand, as I +will, by bermission, embloy it some dime in a better office. So, if you +blease, do me the kindness for to gut me a small slice of ham.' +</p> +<p> +"At this instant a hasty footstep was heard on the stairs, accompanied +by the humming of an air, all as gay as the morning, which was beautiful +and bright. It was the month of May. +</p> +<p> +"'Bresto! be quick,' said Handel; he knew it was Arne; 'fifteen minutes +of dime is butty well for an <i>ad libitum</i>.' +</p> +<p> +"'Mr. Arne,' said my great-uncle's man. +</p> +<p> +"A chair was placed, and the social party commenced their déjeuner. +</p> +<p> +"'Well, and how do you find yourself, my dear sir?' inquired Arne, with +friendly warmth. +</p> +<p> +"'Why, by the mercy of Heaven, and the waders of Aix-la-Chapelle, andt +the addentions of mine togders andt physicians, and oggulists, of lade +years, under Providence, I am surbrizingly pedder—thank you kindly, +Misder Custos. Andt you have also been doing well of lade, as I am +bleased to hear. You see, sir,' pointing to his plate, 'you see, sir, +dat I am in the way for to regruit mine flesh wid the good viands of +Misder Zachary Hardgasdle.' +</p> +<p> +"'So, sir, I presume you are come to witness the trial of skill at +the old round church? I understand the amateurs expect a pretty sharp +contest,' said Arne. +</p> +<p> +"'Gondest,' echoed Handel, laying down his knife and fork. 'Yes, no +doubt; your amadeurs have a bassion for gondest. Not vot it vos in our +remembrance. Hey, mine friendt? Ha, ha, ha!' +</p> +<p> +"'No, sir, I am happy to say those days of envy and bickering, and party +feeling, are gone and past. To be sure we had enough of such disgraceful +warfare: it lasted too long.' +</p> +<p> +"'Why, yes; it tid last too long, it bereft me of mine poor limbs: it +tid bereave of that vot is the most blessed gift of Him vot made us, +andt not wee ourselves. And for vot? Vy, for nod-ing in the vorldt pode +the bleasure and bastime of them who, having no widt, nor no want, set +at loggerheads such men as live by their widts, to worry and destroy +one andt anodere as wild beasts in the Golloseum in the dimes of the +Romans.' +</p> +<p> +"Poor Dr. Pepusch during this conversation, as my great-uncle observed, +was sitting on thorns; he was in the confederacy professionally only. +</p> +<p> +"'I hope, sir,' observed the doctor, 'you do not include me among those +who did injustice to your talents?' +</p> +<p> +"'Nod at all, nod at all, God forbid! I am a great admirer of the airs +of the 'Peggar's Obéra,' andt every professional gendtleman must do +his best for to live.' +</p> +<p> +"This mild return, couched under an apparent compliment, was well +received; but Handel, who had a talent for sarcastic drolling, added: +</p> +<p> +"'Pute why blay the Peggar yourself, togder, andt adapt oldt pallad +humsdrum, ven, as a man of science, you could gombose original airs of +your own? Here is mine friendt, Custos Arne, who has made a road for +himself, for to drive along his own genius to the demple of fame.' Then, +turning to our illustrious Arne, he continued, 'Min friendt Custos, +you and I must meed togeder some dimes before it is long, and hold a +<i>têde-à-têde</i> of old days vat is gone; ha, ha! Oh! it is gomigal now dat +id is all gone by. Custos, to nod you remember as it was almost only of +yesterday dat she-devil Guzzoni, andt dat other brecious taugh-ter of +iniquity, Pelzebub's spoiled child, the bretty-f aced Faustina? Oh! the +mad rage vot I have to answer for, vot with one and the oder of these +fine latdies' airs andt graces. Again, to you nod remember dat ubstardt +buppy Senesino, and the goxgomb Farinelli? Next, again, mine some-dimes +nodtable rival Bononcini, and old Borbora? Ha, ha, ha! all at war wid +me, andt all at war wid themselves. Such a gonfusion of rivalshibs, andt +double-facedness, andt hybocrisy, and malice, vot would make a gomigal +subject for a boem in rhymes, or a biece for the stage, as I hopes to be +saved.'" +</p> +<center> +IX. +</center> +<p> +We now turn from the man to his music. In his daily life with the world +we get a spectacle of a quick, passionate temper, incased in a +great burly frame, and raging into whirlwinds of excitement at small +provocation; a gourmand devoted to the pleasure of the table, sometimes +indeed gratifying his appetite in no seemly fashion, resembling his +friend Dr. Samuel Johnson in many notable ways. Handel as a man was +of the earth, earthy, in the extreme, and marked by many whimsical and +disagreeable faults. But in his art we recognize a genius so colossal, +massive, and self-poised as to raise admiration to its superlative of +awe. When Handel had disencumbered himself of tradition, convention, +the trappings of time and circumstance, he attained a place in musical +creation, solitary and unique. His genius found expression in forms +large and austere, disdaining the luxuriant and trivial. He embodied +the spirit of Protestantism in music; and a recognition of this fact +is probably the key of the admiration felt for him by the Anglo-Saxon +races. +</p> +<p> +Handel possessed an inexhaustible fund of melody of the noblest order; +an almost unequaled command of musical expression; perfect power over +all the resources of his science; the faculty of wielding huge masses +of tone with perfect ease and felicity; and he was without rival in the +sublimity of ideas. The problem which he so successfully solved in the +oratorio was that of giving such dramatic force to the music, in which +he clothed the sacred texts, as to be able to dispense with all scenic +and stage effects. One of the finest operatic composers of the time, +the rival of Bach as an instrumental composer, and performer on the +harpsichord or organ, the unanimous verdict of the musical world is that +no one has ever equaled him in completeness, range of effect, elevation +and variety of conception, and sublimity in the treatment of sacred +music. We can readily appreciate Handel's own words when describing +his own sensations in writing the "Messiah:" "I did think I did see all +heaven before me, and the great God himself." +</p> +<p> +The great man died on Good Friday night, 1759, aged seventy-five years. +He had often wished "he might breathe his last on Good Friday, in +hope," he said, "of meeting his good God, his sweet Lord and Saviour, on +the day of his resurrection." The old blind musician had his wish. +</p> +<a name="2H_4_0004"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + GLUCK +</h2> +<p> +Gluck is a noble and striking figure in musical history, alike in the +services he rendered to his art and the dignity and strength of his +personal character. As the predecessor of Wagner and Meyerbeer, who +among the composers of this century have given opera its largest and +noblest expression, he anticipated their important reforms, and in his +musical creations we see all that is best in what is called the new +school. +</p> +<p> +The man, the Ritter Christoph Wilibald von Gluck, is almost as +interesting to us as the musician. He moved in the society of princes +with a calm and haughty dignity, their conscious peer, and never +prostituted his art to gain personal advancement or to curry favor with +the great ones of the earth. He possessed a majesty of nature which was +the combined effect of personal pride, a certain lofty self-reliance, +and a deep conviction that he was the apostle of an important musical +mission. +</p> +<p> +Gluck's whole life was illumined by an indomitable sense of his own +strength, and lifted by it into an atmosphere high above that of his +rivals, whom, the world has now almost forgotten, except as they were +immortalized by being his enemies. Like Milton and Bacon, who put on +record their knowledge that they had written for all time, Gluck had a +magnificent consciousness of himself. "I have written," he says, "the +music of my 'Ar-mida' in such a manner as to prevent its soon growing +old." This is a sublime vanity inseparable from the great aggressive +geniuses of the world, the wind of the speed which measures their force +of impact. +</p> +<p> +Duplessis's portrait of Gluck almost takes the man out of paint to put +him in flesh and blood. He looks down with wide-open eyes, swelling +nostrils, firm mouth, and massive chin. The noble brow, dome-like +and expanded, relieves the massiveness of his face; and the whole +countenance and figure express the repose of a powerful and passionate +nature schooled into balance and symmetry: altogether the presentment +of a great man, who felt that he could move the world and had found the +<i>pou sto</i>. Of a large and robust type of physical beauty, Nature seems +to have endowed him on every hand with splendid gifts. Such a man as +this could say with calm simplicity to Marie Antoinette, who inquired +one night about his new opera of "Armida," then nearly finished: +"<i>Madame, il est bientôt fini, et vraiment ce sera superbe.</i>" +</p> +<p> +One night Handel listened to a new opera from a young and unknown +composer, the "Caduta de' Giganti," one of Gluck's very earliest works, +written when he was yet corrupted with all the vices of the Italian +method. "Mein Gott! he is an idiot," said Handel; "he knows no more of +counterpoint then mein cook." Handel did not see with prophetic eyes. He +never met Gluck afterward, and we do not know his later opinion of the +composer of "Orpheus and Eurydice" and "Iphigenia in Tauris." But Gluck +had ever the profoundest admiration for the author of the "Messiah." +There was something in these two strikingly similar, as their music was +alike characterized by massive simplicity and strength, not rough-hewn, +but shaped into austere beauty. +</p> +<p> +Before we relate the great episode of our composer's life, let us take +a backward glance at his youth. He was the son of a forester in the +service of Prince Lobkowitz born at Weidenwang in the Upper Palatinate, +July 2,1714. Gluck was devoted to music from early childhood, but +received, in connection with the musical art, an excellent education at +the Jesuit College of Kommotau. Here he learned singing, the organ, the +violin and harpsichord, and had a mind to get his living by devoting +his musical talents to the Church. The Prague public recognized in him +a musician of fair talent, but he found but little encouragement to stay +at the Bohemian capital. So he decided to finish his musical education +at Vienna, where more distinguished masters could be had. Prince +Lobkowitz, who remembered his gamekeeper's son, introduced the young man +to the Italian Prince Melzi, who induced him to accompany him to Milan. +As the pupil of the Italian organist and composer, Sammartini, he made +rapid progress in operatic composition. He was successful in pleasing +Italian audiences, and in four years produced eight operas, for which +the world has forgiven him in forgetting them. Then Gluck must go to +London to see what impression he could make on English critics; for +London then, as now, was one of the great musical centres, where every +successful composer or singer must get his brevet. +</p> +<p> +Gluck's failure to please in London was, perhaps, an important epoch +in his career. With a mind singularly sensitive to new impressions, and +already struggling with fresh ideas in the laws of operatic composition, +Handel's great music must have had a powerful effect in stimulating +his unconscious progress. His last production in England, "Pyramus and +Thisbe," was a <i>pasticcio</i> opera, in which he embodied the best bits out +of his previous works. The experiment was a glaring failure, as it ought +to have been; for it illustrated the Italian method, which was designed +for mere vocal display, carried to its logical absurdity. +</p> +<center> +II. +</center> +<p> +In 1748 Gluck settled in Vienna, where almost immediately his opera of +"Semiramide" was produced. Here he conceived a passion for Marianne, the +daughter of Joseph Pergin, a rich banker; but on account of the father's +distaste for a musical son-in-law, the marriage did not occur till 1750. +"Telemacco" and "Clemenza di Tito" were composed about this time, and +performed in Vienna, Rome, and Naples. In 1755 our composer received the +order of the Golden Spur from the Roman pontiff in recognition of the +merits of two operas performed at Rome, called "Il Trionfo di Camillo" +and "Antigono." Seven years were now actively employed in producing +operas for Vienna and Italian cities, which, without possessing great +value, show the change which had begun to take place in this composer's +theories of dramatic music. In Paris he had been struck with the operas +of Rameau, in which the declamatory form was strongly marked. His early +Italian training had fixed in his mind the importance of pure melody. +From Germany he obtained his appreciation of harmony, and had made a +deep study of the uses of the orchestra. So we see this great reformer +struggling on with many faltering steps toward that result which he +afterward summed up in the following concise description: "My purpose +was to restrict music to its true office, that of ministering to the +expression of poetry, without interrupting the action." +</p> +<p> +In Calzabigi Gluck had met an author who fully appreciated his ideas, +and had the talent of writing a libretto in accordance with them. This +coadjutor wrote all the librettos that belonged to Gluck's greatest +period. He had produced his "Orpheus and Eurydice" and "Alceste" in +Vienna with a fair amount of success; but his tastes drew him strongly +to the French stage, where the art of acting and declamation was +cultivated then, as it is now, to a height unknown in other parts of +Europe. So Ave find him gladly accepting an offer from the managers of +the French Opera to migrate to the great city, in which were fermenting +with much noisy fervor those new ideas in art, literature, politics, +and society, which were turning the eyes of all Europe to the French +capital. +</p> +<p> +The world's history has hardly a more picturesque and striking +spectacle, a period more fraught with the working of powerful forces, +than that exhibited by French society in the latter part of Louis XV.'s +reign. We see a court rotten to the core with indulgence in every form +of sensuality and vice, yet glittering with the veneer of a social +polish which made it the admiration of the world. A dissolute king +was ruled by a succession of mistresses, and all the courtiers vied in +emulating the vice and extravagance of their master. Yet in this foul +compost-heap art and literature nourished with a tropical luxuriance. +Voltaire was at the height of his splendid career, the most brilliant +wit and philosopher of his age. The lightnings of his mockery attacked +with an incessant play the social, political, and religious shams of +the period. People of all classes, under the influence of his unsparing +satire, were learning to see with clear eyes what an utterly artificial +and polluted age they lived in, and the cement which bound society in a +compact whole was fast melting under this powerful solvent. +</p> +<p> +Rousseau, with his romantic philosophy and eloquence, had planted his +new ideas deep in the hearts of his contemporaries, weary with the +artifice and the corruption of a time which had exhausted itself and had +nothing to promise under the old social <i>regime</i>. The ideals uplifted in +the "Nouvelle Héloïse" and the "Confessions" awakened men's minds with +a great rebound to the charms of Nature, simplicity, and a social order +untrammeled by rules or conventions. The eloquence with which these +theories were propounded carried the French people by storm, and +Rousseau was a demigod at whose shrine worshiped alike duchess and +peasant. The Encyclopedists stimulated the ferment by their literary +enthusiasm, and the heartiness with which they cooperated with the whole +current of revolutionary thought. +</p> +<p> +The very atmosphere was reeking with the prophecy of imminent +change. Versailles itself did not escape the contagion. Courtiers +and aristocrats, in worshiping the beautiful ideals set up by the new +school, which were as far removed as possible from their own effete +civilization, did not realize that they were playing with the fire which +was to burn out the whole social edifice of France with such a terrible +conflagration; for, back and beneath all this, there was a people +groaning under long centuries of accumulated wrong, in whose imbruted +hearts the theories applauded by their oppressors with a sort of +<i>doctrinaire</i> delight were working with a fatal fever. +</p> +<center> +III. +</center> +<p> +In this strange condition of affairs Gluck found his new sphere of +labor—Gluck, himself overflowing with the revolutionary spirit, full +of the enthusiasm of reform. At first he carried everything before him. +Protected by royalty, he produced, on the basis of an admirable libretto +by Du Rollet, one of the great wits of the time, "Iphigenia in Aulis." +It was enthusiastically received. The critics, delighted to establish +the reputation of one especially favored by the Dau-phiness Marie +Antoinette, exhausted superlatives on the new opera. The Abbé Arnaud, +one of the leading <i>dilettanti</i>, exclaimed: "With such music one might +found a new religion!" To be sure, the connoisseurs could not +understand the complexities of the music; but, following the rule of all +connoisseurs before or since, they considered it all the more learned +and profound. So led, the general public clapped their hands, and agreed +to consider Gluck as a great composer. He was called the Hercules of +music; the opera-house was crammed night after night; his footsteps +were dogged in the streets by admiring enthusiasts; the wits and poets +occupied themselves with composing sonnets in his praise; brilliant +courtiers and fine ladies showered valuable gifts on the new musical +oracle; he was hailed as the exponent of Rousseauism in music. We read +that it was considered to be a priceless privilege to be admitted to +the rehearsal of a new opera, to see Gluck conduct in nightcap and +dressing-gown. +</p> +<p> +Fresh adaptations of "Orpheus and Eurydice" and of "Alceste" were +produced. The first, brought out in 1784, was received with an +enthusiasm which could be contented only with forty-nine consecutive +performances. The second act of this work has been called one of the +most astonishing productions of the human mind. The public began to show +signs of fickleness, however, on the production of the "Alceste." On the +first night a murmur arose among the spectators: "The piece has fallen." +Abbé Arnaud, Gluck's devoted defender, arose in his box and replied: +"Yes! fallen from heaven." While Mademoiselle Levasseur was singing one +of the great airs, a voice was heard to say, "Ah! you tear out my ears;" +to which the caustic rejoinder was: "How fortunate, if it is to give +you others!" +</p> +<p> +Gluck himself was badly bitten, in spite of his hatred of shams and +shallowness, with the pretenses of the time, which professed to dote on +nature and simplicity. In a letter to his old pupil, Marie Antoinette, +wherein he disclaims any pretension of teaching the French a new school +of music, he says: "I see with satisfaction that the language of Nature +is the universal language." +</p> +<p> +So, here on the crumbling crust of a volcano, where the volatile French +court danced and fiddled and sang, unreckoning of what was soon to +come, our composer and his admirers patted each other on the back with +infinite complacency. +</p> +<p> +But after this high tide of prosperity there was to come a reverse. A +powerful faction, that for a time had been crushed by Gluck's triumph, +after a while raised their heads and organized an attack. There were +second-rate composers whose scores had been laid on the shelf in the +rage for the new favorite; musicians who were shocked and enraged at the +difficulties of his instrumentation; wits who, having praised Gluck for +a while, thought they could now find a readier field for their quills +in satire; and a large section of the public who changed for no earthly +reason but that they got tired of doing one thing. +</p> +<p> +Therefore, the Italian Piccini was imported to be pitted against the +reigning deity. The French court was broken up into hostile ranks. Marie +Antoinette was Gluck's patron, but Madame Du Barry, the king's mistress, +declared for Piccini. Abbé Arnaud fought for Gluck; but the witty +Marmontel was the advocate of his rival. The keen-witted Du Rollet +was Gluckist; but La Harpe, the eloquent, was Piccinist. So this +battle-royal in art commenced and raged with virulence. The green-room +was made unmusical with contentions carried out in polite Billingsgate. +Gluck tore up his unfinished score in rage when he learned that his +rival was to compose an opera on the same libretto. La Harpe said: "The +famous Gluck may puff his own compositions, but he can't prevent them +from boring us to death." Thus the wags of Paris laughed and wrangled +over the musical rivals. Berton, the new director, fancied he could +soften the dispute and make the two composers friends; so at a +dinner-party, when they were all in their cups, he proposed that they +should compose an opera jointly. This was demurred to; but it was +finally arranged that they should compose an opera on the same subject. +</p> +<p> +"Iphigenia in Tauris," Gluck's second "Iphigenia," produced in 1779, was +such a masterpiece that his rival shut his own score in his portfolio, +and kept it two years. All Paris was enraptured with this great work, +and Gluck's detractors were silenced in the wave of enthusiasm which +swept the public. Abbé Arnaud's opinion was the echo of the general +mind: "There was but one beautiful part, and that was the whole of it." +This opera may be regarded as the most perfect example of Gluck's +school in making the music the full reflex of the dramatic action. While +Orestes sings in the opera, "My heart is calm," the orchestra continues +to paint the agitation of his thoughts. During the rehearsal the +musician failed to understand the exigency and ceased playing. The +composer cried out, in a rage: "Don't you see he is lying? Go on, go +on; he as just killed his mother." On one occasion, when he was praising +Rameau's chorus of "Castor and Pollux," an admirer of his flattered him +with the remark, "But what a difference between this chorus and that of +your 'Iphigénie'!" "Yet it is very well done," said Gluck; "one is only +a religious ceremony, the other is a real funeral." He was wont to say +that in composing he always tried to forget he was a musician. +</p> +<p> +Gluck, however, a few months subsequent to this, was so much humiliated +at the non-success of "Echo and Narcissus," that he left Paris in bitter +irritation, in spite of Marie Antoinette's pleadings that he should +remain at the French capital. +</p> +<p> +The composer was now advanced in years, and had become impatient and +fretful. He left Paris for Vienna in 1780, having amassed considerable +property. There, as an old, broken-down man, he listened to the young +Mozart's new symphonies and operas, and applauded them with great zeal; +for Gluck, though fiery and haughty in the extreme, was singularly +generous in recognizing the merits of others. +</p> +<p> +This was exhibited in Paris in his treatment of Méhul, the Belgian +composer, then a youth of sixteen, who had just arrived in the gay city. +It was on the eve of the first representation of "Iphigenia in Tauris," +when the operatic battle was agitating the public. With all the ardor +of a novice and a devotee, the young musical student immediately threw +himself into the affray, and by the aid of a friend he succeeded in +gaining admittance to the theatre for the final rehearsal of Gluck's +opera. This so enchanted him that he resolved to be present at the +public performance. But, unluckily for the resolve, he had no money, and +no prospect of obtaining any; so, with a determination and a love for +art which deserve to be remembered, he decided to hide himself in one of +the boxes and there to wait for the time of representation. +</p> +<p> +"At the end of the rehearsal," writes George Hogarth in his "Memoirs +of the Drama," "he was discovered in his place of concealment by the +servants of the theatre, who proceeded to turn him out very roughly. +Gluck, who had not left the house, heard the noise, came to the +spot, and found the young man, whose spirit was roused, resisting the +indignity with which he was treated. Méhul, finding in whose presence +he was, was ready to sink with confusion; but, in answer to Gluck's +questions, he told him that he was a young musical student from the +country, whose anxiety to be present at the performance of the opera +had led him into the commission of an impropriety. Gluck, as may be +supposed, was delighted with a piece of enthusiasm so flattering to +himself, and not only gave his young admirer a ticket of admission, but +desired his acquaintance." From this artistic <i>contretemps</i>, then, arose +a friendship alike creditable to the goodness and generosity of Gluck, +as it was to the sincerity and high order of Méhul's musical talent. +</p> +<p> +Gluck's death, in 1787, was caused by overindulgence in wine at a dinner +which he gave to some of his friends. The love of stimulants had grown +upon him in his old age, and had become almost a passion. An enforced +abstinence of some months was succeeded by a debauch, in which he drank +an immense quantity of brandy. The effects brought on a fit of apoplexy, +of which he died, aged seventy-three. +</p> +<p> +Gluck's place in musical history is peculiar and well marked, he entered +the field of operatic composition when it was hampered with a great +variety of dry forms, and utterly without soul and poetic spirit. The +object of composers seemed to be to show mere contrapuntal learning, or +to furnish singers opportunity to display vocal agility. The opera, as +a large and symmetrical expression of human emotions, suggested in the +collisions of a dramatic story, was utterly an unknown quantity in art. +Gluck's attention was early called to this radical inconsistency; and, +though he did not learn for many years to develop his musical ideas +according to a theory, and never carried that theory to the logical +results insisted on by his great after-type, Wagner, he accomplished +much in the way of sweeping reform. He elaborated the recitative or +declamatory element in opera with great care, and insisted that his +singers should make this the object of their most careful efforts. The +arias, duos, quartets, etc., as well as the choruses and orchestral +parts, were made consistent with the dramatic motive and situations. +In a word, Gluck aimed with a single-hearted purpose to make music the +expression of poetry and sentiment. +</p> +<p> +The principles of Gluck's school of operatic writing may be briefly +summarized as follows: That dramatic music can only reach its highest +power and beauty when joined to a simple and poetic text, expressing +passions true to Nature; that music can be made the language of all the +varied emotions of the heart; that the music of an opera must exactly +follow the rhythm and melody of the words; that the orchestra must be +only used to strengthen and intensify the feeling embodied in the +vocal parts, as demanded by the text or dramatic situation. We get some +further light on these principles from Gluck's letter of dedication to +the Grand-Duke of Tuscany on the publication of "Alceste." He writes: "I +am of opinion that music must be to poetry what liveliness of color and +a happy mixture of light and shade are for a faultless and well-arranged +drawing, which serve to add life to the figures without injuring the +outlines;... that the overture should prepare the auditors for the +character of the action which is to be presented, and hint at the +progress of the same; that the instruments must be employed according to +the degree of interest and passion; that the composer should avoid too +marked a disparity in the dialogue-between the air and recitative, in +order not to break the sense of a period, or interrupt the energy of the +action.... Finally, I have even felt compelled to sacrifice rules to the +improvement of the effect." +</p> +<p> +We find in this composer's music, therefore, a largeness and dignity +of treatment which have never been surpassed. His command of melody is +quite remarkable, but his use of it is under severe artistic restraint; +for it is always characterized by breadth, simplicity, and directness. +He aimed at and attained the symmetrical balance of an old Greek play. +</p> +<a name="2H_4_0005"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + HAYDN. +</h2> +<center> +I. +</center> +<p> +"Papa Haydn!" Thus did Mozart ever speak of his foster-father in music, +and the title, transmitted to posterity, admirably expressed the sweet, +placid, gentle nature, whose possessor was personally beloved no less +than he was admired. His life flowed, broad and unruffled, like some +great river, unvexed for the most part by the rivalries, jealousies, and +sufferings, oftentimes self-inflicted, which have harassed the careers +of other great musicians. He remained to the last the favorite of the +imperial court of Vienna, and princes followed his remains to their last +resting-place. +</p> +<p> +Joseph Haydn was the eldest of the twenty children of Matthias Haydn, a +wheelwright at Rohrau, Lower Austria, where he was born in 1732. At +the age of twelve years he was engaged to sing in Vienna. He became a +chorister in St. Stephen's Church, but offended the choir-master by the +revolt on the part of himself and parents from submitting to the usual +means then taken to perpetuate a fine soprano in boys. So Haydn, who had +surreptitiously picked up a good deal of musical knowledge apart from +the art of singing, was at the age of sixteen turned out on the world. +A compassionate barber, however, took him in, and Haydn dressed and +powdered wigs down-stairs, while he worked away at a little worm-eaten +harpsichord at night in his room. Unfortunate boy! he managed to get +himself engaged to the barber's daughter, Anne Keller, who was for a +good while the Xantippe of his gentle life, and he paid dearly for his +father-in-law's early hospitality. +</p> +<p> +The young musician soon began to be known, as he played the violin in +one church, the organ in another, and got some pupils. His first rise +was his acquaintance with Metastasio, the poet laureate of the court. +Through him, Haydn got introduced to the mistress of the Venetian +embassador, a great musical enthusiast, and in her circle he met +Porpora, the best music-master in the world, but a crusty, snarling old +man. Porpora held at Vienna the position of musical dictator and censor, +and he exercised the tyrannical privileges of his post mercilessly. +Haydn was a small, dark-complexioned, insignificant-looking youth, and +Porpora, of course, snubbed him most contemptuously. But Haydn wanted +instruction, and no one in the world could give it so well as the savage +old <i>maestro</i>. So he performed all sorts of menial services for him, +cleaned his shoes, powdered his wig, and ran all his errands. The +result was that Porpora softened and consented to give his young admirer +lessons—no great hardship, for young Haydn proved a most apt and +gifted pupil. And it was not long either before the young musician's +compositions attracted public attention and found a sale. The very +curious relations between Haydn and Porpora are brilliantly sketched in +George Sand's "Consuelo." +</p> +<p> +At night Haydn, accompanied by his friends, was wont to wander about +Vienna by moonlight, and serenade his patrons with trios and quartets of +his own composition. He happened one night to stop under the window +of Bernardone Kurz, a director of a theatre and the leading clown of +Vienna. Down rushed Kurz very excitedly. "Who are you?" he shrieked. +"Joseph Haydn." "Whose music is it?" "Mine." "The deuce it is! And +at your age, too!" "Why, I must begin with something." "Come along +up-stairs." +</p> +<p> +The enthusiastic director collared his prize, and was soon deep in +explaining a wonderful libretto, entitled "The Devil on Two Sticks." +To write music for this was no easy matter; for it was to represent all +sorts of absurd things, among others a tempest. The tempest made Haydn +despair, and he sat at the piano, banging away in a reckless fashion, +while the director stood behind him, raving in a disconnected way as +to his meaning. At last the distracted pianist brought his fists +simultaneously down upon the key-board, and made a rapid sweep of all +the notes. +</p> +<p> +"Bravo! bravo! that is the tempest!" cried Kurz. +</p> +<p> +The buffoon also laid himself on a chair, and had it carried about the +room, during which he threw out his limbs in imitation of the act of +swimming. Haydn supplied an accompaniment so suitable that Kurz soon +landed on <i>terra firma</i>, and congratulated the composer, assuring him +that he was the man to compose the opera. By this stroke of good luck +our young musician received one hundred and thirty florins. +</p> +<center> +II. +</center> +<p> +At the age of twenty-eight Haydn composed his first symphony. Soon after +this he attracted the attention of the old Prince Esterhazy, all the +members of whose family have become known in the history of music as +generous Mæcenases of the art. +</p> +<p> +"What! you don't mean to say that little blackamoor" (alluding to +Haydn's brown complexion and small stature) "composed that symphony?" +</p> +<p> +"Surely, prince," replied the director Friedburg, beckoning to Joseph +Haydn, who advanced toward the orchestra. +</p> +<p> +"Little Moor," says the old gentleman, "you shall enter my service. I am +Prince Esterhazy. What's your name?" +</p> +<p> +"Haydn." +</p> +<p> +"Ah! I've heard of you. Get along and dress yourself like a +<i>Kapellmeister</i>. Clap on a new coat, and mind your wig is curled. You're +too short. You shall have red heels; but they shall be high, that your +stature may correspond with your merit." +</p> +<p> +So he went to live at Eisenstadt in the Esterhazy household, and +received a salary of four hundred florins, which was afterward raised to +one thousand by Prince Nicholas Esterhazy. Haydn continued the intimate +friend and associate of Prince Nicholas for thirty years, and death only +dissolved the bond between them. In the Esterhazy household the life of +Haydn was a very quiet one, a life of incessant and happy industry; for +he poured out an incredible number of works, among them not a few of +his most famous ones. So he spent a happy life in hard labor, alternated +with delightful recreations at the Esterhazy country-seat, mountain +rambles, hunting and fishing, open-air concerts, musical evenings, etc. +</p> +<p> +A French traveler who visited Esterhaz about 1782 says: "The château +stands quite solitary, and the prince sees nobody but his officials +and servants, and strangers who come hither from curiosity. He has +a puppet-theatre, which is certainly unique in character. Here the +grandest operas are produced. One knows not whether to be amazed or to +laugh at seeing 'Alceste,' 'Alcides,' etc., put on the stage with all +due solemnity and played by puppets. His orchestra is one of the best +I ever heard, and the great Hadyn is his court and theatre composer. +He employs a poet for his singular theatre, whose humor and skill +in suiting the grandest subjects for the stage, and in parodying the +gravest effects, are often exceedingly happy. He often engages a troupe +of wandering players for months at a time, and he himself and his +retinue form the entire audience. They are allowed to come on the stage +uncombed, drunk, their parts not half learned, and half dressed. The +prince is not for the serious and tragic, and he enjoys it when the +players, like Sancho Panza, give loose reins to their humor." +</p> +<p> +Yet Haydn was not perfectly contented. He would have been had it not +been for his terrible wife, the hair-dresser's daughter, who had a +dismal, mischievous, sullen nature, a venomous tongue, and a savage +temper. She kept Haydn in hot water continually, till at last he broke +loose from this plague by separating from her. Scandal says that +Haydn, who had a very affectionate and sympathetic nature, found ample +consolation for marital infelicity in the charms and society of the +lovely Boselli, a great singer. He had her picture painted, and humored +all her whims and caprices, to the sore depletion of his pocket. +</p> +<p> +In after-years again he was mixed up in a little affair with the great +Mrs. Billington, whose beautiful person was no less marked than her fine +voice. Sir Joshua Reynolds was painting her portrait for him, and had +represented her as St. Cecilia listening to celestial music. Haydn paid +her a charming compliment at one of the sittings. +</p> +<p> +"What do you think of the charming Billington's picture?" said Sir +Joshua. +</p> +<p> +"Yes," said Haydn, "it is indeed a beautiful picture. It is just like +her, but there's a strange mistake." +</p> +<p> +"What is that?" +</p> +<p> +"Why, you have painted her listening to the angels, when you ought to +have painted the angels listening to her." +</p> +<p> +At one time, during Haydn's connection with Prince Esterhazy, the +latter, from motives of economy, determined to dismiss his celebrated +orchestra, which he supported at great expense. Haydn was the leader, +and his patron's purpose caused him sore pain, as indeed it did all the +players, among whom were many distinguished instrumentalists. Still, +there was nothing to be done but for all concerned to make themselves as +cheerful as possible under the circumstances; so, with that fund of wit +and humor which seems to have been concealed under the immaculate coat +and formal wig of the straitlaced Haydn, he set about composing a work +for the last performance of the royal band, a work which has ever since +borne the appropriate title of the "Farewell Symphony." +</p> +<p> +On the night appointed for the last performance a brilliant company, +including the prince, had assembled. The music of the new symphony began +gayly enough—it was even merry. As it went on, however, it became +soft and dreamy. The strains were sad and "long drawn out." At length a +sorrowful wailing began. One instrument after another left off, and each +musician, as his task ended, blew out his lamp and departed with his +music rolled up under his arm. +</p> +<p> +Haydn was the last to finish, save one, and this was the prince's +favorite violinist, who said all that he had to say in a brilliant +violin cadenza, when, behold! he made off. +</p> +<p> +The prince was astonished. "What is the meaning of all this?" cried he. +</p> +<p> +"It is our sorrowful farewell," answered Haydn. +</p> +<p> +This was too much. The prince was overcome, and, with a good laugh, +said: "Well, I think I must reconsider my decision. At any rate, we will +not say 'good-by' now." +</p> +<center> +III. +</center> +<p> +During the thirty years of Haydn's quiet life with the Esterhazys he had +been gradually acquiring an immense reputation in France, England, and +Spain, of which he himself was unconscious. His great symphonies had +stamped him worldwide as a composer of remarkable creative genius. +Haydn's modesty prevented him from recognizing his own celebrity. +Therefore, we can fancy his astonishment when, shortly after the death +of Prince Nicholas Esterhazy, a stranger called on him and said: "I am +Salomon, from London, and must strike a bargain with you for that city +immediately." +</p> +<p> +Haydn was dazed with the suddenness of the proposition, but the old ties +were broken up, and his grief needed recreation and change. Still, he +had many beloved friends, whose society it was hard to leave. Chief +among these was Mozart. "Oh, papa," said Mozart, "you have had no +training for the wide world, and you speak so few languages." "Oh, my +language is understood all over the world," said Papa Haydn, with a +smile. When he departed for England, December 15, 1790, Mozart could +with difficulty tear himself away, and said, with pathetic tears, "We +shall doubtless now take our last farewell." +</p> +<p> +Haydn and Mozart were perfectly in accord, and each thought and did well +toward the other. Mozart, we know, was born when Haydn had just reached +manhood, so that when Mozart became old enough to study composition +the earlier works of Haydn's chamber music had been written; and these +undoubtedly formed the studies of the boy Mozart, and greatly influenced +his style; so that Haydn was the model and, in a sense, the instructor +of Mozart. Strange is it then to find, in after-years, the master +borrowing (perhaps with interest!) from the pupil. Such, however, was +the fact, as every amateur knows. At this we can hardly wonder, for +Haydn possessed unbounded admiration not only for Mozart, but also for +his music, which the following shows. Being asked by a friend at Prague +to send him an opera, he replied: +</p> +<p> +"With all my heart, if you desire to have it for yourself alone, but if +you wish to perform it in public, I must be excused; for, being written +specially for my company at the Esterhazy Palace, it would not produce +the proper effect elsewhere. I would do a new score for your theatre; +but what a hazardous step it would be to stand in comparison with +Mozart! Oh, Mozart! If I could instill into the soul of every lover of +music the admiration I have for his matchless works, all countries would +seek to be possessed of so great a treasure. Let Prague keep him, ah! +and well reward him, for without that the history of geniuses is bad; +alas! we see so many noble minds crushed beneath adversity. Mozart is +incomparable, and I am annoyed that he is unable to obtain any court +appointment. Forgive me if I get excited when speaking of him, I am so +fond of him." +</p> +<p> +Mozart's admiration for Haydn's music, too, was very marked. He and +Herr Kozeluch were one day listening to a composition of Haydn's which +contained some bold modulations. Kozeluch thought them strange, and +asked Mozart whether he would have written them. "I think not," smartly +replied Mozart, "and for this reason: because they would not have +occurred either to you or me!" +</p> +<p> +On another occasion we find Mozart taking to task a Viennese professor +of some celebrity, who used to experience great delight in turning to +Haydn's compositions to find therein any evidence of the master's want +of sound theoretical training—a quest in which the pedant occasionally +succeeded. One day he came to Mozart with a great crime to unfold. +Mozart as usual endeavored to turn the conversation, but the learned +professor still went chattering on, till at last Mozart shut his mouth +with the following pill: "Sir, if you and I were both melted down +together, we should not furnish materials for one Haydn." +</p> +<p> +It was one of the most beautiful friendships in the history of art; +full of tender offices, and utterly free from the least taint of envy or +selfishness. +</p> +<center> +IV. +</center> +<p> +Haydn landed in England after a voyage which delighted him in spite of +his terror of the sea—a feeling which seems to be usual among people of +very high musical sensibilities. In his diary we find recorded: "By four +o'clock we had come twenty miles. The large vessel stood out to sea five +hours longer, till the tide carried it into the harbor. I remained +on deck the whole passage, in order to gaze my fill at that huge +monster—the ocean." +</p> +<p> +The novelty of Haydn's concerts—of which he was to give twenty at fifty +pounds apiece—consisted of their being his own symphonies, conducted +by himself in person. Haydn's name, during his serene, uneventful years +with the Ester-hazys, had become world-famous. His reception was most +brilliant. Dinner parties, receptions, invitations without end, attested +the enthusiasm of the sober English; and his appearance at concerts and +public meetings was the signal for stormy applause. How, in the press of +all this pleasure in which he was plunged, he continued to compose the +great number of works produced at this time, is a marvel. He must have +been little less than a Briareus. It was in England that he wrote the +celebrated Salomon symphonies, the "twelve grand," as they are called. +They may well be regarded as the crowning-point of Haydn's efforts in +that form of writing. He took infinite pains with them, as, indeed, +is well proved by an examination of the scores. More elaborate, more +beautiful, and scored for a fuller orchestra than any others of the one +hundred and twenty or thereabouts which he composed, the Salomon set +also bears marks of the devout and pious spirit in which Haydn ever +labored. +</p> +<p> +It is interesting to see how, in many of the great works which have won +the world's admiration, the religion of the author has gone hand in hand +with his energy and his genius; and we find Haydn not ashamed to indorse +his score with his prayer and praise, or to offer the fruits of his +talents to the Giver of all. Thus, the symphony in D (No. 6) bears on +the first page of the score the inscription, "In nomine Domini: di me +Giuseppe Haydn, maia 1791, in London;" and on the last page, "Fine, Laus +Deo, 238." +</p> +<p> +That genius may sometimes be trusted to judge of its own work may be +gathered from Haydn's own estimate of these great symphonies. +</p> +<p> +"Sir," said the well-satisfied Salomon, after a successful performance +of one of them, "I am strongly of opinion that you will never surpass +these symphonies." +</p> +<p> +"No!" replied Haydn; "I never mean to try." +</p> +<p> +The public, as we have said, was enthusiastic; but such a full banquet +of severe orchestral music was a severe trial to many, and not a few +heads would keep time to the music by steady nods during the slow +movements. Haydn, therefore, composed what is known as the "Surprise" +symphony. The slow movement is of the most lulling and soothing +character, and about the time the audience should be falling into its +first snooze, the instruments having all died away into the softest +<i>pianissimo</i>, the full orchestra breaks out with a frightful BANG. It is +a question whether the most vigorous performance of this symphony would +startle an audience nowadays, accustomed to the strident effects of +Wagner and Liszt. A wag in a recent London journal tells us, indeed, +that at the most critical part in the work a gentleman opened one eye +sleepily and said, "Come in." +</p> +<p> +Simple-hearted Haydn was delighted at the attention lavished on him +in London. He tells us how he enjoyed his various entertainments and +feastings by such dignitaries as William Pitt, the Lord Chancellor, and +the Duke of Lids (Leeds). The gentlemen drank freely the whole night, +and the songs, the crazy uproar, and smashing of glasses were very +great. He went down to stay with the Prince of Wales (George IV.) who +played on the violoncello, and charmed the composer by his kindness. "He +is the handsomest man on God's earth. He has an extraordinary love of +music, and a great deal of feeling, but very little money." +</p> +<p> +To stem the tide of Haydn's popularity, the Italian faction had recourse +to Giardini; and they even imported a pet pupil of Haydn, Pleyel, to +conduct the rival concerts. Our composer kept his temper, and wrote: "He +[Pleyel] behaves himself with great modesty." Later we read, "Pleyel's +presumption is a public laughingstock;" but he adds, "I go to all his +concerts and applaud him." +</p> +<p> +Far different were the amenities that passed between Haydn and Giardini. +"I won't know the German hound," says the latter. Haydn wrote, "I +attended his concert at Ranelagh, and he played the fiddle like a hog." +</p> +<p> +Among the pleasant surprises Haydn had in England was his visit to +Herschel, the great astronomer, in whom he recognized one of his old +oboe-players. The big telescope amazed him, and so did the patient +star-gazer, who often sat out-of-doors in the most intense cold for five +or six hours at a time. +</p> +<p> +Our composer returned to Vienna in May, 1795. with the little fortune of +12,000 florins in his pocket. +</p> +<center> +V. +</center> +<p> +In his charming little cottage near Vienna Haydn was the centre of a +brilliant society. Princes and nobles were proud to do honor to him; +and painters, poets, scholars, and musicians made a delightful coterie, +which was not even disturbed by the political convulsions of the time. +The baleful star of Napoleon shot its disturbing influences throughout +Europe, and the roar of his cannon shook the established order of things +with the echoes of what was to come. Haydn was passionately attached to +his country and his emperor, and regarded anxiously the rumblings and +quakings of the period; but he did not intermit his labor, or allow +his consecration to his divine art to be in the least shaken. Like +Archimedes of old, he toiled serenely at his appointed work, while the +political order of things was crumbling before the genius and energy of +the Corsican adventurer. +</p> +<p> +In 1798 he completed his great oratorio of "The Creation," on which he +had spent three years of toil, and which embodied his brightest genius. +Haydn was usually a very rapid composer, but he seems to have labored +at the "Creation" with a sort of reverential humility, which never +permitted him to think his work worthy or complete. It soon went the +round of Germany, and passed to England and France, everywhere awakening +enthusiasm by its great symmetry and beauty. Without the sublimity +of Handel's "Messiah," it is marked by a richness of melody, a serene +elevation, a matchless variety in treatment, which make it the most +characteristic of Haydn's works. Napoleon, the first consul, was +hastening to the opera-house to hear this, January 24, 1801, when he was +stopped by an attempt at assassination. +</p> +<p> +Two years after "The Creation" appeared "The Seasons," founded on +Thomson's poem, also a great work, and one of his last; for the grand +old man was beginning to think of rest, and he only composed two or +three quartets after this. He was now seventy years old, and went but +little from his own home. His chief pleasure was to sit in his shady +garden, and see his friends, who loved to solace the musical patriarch +with cheerful talk and music. Haydn often fell into deep melancholy, and +he tells us that God revived him; for no more sweet, devout nature ever +lived. His art was ever a religion. A touching incident of his old age +occurred at a grand performance of "The Creation" in 1808. Haydn was +present, but he was so old and feeble that he had to be wheeled in a +chair into the theatre, where a princess of the house of Ester-hazy +took her seat by his side. This was the last time that Haydn appeared +in public, and a very impressive sight it must have been to see the aged +father of music listening to "The Creation" of his younger days, but too +old to take any active share in the performance. The presence of the old +man roused intense enthusiasm among the audience, which could no longer +be suppressed as the chorus and orchestra burst in full power upon the +superb passage, "And there was light." +</p> +<p> +Amid the tumult of the enraptured audience the old composer was seen +striving to raise himself. Once on his feet, he mustered up all his +strength, and, in reply to the applause of the audience, he cried out +as loud as he was able: "No, no! not from me, but," pointing to heaven, +"from thence—from heaven above—comes all!" saying which, he fell back +in his chair, faint and exhausted, and had to be carried out of the +room. +</p> +<p> +One year after this Vienna was bombarded by the French, and a shot fell +in Haydn's garden. He requested to be led to his piano, and played the +"Hymn to the Emperor" three times over with passionate eloquence and +pathos. This was his last performance. He died five days afterward, aged +seventy-seven, and lies buried in the cemetery of Gumpfenzdorf, in his +own beloved Vienna. +</p> +<center> +VI. +</center> +<p> +The serene, genial face of Haydn, as seen in his portraits, measures +accurately the character of his music. In both we see health fulness, +good-humor, vivacity, devotional feeling, and warm affections; a mind +contented, but yet attaching high importance to only one thing in life, +the composing of music. Haydn pursued this with a calm, insatiable +industry, without haste, without rest. His works number eight hundred, +comprising cantatas, symphonies, oratorios, masses, concertos, trios, +sonatas, quartets, minuets, etc., and also twenty-two operas, eight +German and fourteen Italian. +</p> +<p> +As a creative mind in music, Haydn was the father of the quartet and +symphony. Adopting the sonata form as scientifically illustrated by +Emanuel Bach, he introduced it into compositions for the orchestra +and the chamber. He developed these into a completeness and full-orbed +symmetry, which have never been improved. Mozart is richer, Beethoven +more sublime, Schubert more luxuriant, Mendelssohn more orchestral and +passionate; but Haydn has never been surpassed in his keen perception +of the capacities of instruments, his subtile distribution of parts, his +variety in treating his themes, and his charmingly legitimate effects. +He fills a large space in musical history, not merely from the number, +originality, and beauty of his compositions, but as one who represents +an era in art-development. +</p> +<p> +In Haydn genius and industry were happily united. With a marvelously +rich flow of musical ideas, he clearly knew what he meant to do, and +never neglected the just elaboration of each one. He would labor on a +theme till it had shaped itself into perfect beauty. +</p> +<p> +Haydn is illustrious in the history of art as a complete artistic life, +which worked out all of its contents as did the great Goethe. In the +words of a charming writer: "His life was a rounded whole. There was no +broken light about it; it orbed slowly, with a mild, unclouded lustre, +into a perfect star. Time was gentle with him, and Death was kind, for +both waited upon his genius until all was won. Mozart was taken away at +an age when new and dazzling effects had not ceased to flash through +his brain: at the very moment when his harmonies began to have a +prophetic ring of the nineteenth century, it was decreed that he should +not see its dawn. Beethoven himself had but just entered upon an unknown +'sea whose margin seemed to fade forever and forever as he moved;' but +good old Haydn had come into port over a calm sea and after a prosperous +voyage. The laurel wreath was this time woven about silver locks; the +gathered-in harvest was ripe and golden." +</p> +<a name="2H_4_0006"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + MOZART. +</h2> +<center> +I. +</center> +<p> +The life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, one of the immortal names in music, +contradicts the rule that extraordinary youthful talent is apt to be +followed by a sluggish and commonplace maturity. His father entered the +room one day with a friend, and found the child bending over a music +score. The little Mozart, not yet five years old, told his father he was +writing a concerto for the piano. The latter examined it, and tears of +joy and astonishment rolled down his face on perceiving its accuracy. +</p> +<p> +"It is good, but too difficult for general use," said the friend. +</p> +<p> +"Oh," said Wolfgang, "it must be practised till it is learned. This is +the way it goes." So saying, he played it with perfect correctness. +</p> +<p> +About the same time he offered to take the violin at a performance of +some chamber music. His father refused, saying, "How can you? You have +never learned the violin." +</p> +<p> +"One needs not study for that," said this musical prodigy; and taking +the instrument, he played second violin with ease and accuracy. Such +precocity seems almost incredible, and only in the history of music does +it find any parallel. +</p> +<p> +Born in Salzburg, January 27, 1756, he was carefully trained by his +father, who resigned his place as court musician to devote himself +more exclusively to his family. From the earliest age he showed an +extraordinary passion for music and mathematics, scrawling notes and +diagrams in every place accessible to his insatiate pencil. +</p> +<p> +Taken to Vienna, the six-year-old virtuoso astonished the court by his +brilliant talents. The future Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, was +particularly delighted with him, and the little Mozart naively said he +would like to marry her, for she was so good to him. His father devoted +several years to an artistic tour, with him and his little less talented +sister, through the German cities, and it was also extended to Paris and +London. Everywhere the greatest enthusiasm was evinced in this charming +bud of promise. The father writes home: "We have swords, laces, +mantillas, snuff-boxes, gold cases, sufficient to furnish a shop; but as +for money, it is a scarce article, and I am positively poor." +</p> +<p> +At Paris they were warmly received at the court, and the boy is said +to have expressed his surprise when Mme. Pompadour refused to kiss him, +saying: "Who is she, that she will not kiss me? Have I not been kissed +by the queen?" In London his improvisations and piano sonatas excited +the greatest admiration. Here he also published his third work. These +journeys were an uninterrupted chain of triumphs for the child-virtuoso +on the piano, organ, violin, and in singing. He was made honorary member +of the Academies of Bologna and Verona, decorated with orders, +and received at the age of thirteen an order to write the opera of +"Mithridates," which was successfully produced at Milan in 1770. Several +other fine minor compositions were also written to order at this time +for his Italian admirers. At Rome Mozart attended the Sistine Chapel +and wrote the score of Allegri's great mass, forbidden by the pope to be +copied, from the memory of a single performance. +</p> +<p> +The record of Mozart's youthful triumphs might be extended at great +length; but aside from the proof they furnish of his extraordinary +precocity, they have lent little vital significance in the great problem +of his career, except so far as they stimulated the marvelous boy to lay +a deep foundation for his greater future, which, short as it was, was +fruitful in undying results. +</p> +<center> +II. +</center> +<p> +Mozart's life in Paris, where he lived with his mother in 1778 and +1779, was a disappointment, for he despised the French nation. His deep, +simple, German nature revolted from Parisian frivolity, in which he +found only sensuality and coarseness, disguised under a thin veneering +of social grace. He abhorred French music in these bitter terms: "The +French are and always will be downright donkeys. They cannot sing, they +scream." It was just at this time that Gluck and Piccini were having +their great art-duel. We get a glimpse of the pious tendency of the +young composer in his characterization of Voltaire: "The ungodly +arch-villain, Voltaire, has just died like a dog." Again he writes: +"Friends who have no religion cannot long be my friends.... I have such +a sense of religion that I shall never do anything that I would not do +before the whole world." +</p> +<p> +With Mozart's return to Germany in 1779, being then twenty-three years +of age, comes the dawn of his classical period as a composer. The +greater number of his masses had already been written, and now he +settled himself in serious earnest to the cultivation of a true German +operatic school. This found its dawn in the production of "Idomeneo," +his first really great work for the lyric stage. +</p> +<p> +The young composer had hard struggles with poverty in these days. His +letters to his father are full of revelations of his friction with +the little worries of life. Lack of money pinched him close, yet his +cheerful spirit was ever buoyant. "I have only one small room; it is +quite crammed with a piano, a table, a bed, and a chest of drawers," he +writes. +</p> +<p> +Yet he would marry; for he was willing to face poverty in the +companionship of a loving woman who dared to face it with him. At +Mannheim he had met a beautiful young singer, Aloysia Weber, and he went +to Munich to offer her marriage. She, however, saw nothing attractive +in the thin, pale young man, with his long nose, great eyes, and +little head; for he was anything but prepossessing. A younger sister, +Constance, however, secretly loved Mozart, and he soon transferred his +repelled affections to this charming woman, whom he married in 1782 at +the house of Baroness Waldstetten. His <i>naïve</i> reasons for marrying show +Mozart's ingenuous nature. He had no one to take care of his linen, he +would not live dissolutely like other young men, and he loved Constance +Weber. His answer to his father, who objected on account of his poverty, +is worth quoting: +</p> +<p> +"Constance is a well-conducted, good girl, of respectable parentage, and +I am in a position to earn at least <i>daily bread</i> for her. We love +each other, and are resolved to marry. All that you have written or +may possibly write on the subject can be nothing but well-meant advice, +which, however good and sensible, can no longer apply to a man who has +gone so far with a girl." +</p> +<p> +Poor as Mozart was, he possessed such integrity and independence that +he refused a most liberal offer from the King of Prussia to become his +chapel-master, for some unexplained reason which involved his sense of +right and wrong. The first year of his marriage he wrote "Il Seraglio," +and made the acquaintance of the aged Gluck, who took a deep interest in +him and warmly praised his genius. Haydn, too, recognized his brilliant +powers. "I tell you, on the word of an honest man," said the author of +the "Creation" to Leopold Mozart, the father, who asked his opinion, +"that I consider your son the greatest composer I have ever heard. He +writes with taste, and possesses a thorough knowledge of composition." +</p> +<p> +Poverty and increasing expense pricked Mozart into intense, restless +energy. His life had no lull in its creative industry. His splendid +genius, insatiable and tireless, broke down his body, like a sword +wearing out its scabbard. He poured out symphonies, operas, and sonatas +with such prodigality as to astonish us, even when recollecting how +fecund the musical mind has often been. Alike as artist and composer, he +never ceased his labors. Day after day and night after night he hardly +snatched an hour's rest. We can almost fancy he foreboded how short +his brilliant life was to be, and was impelled to crowd into its brief +compass its largest measure of results. +</p> +<p> +Yet he was always pursued by the spectre of want. Oftentimes his sick +wife could not obtain needed medicines. He made more money than most +musicians, yet was always impoverished. But it was his glory that he +was never impoverished by sensual indulgence, extravagance, and riotous +living, but by his lavish generosity to those who in many instances +needed help less than himself. Like many other men of genius and +sensibility, he could not say "no" to even the pretense of distress and +suffering. +</p> +<center> +III. +</center> +<p> +The culminating point of Mozart's artistic development was in 1786. The +"Marriage of Figaro" was the first of a series of masterpieces which +cannot be surpassed alike for musical greatness and their hold on +the lyric stage. The next year "Don Giovanni" saw the light, and was +produced at Prague. The overture of this opera was composed and scored +in less than six hours. The inhabitants of Prague greeted the work with +the wildest enthusiasm, for they seemed to understand Mozart better than +the Viennese. +</p> +<p> +During this period he made frequent concert tours to recruit his +fortunes, but with little financial success. Presents of watches, +snuff-boxes, and rings were common, but the returns were so small that +Mozart was frequently obliged to pawn his gifts to purchase a dinner and +lodging. What a comment on the period which adored genius, but allowed +it to starve! His audiences could be enthusiastic enough to carry him +to his hotel on their shoulders, but probably never thought that the +wherewithal of a hearty supper was a more seasonable homage. So our +musician struggled on through the closing years of his life with the +wolf constantly at his door, and an invalid wife whom he passionately +loved, yet must needs see suffer from the want of common necessaries. In +these modern days, when distinguished artists make princely fortunes +by the exercise of their musical gifts, it is not easy to believe that +Mozart, recognized as the greatest pianoforte player and composer of his +time by all of musical Germany, could suffer such dire extremes of want +as to be obliged more than once to beg for a dinner. In 1791 he composed +the score of the "Magic Flute" at the request of Schikaneder, a Viennese +manager, who had written the text from a fairy tale, the fantastic +elements of which are peculiarly German in their humor. Mozart put +great earnestness into the work, and made it the first German opera of +commanding merit, which embodied the essential intellectual sentiment +and kindly warmth of popular German life. The manager paid the composer +but a trifle for a work whose transcendent success enabled him to build +a new opera-house and laid the foundation of a large fortune. We are +told, too, that at the time of Mozart's death in extreme want, when his +sick wife, half maddened with grief, could not buy a coffin for the dead +composer, this hard-hearted wretch, who owed his all to the genius of +the great departed, rushed about through Vienna bewailing the loss to +music with sentimental tears, but did not give the heart-broken widow +one kreutzer to pay the expense of a decent burial. +</p> +<p> +In 1791 Mozart's health was breaking down with great rapidity, though +he himself would never recognize his own swiftly advancing fate. He +experienced, however, a deep melancholy which nothing could remove. For +the first time his habitual cheerfulness deserted him. His wife had been +enabled through the kindness of her friends to visit the healing waters +of Baden, and was absent. +</p> +<p> +An incident now occurred which impressed Mozart with an ominous chill. +One night there came a stranger, singularly dressed in gray, with an +order for a requiem to be composed without fail within a month. The +visitor, without revealing his name, departed in mysterious gloom, as +he came. Again the stranger called and solemnly reminded Mozart of his +promise. The composer easily persuaded himself that this was a visitor +from the other world, and that the requiem would be his own; for he +was exhausted with labor and sickness, and easily became the prey of +superstitious fancies. When his wife returned, she found him with a +fatal pallor on his face, silent and melancholy, laboring with intense +absorption on the funereal mass. He would sit brooding over the score +till he swooned away in his chair, and only come to consciousness to +bend his waning energies again to their ghastly work. The mysterious +visitor, whom Mozart believed to be the precursor of his death, we now +know to have been Count Walseck, who had recently lost his wife, and +wished a musical memorial. +</p> +<p> +His final sickness attacked the composer while laboring at the requiem. +The musical world was ringing with the fame of his last opera. To the +dying man was brought the offer of the rich appointment of organist of +St. Stephen's Cathedral. Most flattering propositions were made him by +eager managers, who had become thoroughly awake to his genius when it +was too late. The great Mozart was dying in the very prime of his youth +and his powers, when success was in his grasp and the world opening wide +its arms to welcome his glorious gifts with substantial recognition; +but all too late; for he was doomed to die in his spring-tide, though "a +spring mellow with all the fruits of autumn." +</p> +<p> +The unfinished requiem lay on the bed, and his last efforts were to +imitate some peculiar instrumental effects, as he breathed out his life +in the arms of his wife and his friend Süssmaier. +</p> +<p> +The epilogue to this life-drama is one of the saddest in the history of +art: a pauper funeral for one of the world's greatest geniuses. "It was +late one winter afternoon," says an old record, "before the coffin was +deposited on the side aisles on the south side of St. Stephen's. Van +Swieten, Salieri, Süssmaier, and two unknown musicians were the only +persons present besides the officiating priest and the pall-bearers. +It was a terribly inclement day; rain and sleet came down fast; and an +eye-witness describes how the little band of mourners stood shivering +in the blast, with their umbrellas up, round the hearse, as it left +the door of the church. It was then far on in the dark cold December +afternoon, and the evening was fast closing in before the solitary +hearse had passed the Stubenthor, and reached the distant graveyard of +St. Marx, in which, among the 'third class,' the great composer of the +'G minor Symphony' and the 'Requiem' found his resting-place. By this +time the weather had proved too much for all the mourners; they had +dropped off one by one, and Mozart's body was accompanied only by the +driver of the carriage. There had been already two pauper funerals that +day—one of them a midwife—and Mozart was to be the third in the grave +and the uppermost. +</p> +<p> +"When the hearse drew up in the slush and sleet at the gate of the +graveyard, it was welcomed by a strange pair, Franz Harruschka, the +assistant grave-digger, and his mother Katharina, known as 'Frau Katha,' +who filled the quaint office of official mendicant to the place. +</p> +<p> +"The old woman was the first to speak: 'Any coaches or mourners coming?' +</p> +<p> +"A shrug from the driver of the hearse was the only response. +</p> +<p> +"'Whom have you got there, then?' continued she. +</p> +<p> +"'A band-master,' replied the other. +</p> +<p> +"'A musician? they're a poor lot; then I've no more money to look for +to-day. It is to be hoped we shall have better luck in the morning.' +</p> +<p> +"To which the driver said, with a laugh: 'I'm devilish thirsty, too—not +a kreutzer of drink-money have I had.' +</p> +<p> +"After this curious colloquy the coffin was dismounted and shoved into +the top of the grave already occupied by the two paupers of the morning; +and such was Mozart's last appearance on earth." +</p> +<p> +To-day no stone marks the spot where were deposited the last remains +of one of the brightest of musical spirits; indeed, the very grave is +unknown, for it was the grave of a pauper. +</p> +<center> +IV. +</center> +<p> +Mozart's charming letters reveal to us such a gentle, sparkling, +affectionate nature, as to inspire as much love for the man as +admiration for his genius. Sunny humor and tenderness bubble in almost +every sentence. A clever writer says that "opening these is like +opening a painted tomb.... The colors are all fresh, the figures are all +distinct." +</p> +<p> +No better illustration of the man Mozart can be had than in a few +extracts from his correspondence. +</p> +<p> +He writes to his sister from Rome while yet a mere lad: +</p> +<p> +"I am, thank God! except my miserable pen, well, and send you and mamma +a thousand kisses. I wish you were in Rome; I am sure it would please +you. Papa says I am a little fool, but that is nothing new. Here we have +but one bed; it is easy to understand that I can't rest comfortably +with papa. I shall be glad when we get into new quarters. I have just +finished drawing the Holy Peter with his keys, the Holy Paul with his +sword, and the Holy Luke with my sister. I have had the honor of kissing +St. Peter's foot; and because I am so small as to be unable to reach it, +they had to lift me up. I am the same old +"Wolfgang." +</p> +<p> +Mozart was very fond of this sister Nannerl, and he used to write to +her in a playful mosaic of French, German, and Italian. Just after his +wedding he writes: +</p> +<p> +"My darling is now a hundred times more joyful at the idea of going to +Salzburg, and I am willing to stake—ay, my very life, that you will +rejoice still more in my happiness when you know her; if, indeed, in +your estimation, as in mine, a high-principled, honest, virtuous, and +pleasing wife ought to make a man happy." +</p> +<p> +Late in his short life he writes the following characteristic note to a +friend, whose life does not appear to have been one of the most regular: +</p> +<p> +"Now tell me, my dear friend, how you are. I hope you are all as well as +we are. You cannot fail to be happy, for you possess everything that +you can wish for at your age and in your position, especially as you +now seem to have entirely given up your former mode of life. Do you not +every day become more convinced of the truth of the little lectures I +used to inflict on you? Are not the pleasures of a transient, capricious +passion widely different from the happiness produced by rational and +true love? I feel sure that you often in your heart thank me for my +admonitions. I shall feel quite proud if you do. But, jesting apart, +you do really owe me some little gratitude if you are become worthy of +Fräulein N———, for I certainly played no insignificant part in your +improvement or reform. +</p> +<p> +"My great-grandfather used to say to his wife, my great-grandmother, +who in turn told it to her daughter, my mother, who repeated it to her +daughter, my own sister, that it was a very great art to talk eloquently +and well, but an equally great one to know the right moment to stop. I +therefore shall follow the advice of my sister, thanks to our mother, +grandmother, and great-grandmother, and thus end, not only my moral +ebullition, but my letter." +</p> +<p> +His playful tenderness lavished itself on his wife in a thousand quaint +ways. He would, for example, rise long before her to take his horseback +exercise, and always kiss her sleeping face and leave a little note like +the following resting on her forehead: "Good-morning, dear little wife! +I hope you have had a good sleep and pleasant dreams. I shall be back in +two hours. Behave yourself like a good little girl, and don't run away +from your husband." +</p> +<p> +Speaking of an infant child, our composer would say merrily, "That boy +will be a true Mozart, for he always cries in the very key in which I am +playing." +</p> +<p> +Mozart's musical greatness, shown in the symmetry of his art as well as +in the richness of his inspirations, has been unanimously acknowledged +by his brother composers. Meyerbeer could not restrain his tears when +speaking of him. Weber, Mendelssohn, Rossini, and Wagner always praise +him in terms of enthusiastic admiration. Haydn called him the greatest +of composers. In fertility of invention, beauty of form, and exactness +of method, he has never been surpassed, and has but one or two rivals. +The composer of three of the greatest operas in musical history, besides +many of much more than ordinary excellence; of symphonies that rival +Haydn's for symmetry and melodic affluence; of a great number of +quartets, quintets, etc.; and of pianoforte sonatas which rank high +among the best; of many masses that are standard in the service of the +Catholic Church; of a great variety of beautiful songs—there is hardly +any form of music which he did not richly adorn with the treasures of +his genius. We may well say, in the words of one of his most competent +critics: +</p> +<p> +"Mozart was a king and a slave—king in his own beautiful realm of +music; slave of the circumstances and the conditions of this world. +Once over the boundaries of his own kingdom, and he was supreme; but the +powers of the earth acknowledged not his sovereignty." +</p> +<a name="2H_4_0007"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + BEETHOVEN. +</h2> +<center> +I. +</center> +<p> +The name and memory of this composer awaken, in the heart of the lover +of music, sentiments of the deepest reverence and admiration. His life +was so marked with affliction and so isolated as to make him, in his +environment of conditions as a composer, a unique figure. +</p> +<p> +The principal fact which made the exterior life of Beethoven so bare of +the ordinary pleasures that brighten and sweeten existence, his total +deafness, greatly enriched his spiritual life. Music finally became to +him a purely intellectual conception, for he was without any sensual +enjoyment of its effects. To this Samson of music, for whom the ear was +like the eye to other men, Milton's lines may indeed well apply: +</p> +<pre> + "Oh! dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon! + Irrecoverably dark—total eclipse, + Without all hope of day! + Oh first created Beam, and thou, great Word, + 'Let there be light,' and light was over all, + Why am I thus bereaved thy prime decree? + The sun to me is dark." +</pre> +<p> +To his severe affliction we owe alike many of the defects of his +character and the splendors of his genius. All his powers, concentrated +into a spiritual focus, wrought such things as lift him into a solitary +greatness. The world has agreed to measure this man as it measures +Homer, Dante, and Shakespeare. We do not compare him with others. +</p> +<p> +Beethoven had the reputation among his contemporaries of being harsh, +bitter, suspicious, and unamiable. There is much to justify this in the +circumstances of his life; yet our readers will discover much to show, +on the other hand, how deep, strong, and tender was the heart which was +so wrung and tortured, and wounded to the quick by— +</p> +<p> +"The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune." +</p> +<p> +Weber gives a picture of Beethoven: "The square Cyclopean figure attired +in a shabby coat with torn sleeves." Everybody will remember his noble, +austere face, as seen in the numerous prints: the square, massive head, +with the forest of rough hair; the strong features, so furrowed with the +marks of passion and sadness; the eyes, with their look of introspection +and insight; the whole expression of the countenance as of an ancient +prophet. Such was the impression made by Beethoven on all who saw him, +except in his moods of fierce wrath, which toward the last were not +uncommon, though short-lived. A sorely tried, sublimely gifted man, he +met his fate stubbornly, and worked out his great mission with all his +might and main, through long years of weariness and trouble. Posterity +has rewarded him by enthroning him on the highest peaks of musical fame. +</p> +<center> +II. +</center> +<p> +Ludwig van Beethoven was born at Bonn, in 1770. It is a singular fact +that at an early age he showed the deepest distaste for music, unlike +the other great composers, who evinced their bent from their earliest +years. His father was obliged to whip him severely before he would +consent to sit down at the harpsichord; and it was not till he was +past ten that his genuine interest in music showed itself. His first +compositions displayed his genius. Mozart heard him play them, and said, +"Mind, you will hear that boy talked of." Haydn, too, met Beethoven for +the first and only time when the former was on his way to England, +and recognized his remarkable powers. He gave him a few lessons in +composition, and was after that anxious to claim the young Titan as a +pupil. +</p> +<p> +"Yes," growled Beethoven, who for some queer reason never liked Haydn, +"I had some lessons of him, indeed, but I was not his disciple. I never +learned anything from him." +</p> +<p> +Beethoven made a profound impression even as a youth on all who +knew him. Aside from the palpable marks of his power, there was +an indomitable <i>hauteur</i>, a mysterious, self-wrapped air as of one +constantly communing with the invisible, an unconscious assertion of +mastery about him, which strongly impressed the imagination. +</p> +<p> +At the very outset of his career, when life promised all fair and bright +things to him, two comrades linked themselves to him, and ever after +that refused to give him up—grim poverty and still grimmer disease. +About the same time that he lost a fixed salary through the death of +his friend the Elector of Cologne, he began to grow deaf. Early in +1800, walking one day in the woods with his devoted friend and pupil, +Ferdinand Ries, he disclosed the sad secret to him that the whole joyous +world of sound was being gradually closed up to him; the charm of the +human voice, the notes of the woodland birds, the sweet babblings of +Nature, jargon to others, but intelligible to genius, the full-born +splendors of <i>heard</i> music—all, all were fast receding from his grasp. +</p> +<p> +Beethoven was extraordinarily sensitive to the influences of Nature. +Before his disease became serious he writes: "I wander about here with +music-paper among the hills, and dales, and valleys, and scribble a good +deal. No man on earth can love the country as I do." But one of Nature's +most delightful modes of speech to man was soon to be utterly lost to +him. At last he became so deaf that the most stunning crash of thunder +or the <i>fortissimo</i> of the full orchestra were to him as if they were +not. His bitter, heartrending cry of agony, when he became convinced +that the misfortune was irremediable, is full of eloquent despair: "As +autumn leaves wither and fall, so are my hopes blighted. Almost as I +came, I depart. Even the lofty courage, which so often animated me in +the lovely days of summer, is gone forever. O Providence! vouchsafe me +one day of pure felicity! How long have I been estranged from the glad +echo of true joy! When, O my God! when shall I feel it again in the +temple of Nature and man? Never!" +</p> +<p> +And the small-souled, mole-eyed gossips and critics called him hard, +churlish, and cynical—him, for whom the richest thing in Nature's +splendid dower had been obliterated, except a soul, which never in its +deepest sufferings lost its noble faith in God and man, or allowed its +indomitable courage to be one whit weakened. That there were periods +of utterly rayless despair and gloom we may guess; but not for long did +Beethoven's great nature cower before its evil genius. +</p> +<center> +III. +</center> +<p> +Within three years, from 1805 to 1808, Beethoven composed some of his +greatest works: the oratorio of "The Mount of Olives," the opera of +"Fidelio," and the two noble symphonies, "Pastorale" and "Eroica," +besides a large number of concertos, sonatas, songs, and other +occasional pieces. However gloomy the externals of his life, his +creative activities knew no cessation. +</p> +<p> +The "Sinfonia Eroica," the "Choral" only excepted, is the longest of +the immortal nine, and is one of the greatest examples of musical +portraiture extant. All the great composers from Handel to Wagner have +attempted what is called descriptive music with more or less success, +but never have musical genius and skill achieved a result so admirable +in its relation to its purpose and by such strictly legitimate means as +in this work. +</p> +<p> +"The 'Eroica,'" says a great writer, "is an attempt to draw a musical +portrait of an historical character—a great statesman, a great +general, a noble individual; to represent in music—Beethoven's own +language—what M. Thiers has given in words and Paul Delaroche in +painting." Of Beethoven's success another writer has said: "It wants +no title to tell its meaning, for throughout the symphony the hero is +visibly portrayed." +</p> +<p> +It is anything but difficult to realize why Beethoven should have +admired the first Napoleon. Both the soldier and musician were made +of that sturdy stuff which would and did defy the world; and it is not +strange that Beethoven should have desired in some way—and he knew +of no better course than through his art—to honor one so +characteristically akin to himself, and who at that time was the most +prominent man in Europe. Beethoven began the work in 1802, and in 1804 +it was completed, and bore the following title: +</p> +<pre> + Sinfonia grande + + "Napoleon Bonaparte" + + 1804 in August + + del Sigr + + Louis van Beethoven + + Sinfonia 3. + + Op. 55. +</pre> +<p> +This was copied and the original score dispatched to the embassador for +presentation, while Beethoven retained the copy. Before the composition +was laid before Napoleon, however, the great general had accepted the +title of Emperor. No sooner did Beethoven hear of this from his pupil +Ries than he started up in a rage, and exclaimed: "After all, then, he's +nothing but an ordinary mortal! He will trample the rights of men under +his feet!" saying which, he rushed to his table, seized the copy of the +score, and tore the title-page completely off. From this time Beethoven +hated Napoleon, and never again spoke of him in connection with the +symphony until he heard of his death in St. Helena, when he observed, "I +have already composed music for this calamity," evidently referring to +the "Funeral March" in this symphony. +</p> +<p> +The opera of "Fidelio," which he composed about the same time, may be +considered, in the severe sense of a great and symmetrical musical work, +the finest lyric drama ever written, with the possible exception of +Gluck's "Orpheus and Eurydice" and "Iphigenia in Tauris." It is rarely +performed, because its broad, massive, and noble effects are beyond +the capacity of most singers, and belong to the domain of pure music, +demanding but little alliance with the artistic clap-trap of startling +scenery and histrionic extravagance. Yet our composer's conscience shows +its completeness in his obedience to the law of opera; for the music he +has written to express the situations cannot be surpassed for beauty, +pathos, and passion. Beethoven, like Mendelssohn, revolted from the idea +of lyric drama as an art-inconsistency, but he wrote "Fidelio" to show +his possibilities in a direction with which he had but little sympathy. +</p> +<p> +He composed four overtures for this opera at different periods, on +account of the critical caprices of the Viennese public—a concession to +public taste which his stern independence rarely made. +</p> +<center> +IV. +</center> +<p> +Beethoven's relations with women were peculiar and characteristic, as +were all the phases of a nature singularly self-poised and robust. Like +all men of powerful imagination and keen (though perhaps not delicate) +sensibility, he was strongly attracted toward the softer sex. But a +certain austerity of morals, and that purity of feeling which is the +inseparable shadow of one's devotion to lofty aims, always kept +him within the bounds of Platonic affection. Yet there is enough +in Beethoven's letters, as scanty as their indications are in this +direction, to show what ardor and glow of feeling he possessed. +</p> +<p> +About the time that he was suffering keenly with the knowledge of his +fast-growing infirmity, he was bound by a strong tie of affection to +Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, his "immortal beloved," "his angel," +"his all," "his life," as he called her in a variety of passionate +utterances. It was to her that he dedicated his song "Adelaida," which +as an expression of lofty passion is world-famous. Beethoven was very +much dissatisfied with the work even in the glow of composition. Before +the notes were dry on the music paper, the composer's old friend Barth +was announced. "Here," said Beethoven, putting a roll of score paper in +Earth's hands, "look at that. I have just finished it, and don't like +it. There is hardly fire enough in the stove to burn it, but I will +try." Barth glanced through the composition, then sang it, and soon grew +into such enthusiasm as to draw from Beethoven the expression, "No? +then we will not burn it, old fellow." Whether it was the reaction of +disgust, which so often comes to genius after the tension of work, or +whether his ideal of its lovely theme was so high as to make all effort +seem inadequate, the world came very near losing what it could not +afford to have missed. +</p> +<p> +The charming countess, however, preferred rank, wealth, and unruffled +ease to being linked even with a great genius, if, indeed, the affair +ever looked in the direction of marriage. She married another, and +Beethoven does not seem to have been seriously disturbed. It may be +that, like Goethe, he valued the love of woman not for itself or its +direct results, but as an art-stimulus which should enrich and fructify +his own intellectual life. +</p> +<p> +We get glimpses of successors to the fair countess. The beautiful Marie +Pachler was for some time the object of his adoration. The affair is a +somewhat mysterious one, and the lady seems to have suffered from the +fire through which her powerful companion passed unscathed. Again, +quaintest and oddest of all, is the fancy kindled by that "mysterious +sprite of genius," as one of her contemporaries calls her, Bettina +Brentano, the gifted child-woman, who fascinated all who came within her +reach, from Goethe and Beethoven down to princes and nobles. Goethe's +correspondence with this strange being has embalmed her life in classic +literature. +</p> +<p> +Our composer's intercourse with women—for he was always alive to the +charms of female society—was for the most part homely and practical in +the extreme, after his deafness destroyed the zest of the more romantic +phases of the divine passion. He accepted adoration, as did Dean Swift, +as a right. He permitted his female admirers to knit him stockings and +comforters, and make him dainty puddings and other delicacies, which he +devoured with huge gusto. He condescended, in return, to go to sleep on +their sofas, after picking his teeth with the candle-snuffers (so +says scandal), while they thrummed away at his sonatas, the artistic +slaughter of which Beethoven was mercifully unable to hear. +</p> +<center> +V. +</center> +<p> +The friendship of the Archduke Rudolph relieved Beethoven of the +immediate pressure of poverty; for in 1809 he settled a small +life-pension upon him. The next ten years were passed by him in +comparative ease and comfort, and in this time he gave to the world five +of his immortal symphonies, and a large number of his finest sonatas and +masses. His general health improved very much; and in his love for his +nephew Karl, whom Beethoven had adopted, the lonely man found an outlet +for his strong affections, which was medicine for his soul, though the +object was worthless and ungrateful. +</p> +<p> +We get curious and amusing insights into the daily tenor of Beethoven's +life during this period—things sometimes almost grotesque, were they +not so sad. The composer lived a solitary life, and was very much at the +mercy of his servants on account of his self-absorption and deafness. +He was much worried by these prosaic cares. One story of a slatternly +servant is as follows: The master was working at the mass in D, the +great work which he commenced in 1819 for the celebration of the +appointment of the Archduke Rudolph as Archbishop of Olmutz, and which +should have been completed by the following year. Beethoven, however, +became so engrossed with his work, and increased its proportions so +much, that it was not finished until some two years after the event +which it was intended to celebrate. While Beethoven was engaged upon +this score, he one day woke up to the fact that some of his pages were +missing. "Where on earth could they be?" he asked himself, and the +servant too; but the problem remained unsolved. Beethoven, beside +himself, spent hours and hours in searching, and so did the servant, but +it was all in vain. At last they gave up the task as a useless one, and +Beethoven, mad with despair, and pouring the very opposite to blessings +upon the head of her who, he believed, was the author of the mischief, +sat down with the conclusion that he must rewrite the missing part. He +had no sooner commenced a new Kyrie—for this was the movement which was +not to be found—than some loose sheets of score paper were discovered +in the kitchen! Upon examination they proved to be the identical pages +that Beethoven so much desired, and which the woman, in her anxiety to +be "tidy" and to "keep things straight," had appropriated at some time +or other for wrapping up, not only old boots and clothes, but also some +superannuated pots and pans that were greasy and black! +</p> +<p> +Thus he was continually fretted by the carelessness or the rascality of +the servants in whom he was obliged to trust. He writes in his diary: +"Nancy is too uneducated for a housekeeper—indeed, quite a beast." "My +precious servants were occupied from seven o'clock till ten trying to +kindle a fire." "The cook's off again." "I shied half a dozen books at +her head." They made his dinner so nasty he couldn't eat it. "No soup +to-day, no beef, no eggs. Got something from the inn at last." +</p> +<p> +His temper and peculiarities, too, made it difficult for him to live in +peace with landlords and fellow-lodgers. As his deafness increased, he +struck and thumped harder at the keys of his piano, the sound of which +he could scarcely hear. Nor was this all. The music that filled his +brain gave him no rest. He became an inspired madman. For hours he would +pace the room "howling and roaring" (as his pupil Ries puts it); or he +would stand beating time with hand and foot to the music which was +so vividly present to his mind. This soon put him into a feverish +excitement, when, to cool himself, he would take his water-jug, and, +thoughtless of everything, pour its contents over his hands, after which +he could sit down to his piano. With all this it can easily be imagined +that Beethoven was frequently remonstrated with. The landlord complained +of a damaged ceiling, and the fellow-lodgers declared that either they +or the madman must leave the house, for they could get no rest where he +was. So Beethoven never for long had a resting-place. Impatient at being +interfered with, he immediately packed up and went off to some other +vacant lodging. From this cause he was at one time paying the rent of +four lodgings at once. At times he would get tired of this changing from +one place to another—from the suburbs to the town—and then he would +fall back upon the hospitable home of a patron, once again taking +possession of an apartment which he had vacated, probably without +the least explanation or cause. One admirer of his genius, who always +reserved him a chamber in his establishment, used to say to his +servants: "Leave it empty; Beethoven is sure to come back again." +</p> +<p> +The instant that Beethoven entered the house he began to write and +cipher on the walls, the blinds, the table, everything, in the most +abstracted manner. He frequently composed on slips of paper, which he +afterward misplaced, so that he had great difficulty in finding them. At +one time, indeed, he forgot his own name and the date of his birth. +</p> +<p> +It is said that he once went into a Viennese restaurant, and, instead of +giving an order, began to write a score on the back of the bill-of-fare, +absorbed and unconscious of time and place. At last he asked how much +he owed. "You owe nothing, sir," said the waiter. "What! do you think I +have not dined?" "Most assuredly." "Very well, then, give me something." +"What do you wish?" "Anything." +</p> +<p> +These infirmities do not belittle the man of genius, but set off his +greatness as with a foil. They illustrate the thought of Goethe: "It is +all the same whether one is great or small, he has to pay the reckoning +of humanity." +</p> +<center> +VI. +</center> +<p> +Yet beneath these eccentricities what wealth of tenderness, sympathy, +and kindliness existed! His affection for his graceless nephew Karl is a +touching picture. With the rest of his family he had never been on very +cordial terms. His feeling of contempt for snobbery and pretense is very +happily illustrated in his relations with his brother Johann. The latter +had acquired property, and he sent Ludwig his card, inscribed "Johann +van Beethoven, land-owner." The caustic reply was a card, on which +was written, "Ludwig van Beethoven, brain-owner." But on Karl all the +warmest feelings of a nature which had been starving to love and be +loved poured themselves out. He gave the scapegrace every luxury and +indulgence, and, self-absorbed as he was in an ideal sphere, felt the +deepest interest in all the most trivial things that concerned him. Much +to the uncle's sorrow, Karl cared nothing for music; but, worst of +all, he was an idle, selfish, heartless fellow, who sneered at his +benefactor, and valued him only for what he could get from him. At last +Beethoven became fully aware of the lying ingratitude of his nephew, and +he exclaims: "I know now you have no pleasure in coming to see me, which +is only natural, for my atmosphere is too pure for you. God has never +yet forsaken me, and no doubt some one will be found to close my eyes." +Yet the generous old man forgave him, for he says in the codicil of his +will, "I appoint my nephew Karl my sole heir." +</p> +<p> +Frequently, glimpses of the true vein showed themselves in such little +episodes as that which occurred when Moscheles, accompanied by his +brother, visited the great musician for the first time. +</p> +<p> +"Arrived at the door of the house," writes Moscheles, "I had some +misgivings, knowing Beethoven's strong aversion to strangers. I +therefore told my brother to wait below. After greeting Beethoven, I +said: 'Will you permit me to introduce my brother to you?' +</p> +<p> +"'Where is he?' he suddenly replied. +</p> +<p> +"'Below.' +</p> +<p> +"'What, down-stairs?' and Beethoven immediately rushed off, seized hold +of my brother, saying: 'Am I such a savage that you are afraid to come +near me?' +</p> +<p> +"After this he showed great kindness to us." +</p> +<p> +While referring to the relations of Moscheles and Beethoven, the +following anecdote related by Mme. Moscheles will be found suggestive. +The pianist had been arranging some numbers of "Fidelio," which he +took to the composer. He, <i>à la</i> Haydn, had inscribed the score with the +words, "By God's help." Beethoven did not fail to perceive this, and he +wrote underneath this phylactory the characteristic advice: "O man, help +thyself." +</p> +<p> +The genial and sympathetic nature of Beethoven is illustrated in this +quaint incident: +</p> +<p> +It was in the summer of 1811 that Ludwig Lowe, the actor, first met +Beethoven in the dining-room of the Blue Star at Toplitz. Lowe was +paying his addresses to the landlord's daughter; and conversation being +impossible at the hour he dined there, the charming creature one day +whispered to him: "Come at a later hour when the customers are gone and +only Beethoven is here. He cannot hear, and will therefore not be in +the way." This answered for a time; but the stern parents, observing +the acquaintanceship, ordered the actor to leave the house and not to +return. "How great was our despair!" relates Lowe. "We both desired to +correspond, but through whom? Would the solitary man at the opposite +table assist us? Despite his serious reserve and seeming churlishness, +I believe he is not unfriendly. I have often caught a kind smile across +his bold, defiant face." Lôwe determined to try. Knowing Beethoven's +custom, he contrived to meet the master when he was walking in the +gardens. Beethoven instantly recognized him, and asked the reason why he +no longer dined at the Blue Star. A full confession was made, and then +Lowe timidly asked if he would take charge of a letter to give to the +girl. +</p> +<p> +"Why not?" pleasantly observed the rough-looking musician. "You mean +what is right." +</p> +<p> +So pocketing the note, he was making his way onward when Lowe again +interfered. +</p> +<p> +"I beg your pardon, Herr van Beethoven, that is not all." +</p> +<p> +"So, so," said the master. +</p> +<p> +"You must also bring back the answer," Lowe went on to say. +</p> +<p> +"Meet me here at this time to-morrow," said Beethoven. +</p> +<p> +Lowe did so, and there found Beethoven awaiting him, with the coveted +reply from his lady-love. In this manner Beethoven carried the letters +backward and forward for some five or six weeks—in short, as long as he +remained in the town. +</p> +<p> +His friendship with Ferdinand Ries commenced in a way which testified +how grateful he was for kindness. When his mother lay ill at Bonn, he +hurried home from Vienna just in time to witness her death. After the +funeral he suffered greatly from poverty, and was relieved by Ries the +violinist. Years afterward young Ries waited on Beethoven with a letter +of introduction from his father. The composer received him with cordial +warmth, and said: "Tell your father I have not forgotten the death of +my mother." Ever afterward he was a helpful and devoted friend to young +Ries, and was of inestimable value in forwarding his musical career. +</p> +<p> +Beethoven in his poverty never forgot to be generous. At a concert given +in aid of wounded soldiers, where he conducted, he indignantly refused +payment with the words: "Say Beethoven never accepts anything where +humanity is concerned." To an Ursuline convent he gave an entirely new +symphony to be performed at their benefit concert. Friend or enemy +never applied to him for help that he did not freely give, even to the +pinching of his own comfort. +</p> +<center> +VII. +</center> +<p> +Rossini could write best when he was under the influence of Italian wine +and sparkling champagne. Paesiello liked the warm bed in which to jot +down his musical notions, and we are told that "it was between the +sheets that he planned the 'Barber of Seville,' the 'Molinara,' and so +many other <i>chefs-d'oeuvre</i> of ease and gracefulness." Mozart could chat +and play at billiards or bowls at the same time that he composed the +most beautiful music. Sacchini found it impossible to write anything of +any beauty unless a pretty woman was by his side, and he was surrounded +by his cats, whose graceful antics stimulated and affected him in a +marked fashion. "Gluck," Bombet says, "in order to warm his imagination +and to transport himself to Aulis or Sparta, was accustomed to place +himself in the middle of a beautiful meadow. In this situation, with his +piano before him, and a bottle of champagne on each side, he wrote in +the open air his two 'Iphigenias,' his 'Orpheus,' and some other +works." The agencies which stimulated Beethoven's grandest thoughts +are eminently characteristic of the man. He loved to let the winds +and storms beat on his bare head, and see the dazzling play of the +lightning. Or, failing the sublimer moods of Nature, it was his +delight to walk in the woods and fields, and take in at every pore the +influences which she so lavishly bestows on her favorites. His true life +was his ideal life in art. To him it was a mission and an inspiration, +the end and object of all things; for these had value only as they fed +the divine craving within. +</p> +<p> +"Nothing can be more sublime," he writes, "than to draw nearer to the +Godhead than other men, and to diffuse here on earth these Godlike rays +among mortals." Again: "What is all this compared to the grandest of all +Masters of Harmony—above, above?" +</p> +<pre> + "All experience seemed an arch, wherethrough + Gleamed that untraveled world, whose margin fades + Forever and forever as we move." +</pre> +<p> +The last four years of our composer's life were passed amid great +distress from poverty and feebleness. He could compose but little; and, +though his friends solaced his latter days with attention and kindness, +his sturdy independence would not accept more. It is a touching fact +that Beethoven voluntarily suffered want and privation in his last +years, that he might leave the more to his selfish and ungrateful +nephew. He died in 1827, in his fifty-seventh year, and is buried in +the Wahring Cemetery near Vienna. Let these extracts from a testamentary +paper addressed to his brothers in 1802, in expectation of death, speak +more eloquently of the hidden life of a heroic soul than any other words +could: +</p> +<p> +"O ye, who consider or declare me to be hostile, obstinate, or +misanthropic, what injustice ye do me! Ye know not the secret causes of +that which to you wears such an appearance. My heart and my mind were +from childhood prone to the tender feelings of affection. Nay, I was +always disposed even to perform great actions. But, only consider that, +for the last six years, I have been attacked by an incurable complaint, +aggravated by the unskillful treatment of medical men, disappointed from +year to year in the hope of relief, and at last obliged to submit to the +endurance of an evil the cure of which may last perhaps for years, if +it is practicable at all. Born with a lively, ardent disposition, +susceptible to to the diversions of society, I was forced at an early +age to renounce them, and to pass my life in seclusion. If I strove at +any time to set myself above all this, oh how cruelly was I driven back +by the doubly painful experience of my defective hearing! and yet it +was not possible for me to say to people, 'Speak louder—bawl—for I +am deaf!' Ah! how could I proclaim the defect of a sense that I once +possessed in the highest perfection—in a perfection in which few of my +colleagues possess or ever did possess it? Indeed, I cannot! Forgive +me, then, if ye see me draw back when I would gladly mingle among you. +Doubly mortifying is my misfortune to me, as it must tend to cause me to +be misconceived. From recreation in the society of my fellow-creatures, +from the pleasures of conversation, from the effusions of friendship, I +am cut off. Almost alone in the world, I dare not venture into society +more than absolute necessity requires. I am obliged to live as an +exile. If I go into company, a painful anxiety comes over me, since I am +apprehensive of being exposed to the danger of betraying my situation. +Such has been my state, too, during this half year that I have spent in +the country. Enjoined by my intelligent physician to spare my hearing +as much as possible, I have been almost encouraged by him in my present +natural disposition, though, hurried away by my fondness for society, I +sometimes suffered myself to be enticed into it. But what a humiliation +when any one standing beside me could hear at a distance a flute that I +could not hear, or any one heard the shepherd singing, and I could +not distinguish a sound! Such circumstances brought me to the brink of +despair, and had well-nigh made me put an end to my life: nothing but +my art held my hand. Ah! it seemed to me impossible to quit the world +before I had produced all that I felt myself called to accomplish. And +so I endured this wretched life—so truly wretched, that a somewhat +speedy change is capable of transporting me from the best into the +worst condition. Patience—so I am told—I must choose for my guide. +Steadfast, I hope, will be my resolution to persevere, till it shall +please the inexorable Fates to cut the thread. Perhaps there may be an +amendment—perhaps not; I am prepared for the worst—I, who so early +as my twenty-eighth year was forced to become a philosopher—it is not +easy—for the artist more difficult than for any other. O God! thou +lookest down upon my misery; thou knowest that it is accompanied with +love of my fellow-creatures, and a disposition to do good! O men! when +ye shall read this, think that ye have wronged me; and let the child of +affliction take comfort on finding one like himself, who, in spite of +all the impediments of Nature, yet did all that lay in his power to +obtain admittance into the rank of worthy artists and men.... I go to +meet death with joy. If he comes before I have had occasion to develop +all my professional abilities, he will come too soon for me, in spite +of my hard fate, and I should wish that he had delayed his arrival. But +even then I am content, for he will release me from a state of endless +suffering. Come when thou wilt, I shall meet thee with firmness. +Farewell, and do not quite forget me after I am dead; I have deserved +that you should think of me, for in my lifetime I have often thought of +you to make you happy. May you ever be so!" +</p> +<center> +VIII. +</center> +<p> +The music of Beethoven has left a profound impress on art. In speaking +of his genius it is difficult to keep expression within the limits of +good taste. For who has so passed into the very inner <i>penetralia</i> of +his great art, and revealed to the world such heights and depths of +beauty and power in sound? +</p> +<p> +Beethoven composed nine symphonies, which, by one voice, are ranked as +the greatest ever written, reaching in the last, known as the "Choral," +the full perfection of his power and experience. Other musicians have +composed symphonic works remarkable for varied excellences, but in +Beethoven this form of writing seems to have attained its highest +possibilities, and to have been illustrated by the greatest variety of +effects, from the sublime to such as are simply beautiful and melodious. +His hand swept the whole range of expression with unfaltering mastery. +Some passages may seem obscure, some too elaborately wrought, some +startling and abrupt, but on all is stamped the die of his great genius. +</p> +<p> +Beethoven's compositions for the piano, the sonatas, are no less notable +for range and power of expression, their adaptation to meet all the +varied moods of passion and sentiment. Other pianoforte composers have +given us more warm and vivid color, richer sensual effects of tone, more +wild and bizarre combination, perhaps even greater sweetness in melody; +but we look in vain elsewhere for the spiritual passion and poetry, the +aspiration and longing, the lofty humanity, which make the Beethoven +sonatas the <i>suspiria de pro-fundis</i> of the composer's inner life. In +addition to his symphonies and sonatas, he wrote the great opera of +"Fidelio," and in the field of oratorio asserted his equality with +Handel and Haydn by composing "The Mount of Olives." A great variety of +chamber music, masses, and songs, bear the same imprint of power. He +may be called the most original and conscientious of all the composers. +Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, and Mendelssohn were inveterate +thieves, and pilfered the choicest gems from old and forgotten writers +without scruple. Beethoven seems to have been so fecund in great +conceptions, so lifted on the wings of his tireless genius, so austere +in artistic morality, that he stands for the most part above the +reproach deservedly borne by his brother composers. +</p> +<p> +Beethoven's principal title to fame is in his superlative place as a +symphonic composer. In the symphony music finds its highest intellectual +dignity; in Beethoven the symphony has found its loftiest master. +</p> +<a name="2H_4_0008"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + SCHUBERT, SCHUMANN, AND FRANZ. +</h2> +<center> +I. +</center> +<p> +Heinrich Heine, in his preface to a translation of "Don Quixote," +discusses the creative powers of different peoples. To the Spaniard +Cervantes is awarded the first place in novel-writing, and to our own +Shakespeare, of course, the transcendent rank in drama. +</p> +<p> +"And the Germans," he goes on to say, "what palm is due to them? Well, +we are the best writers of songs in the world. No people possesses such +beautiful <i>Lieder</i> as the Germans. Just at present the nations have too +much political business on hand; but, after that has once been settled, +we Germans, English, Spaniards, Frenchmen, and Italians, will all go to +the green forest and sing, and the nightingale shall be umpire. I feel +sure that in this contest the song of Wolfgang Goethe will gain the +prize." +</p> +<p> +There are few, if any, who will be disposed to dispute the verdict of +the German poet, himself no mean rival, in depth and variety of lyric +inspiration, even of the great Goethe. But a greater poet than either +one of this great pair bears the suggestive and impersonal name of "The +People." It is to the countless wealth of the German race in folk-songs, +an affluence which can be traced back to the very dawn of civilization +among them, that the possibility of such lyric poets as Goethe, Heine, +Ruckert, and Uhland is due. From the days of the "Nibelungenlied," that +great epic which, like the Homeric poems, can hardly be credited to any +one author, every hamlet has rung with beautiful national songs, which +sprung straight from the fervid heart of the people. These songs are +balmy with the breath of the forest, the meadow, and river, and +have that simple and bewitching freshness of motive and rhythm which +unconsciously sets itself to music. +</p> +<p> +The German <i>Volkslied</i>, as the exponent of the popular heart, has a wide +range, from mere comment on historical events, and quaint, droll +satire, such as may be found in Hans Sachs, to the grand protest against +spiritual bondage which makes the burden of Luther's hymn, "Ein' feste +Burg." But nowhere is the beauty of the German song so marked as in +those <i>Lieder</i> treating of love, deeds of arms, and the old mystic +legends so dear to the German heart. Tieck writes of the "Minnesinger +period:" "Believers sang of faith, lovers of love; knights described +knightly actions and battles, and loving, believing knights were their +chief audiences. The spring, beauty, gayety, were objects that could +never tire; great duels and deeds of arms carried away every hearer, the +more surely the stronger they were painted; and as the pillars and dome +of the church encircled the flock, so did Religion, as the highest, +encircle poetry and reality, and every heart in equal love humbled +itself before her." +</p> +<p> +A similar spirit has always inspired the popular German song, a simple +and beautiful reverence for the unknown, the worship of heroism, a vital +sympathy with the various manifestations of Nature. Without the fire +of the French <i>chansons</i>, the sonorous grace of the Tuscan <i>stornelli</i>, +these artless ditties, with their exclusive reliance on true feeling, +possess an indescribable charm. +</p> +<p> +The German <i>Lied</i> always preserved its characteristic beauty. Goethe, +and the great school of lyric poets clustered around him, simply +perfected the artistic form, without departing from the simplicity and +soulfulness of the stock from which it came. Had it not been for the +rich soil of popular song, we should not have had the peerless lyrics +of modern Germany. Had it not been for the poetic inspiration of +such word-makers as Goethe and Heine, we should not have had such +music-makers in the sphere of song as Schubert and Franz. +</p> +<p> +The songs of these masters appeal to the interest and admiration of the +world, then, not merely in virtue of musical beauty, but in that they +are the most vital outgrowths of Teutonic nationality and feeling. +</p> +<p> +The immemorial melodies to which the popular songs of Germany were +set display great simplicity of rhythm, even monotony, with frequent +recurrence of the minor keys, so well adapted to express the melancholy +tone of many of the poems. The strictly strophic treatment is used, or, +in other words, the repetition of the melody of the first stanza in all +the succeeding ones. The chasm between this and the varied form of the +artistic modern song is deep and wide, yet it was overleaped in a single +swift bound by the remarkable genius of Franz Schubert, who, though his +compositions were many and matchless of their kind, died all too young; +for, as the inscription on his tombstone pathetically has it, he was +"rich in what he gave, richer in what he promised." +</p> +<center> +II. +</center> +<p> +The great masters of the last century tried their hands in the domain +of song with only comparative success, partly because they did not fully +realize the nature of this form of art, partly because they could +not limit the sweep of the creative power within such narrow limits. +Schubert was a revelation to his countrymen in his musical treatment +of subjective passion, in his instinctive command over condensed, +epigrammatic expression. This rich and gifted life, however quiet in its +exterior facts, was great in its creative and spiritual manifestation. +Born at Vienna of humble parents, January 31, 1797, the early life of +Franz Schubert was commonplace in the extreme, the most interesting +feature being the extraordinary development of his genius. At the age of +fourteen he had made himself a master of counterpoint and harmony, and +composed a large mass of chamber-music and works for the piano. His +poverty was such that he was oftentimes unable to obtain the music-paper +with which to fasten the immortal thoughts that thronged through his +brain. It was two years later that his special creative function found +exercise in the production of the two great songs, the "Erl-King" and +the "Serenade," the former of which proved the source of most of the +fame and money emolument he enjoyed during life. It is hardly needful to +speak of the power and beauty of this composition, the weird sweetness +of its melodies, the dramatic contrasts, the wealth of color and +shading in its varying phrases, the subtilty of the accompaniment, which +elaborates the spirit of the song itself. The piece was composed in +less than an hour. One of Schubert's intimates tells us that he left him +reading Goethe's great poem for the first time. He instantly conceived +and arranged the melody, and when the friend returned after a short +absence Schubert was rapidly noting the music from his head on paper. +When the song was finished he rushed to the Stadtconvict school, his +only <i>alma mater</i>, and sang it to the scholars. The music-master, +Rucziszka, was overwhelmed with rapture and astonishment, and embraced +the young composer in a transport of joy. When this immortal music was +first sung to Goethe, the great poet said: "Had music, instead of words, +been my instrument of thought, it is so I would have framed the legend." +</p> +<p> +The "Serenade" is another example of the swiftness of Schubert's +artistic imagination. He and a lot of jolly boon-companions sat one +Sunday afternoon in an obscure Viennese tavern, known as the Biersack. +The surroundings were anything but conducive to poetic fancies—dirty +tables, floor, and ceiling, the clatter of mugs and dishes, the loud +dissonance of the beery German roisterers, the squalling of children, +and all the sights and noises characteristic of the beer-cellar. One of +our composer's companions had a volume of poems, which Schubert looked +at in a lazy way, laughing and drinking the while. Singling out some +verses, he said: "I have a pretty melody in my head for these lines, if +I could only get a piece of ruled paper." Some staves were drawn on the +back of a bill-of-fare, and here, amid all the confusion and riot, the +divine melody of the "Serenade" was born, a tone-poem which embodies the +most delicate dream of passion and tenderness that the heart of man ever +conceived. +</p> +<p> +Both these compositions were eccentric and at odds with the old canons +of song, fancied with a grace, warmth, and variety of color hitherto +characteristic only of the more pretentious forms of music, which had +already been brought to a great degree of perfection. They inaugurate +the genesis of the new school of musical lyrics, the golden wedding of +the union of poetry with music. +</p> +<p> +For a long time the young composer was unsuccessful in his attempts to +break through the barren and irritating drudgery of a schoolmaster's +life. At last a wealthy young dilettante, Franz von Schober, who had +become an admirer of Schubert's songs, persuaded his mother to offer him +a fixed home in her house. The latter gratefully accepted the overture +of friendship, and thence became a daily guest at Schober's house. He +made at this time a number of strong friendships with obscure poets, +whose names only live through the music of the composer set to verses +furnished by them; for Schubert, in his affluence of creative power, +merely needed the slightest excuse for his genius to flow forth. But, +while he wrote nothing that was not beautiful, his masterpieces are +based only on themes furnished by the lyrics of such poets as Goethe, +Heine, and Rilckert. It is related, in connection with his friendship +with Mayrhofer, one of his rhyming associates of these days, that he +would set the verses to music much faster than the other could compose +them. +</p> +<p> +The songs of the obscure Schubert were gradually finding their way to +favor among the exclusive circles of Viennese aristocracy. A celebrated +singer of the opera, Vogl, though then far advanced in years, was much +sought after for the drawing-room concerts so popular in Vienna, on +account of the beauty of his art. Vogl was a warm admirer of Schubert's +genius, and devoted himself assiduously to the task of interpreting +it—a friendly office of no little value. Had it not been for this, our +composer would have sunk to his early grave probably without even the +small share of reputation and monetary return actually vouchsafed +to him. The strange, dreamy unconsciousness of Schubert is very well +illustrated in a story told by Vogl after his friend's death. One day +Schubert left a new song at the singer's apartments, which, being too +high, was transposed. Vogl, a fortnight afterward, sang it in the lower +key to his friend, who remarked: "Really, that <i>Lied</i> is not so bad; who +composed it?" +</p> +<center> +III. +</center> +<p> +Our great composer, from the peculiar constitution of his gifts, the +passionate subjectiveness of his nature, might be supposed to have been +peculiarly sensitive to the fascinations of love, for it is in this +feeling that lyric inspiration has found its most fruitful root. But +not so. Warmly susceptible to the charms of friendship, Schubert for +the most part enacted the <i>rôle</i> of the woman-hater, which was not all +affected; for the Hamletlike mood is only in part a simulated madness +with souls of this type. In early youth he would sneer at the amours +of his comrades. It is true he fell a victim to the charms of Theresa +Grobe, a beautiful soprano, who afterward became the spouse of a +master-baker. But the only genuine love-sickness of Schubert was of a +far different type, and left indelible traces on his nature, as its very +direction made it of necessity unfortunate. This was his attachment to +Countess Caroline Esterhazy. +</p> +<p> +The Count Esterhazy, one of those great feudal princes still extant +among the Austrian nobility, took a traditional pride in encouraging +genius, and found in Franz Schubert a noble object for the exercise of +his generous patronage. He was almost a boy (only nineteen), except in +the prodigious development of his genius, when he entered the Esterhazy +family as teacher of music, though always treated as a dear and familiar +friend. During the summer months, Schubert went with the Esterhazy s to +their country-seat at Zelész, in Hungary. Here, amid beautiful scenery, +and the sweetness of a social life perfect of its kind, our poet's life +flew on rapid wings, the one bright, green spot of unalloyed happiness, +for the dream was delicious while it lasted. Here, too, his musical +life gathered a fresh inspiration, since he became acquainted with the +treasures of the national Hungarian music, with its weird, wild rhythms +and striking melodies. He borrowed the motives of many of his most +characteristic songs from these reminiscences of hut and hall, for +the Esterhazys were royal in their hospitality, and exercised a wide +patriarchal sway. +</p> +<p> +The beautiful Countess Caroline, an enthusiastic girl of great beauty, +became the object of a romantic passion. A young, inexperienced maiden, +full of <i>naive</i> sweetness, the finest flower of the haughty Austrian +caste, she stood at an infinite distance from Schubert, while she +treated him with childlike confidence and fondness, laughing at his +eccentricities, and worshiping his genius, lie bowed before this idol, +and poured out all the incense of his heart. Schubert's exterior was +anything but that of the ideal lover. Rude, unshapely features, thick +nose, coarse, protruding mouth, and a shambling, awkward figure, were +redeemed only by eyes of uncommon splendor and depth, aflame with the +unmistakable light of the soul. +</p> +<p> +The inexperienced maiden hardly understood the devotion of the artist, +which found expression in a thousand ways peculiar to himself. Only +once he was on the verge of a full revelation. She asked him why he +had dedicated nothing to her. With abrupt, passionate intensity of tone +Schubert answered, "What's the use of that? Everything belongs to you!" +This brink of confession seems to have frightened him, for it is said +that after this he threw much more reserve about his intercourse with +the family, till it was broken off. Hints in his letters, and the deep +despondency which increased after this, indicate, however, that the +humbly-born genius never forgot his beautiful dream. +</p> +<p> +He continued to pour out in careless profusion songs, symphonies, +quartets, and operas, many of which knew no existence but in the score +till after his death, hardly knowing of himself whether the productions +had value or not. He created because it was the essential law of his +being, and never paused to contemplate or admire the beauties of his own +work. Schubert's body had been mouldering for several years, when his +wonderful symphony in C major, one of the <i>chefs-d'oeuvre</i> of orchestral +composition, was brought to the attention of the world by the critical +admiration of Robert Schumann, who won the admiration of lovers of +music, not less by his prompt vindication of neglected genius than by +his own creative powers. +</p> +<p> +In the contest between Weber and Rossini which agitated Vienna, +Schubert, though deeply imbued with the seriousness of art, and +by nature closely allied in sympathies with the composer of "Der +Freischütz," took no part. He was too easy-going to become a volunteer +partisan, too shy and obscure to make his alliance a thing to be sought +after. Besides, Weber had treated him with great brusqueness, and damned +an opera for him, a slight which even good-natured Franz Schubert could +not easily forgive. +</p> +<p> +The fifteen operas of Schubert, unknown now except to musicians, contain +a wealth of beautiful melody which could easily be spread over a score +of ordinary works. The purely lyric impulse so dominated him that +dramatic arrangement was lost sight of, and the noblest melodies were +likely to be lavished on the most unworthy situations. Even under +the operatic form he remained essentially the song-writer. So in +the symphony his affluence of melodic inspiration seems actually +to embarrass him, to the detriment of that breadth and symmetry of +treatment so vital to this form of art. It is in the musical lyric that +our composer stands matchless. +</p> +<p> +During his life as an independent musician at Vienna, Schubert lived +fighting a stern battle with want and despondency, while the publishers +were commencing to make fortunes by the sale of his exquisite <i>Lieder</i>. +At that time a large source of income for the Viennese composers was the +public performance of their works in concerts under their own direction. +From recourse to this, Schubert's bashfulness and lack of skill as a +<i>virtuoso</i> on any instrument helped to bar him, though he accompanied +his own songs with exquisite effect. Once only his friends organized +a concert for him, and the success was very brilliant. But he was +prevented from repeating the good fortune by that fatal illness +which soon set in. So he lived out the last glimmers of his life, +poverty-stricken, despondent, with few even of the amenities of +friendship to soothe his declining days. Yet those who know the +beautiful results of that life, and have even a faint glow of sympathy +with the life of a man of genius, will exclaim with one of the most +eloquent critics of Schubert: +</p> +<p> +"But shall we, therefore, pity a man who all the while reveled in the +treasures of his creative ore, and from the very depths of whose despair +sprang the sweetest flowers of song? Who would not battle with the +iciest blast of the north if out of storm and snow he could bring back +to his chamber the germs of the 'Winterreise?' Who would grudge the +moisture of his eyes if he could render it immortal in the strains of +Schubert's 'Lob der Thrâne?'" +</p> +<p> +Schubert died in the flower of his youth, November 19, 1828; but he left +behind him nearly a thousand compositions, six hundred of which were +songs. Of his operas only the "Enchanted Harp" and "Rosamond" were put +on the stage during his lifetime. "Fierabras," considered to be his +finest dramatic work, has never been produced. His church music, +consisting of six masses, many offertories, and the great "Hallelujah" +of Klopstock, is still performed in Germany. Several of his symphonies +are ranked among the greatest works of this nature. His pianoforte +compositions are brilliant, and strongly in the style of Beethoven, +who was always the great object of Schubert's devoted admiration, his +artistic idol and model. It was his dying request that he should be +buried by the side of Beethoven, of whom the art-world had been deprived +the year before. +</p> +<p> +Compared with Schubert, other composers seem to have written in prose. +His imagination burned with a passionate love of Nature. The lakes, the +woods, the mountain heights, inspired him with eloquent reveries that +burst into song; but he always saw Nature through the medium of human +passion and sympathy, which transfigured it. He was the faithful +interpreter of spiritual suffering, and the joy which is born thereof. +</p> +<p> +The genius of Schubert seems to have been directly formed for the +expression of subjective emotion in music. That his life should have +been simultaneous with the perfect literary unfolding of the old +<i>Volkslied</i> in the superb lyrics of Goethe, Heine, and their school, +is quite remarkable. Poe-try and song clasped hands on the same lofty +summits of genius. Liszt has given to our composer the title of <i>le +musicien le plus poétique</i>, which very well expresses his place in art. +</p> +<p> +In the song as created by Schubert and transmitted to his successors, +there are three forms, the first of which is that of the simple <i>Lied</i>, +with one unchanged melody. A good example of this is the setting of +Goethe's "Haideroslein," which is full of quaint grace and simplicity. +A second and more elaborate method is what the Germans call +"through-composed," in which all the different feelings are successively +embodied in the changes of the melody, the sense of unity being +preserved by the treatment of the accompaniment, or the recurrence of +the principal motive at the close of the song. Two admirable models of +this are found in the "Lindenbaum" and "Serenade." +</p> +<p> +The third and finest art-method, as applied by Schubert to lyric music, +is the "declamatory." In this form we detect the consummate flower of +the musical lyric. The vocal part is lifted into a species of passionate +chant, full of dramatic fire and color, while the accompaniment, which +is extremely elaborate, furnishes a most picturesque setting. The genius +of the composer displays itself here fully as much as in the vocal +treatment. When the lyric feeling rises to its climax it expresses +itself in the crowning melody, this high tide of the music and poetry +being always in unison. As masterpieces of this form may be cited "Die +Stadt" and "Der Erlkönig," which stand far beyond any other works of the +same nature in the literature of music. +</p> +<center> +IV. +</center> +<p> +Robert Schumann, the loving critic, admirer, and disciple of Schubert in +the province of song, was in most respects a man of far different +type. The son of a man of wealth and position, his mind and tastes were +cultivated from early youth with the utmost care. Schumann is known +in Germany no less as a philosophical thinker and critic than as +a composer. As the editor of the <i>Neue Zeitschrift für Musik</i>, he +exercised a powerful influence over contemporary thought in art-matters, +and established himself both as a keen and incisive thinker and as a +master of literary style. Schumann was at first intended for the law, +but his unconquerable taste for music asserted itself in spite of family +opposition. His acquaintance with the celebrated teacher Wieck, whose +gifted daughter Clara afterward became his wife, finally established +his career; for it was through Wieck's advice that the Schumann family +yielded their opposition to the young man's bent. +</p> +<p> +Once settled in his new career, Schumann gave himself up to work with +the most indefatigable ardor. The early part of the present century was +a halcyon time for the <i>virtuosi</i>, and the fame and wealth that poured +themselves on such players as Paganini and Liszt made such a pursuit +tempting in the extreme. Fortunately, the young musician was saved from +such a career. In his zeal of practice and desire to attain a perfectly +independent action for each finger on the piano, Schumann devised some +machinery, the result of which was to weaken the sinews of his third +finger by undue distention. By this he lost the effective use of the +whole right hand, and of course his career as a <i>virtuoso</i> practically +closed. +</p> +<p> +Music gained in its higher walks what it lost in a lower. Schumann +devoted himself to composition and aesthetic criticism, after he had +passed through a thorough course of preparatory studies. Both as a +writer and a composer Schumann fought against Philistinism in music. +Ardent, progressive, and imaginative, he soon became the leader of the +romantic school, and inaugurated the crusade which had its parallel in +France in that carried on by Victor Hugo in the domain of poetry. His +early pianoforte compositions bear the strong impress of this fiery, +revolutionary spirit. I lis great symphonic works belong to a later +period, when his whole nature had mellowed and ripened without losing +its imaginative sweep and brilliancy. Schumann's compositions for the +piano and orchestra are those by which his name is most widely honored, +but nowhere do we find a more characteristic exercise of his genius than +in his songs, to which this article will call more special attention. +</p> +<p> +Such works as the "Etudes Symphoniques" and the "Kreisleriana" express +much of the spirit of unrest and longing aspiration, the struggle to +get away from prison-bars and limits, which seem to have sounded the +key-note of Schumann's deepest nature. But these feelings could only +find their fullest outlet in the musical form expressly suited to +subjective emotion. Accordingly, the "Sturm and Drang" epoch of his +life, when all his thoughts and conceptions were most unsettled and +visionary, was most fruitful in lyric song. In Heinrich Heine he found +a fitting poetical co-worker, in whose moods he seemed to see a perfect +reflection of his own—Heine, in whom the bitterest irony was wedded to +the deepest pathos, "the spoiled favorite of the Graces," "the knight +with the laughing tear in his scutcheon"—Heine, whose songs are +charged with the brightest light and deepest gloom of the human heart. +</p> +<p> +Schumann's songs never impress us as being deliberate attempts at +creative effort, consciously selected forms through which to express +thoughts struggling for speech. They are rather involuntary experiments +to relieve one's self of some wo-ful burden, medicine for the soul. +Schumann is never distinctively the lyric composer; his imagination had +too broad and majestic a wing. But in those moods, peculiar to genius, +where the soul is flung back on itself with a sense of impotence, our +composer instinctively burst into song. He did not in the least advance +or change its artistic form, as fixed by Schubert. This, indeed, would +have been irreconcilable with his use of the song as a simple medium of +personal feeling, an outlet and safeguard. +</p> +<p> +The peculiar place of Schumann as a songwriter is indicated by his being +called the musical exponent of Heine, who seems to be the other half of +his soul. The composer enters into each shade and detail of the poet's +meaning with an intensity and fidelity which one can never cease +admiring. It is this phase which gives the Schumann songs their great +artistic value. In their clean-cut, abrupt, epigrammatic force there is +something different from the work of any other musical lyrist. So much +has this impressed the students of the composer that more than one +able critic has ventured to prophesy that Schumann's greatest claim to +immortality would yet be found in such works as the settings of "Ich +grolle nicht" and the "Dichterliebe" series—a perverted estimate, +perhaps, but with a large substratum of truth. The duration of +Schumann's song-time was short, the greater part of his <i>Lieder</i> +having been written in 1840. After this he gave himself up to oratorio, +symphony, and chamber-music. +</p> +<center> +V. +</center> +<p> +Among the contemporary masters of the musical lyric, the most shining +name is that of Robert Franz, a marked individuality, and, though +indirectly moulded by the influence of Schubert and Schumann, a creative +mind of a striking type. +</p> +<p> +The art-impulse, strikingly characteristic of Franz as a song composer, +or, perhaps, to express it more accurately, the art-limitation, is that +the musical inspiration is directly dependent on the poetic strength of +the <i>Lied</i>. He would be utterly at a loss to treat a poem which lacked +beauty and force. With but little command over absolute music, that flow +of melody which pours from some natures like a perennial spring, the +poetry of word is necessary to evoke poetry of tone. +</p> +<p> +Robert Franz, like Schumann, was embarrassed in his youth by the bitter +opposition of his family to his adoption of music, and, like the great +apostle of romantic music, his steady perseverance wore it out. He made +himself a severe student of the great masters, and rapidly acquired a +deep knowledge of the mysteries of harmony and counterpoint. There are +no songs with such intricate and difficult accompaniments, though always +vital to the lyrical motive, as those of Robert Franz. For a long time, +even after he felt himself fully equipped, Franz refrained from artistic +production, waiting till the processes of fermenting and clarifying +should end, in the mean while promising he would yet have a word to say +for himself. +</p> +<p> +With him, as with many other men of genius, the blow which broke the +seal of inspiration was an affair of the heart. He loved a beautiful and +accomplished woman, but loved unfortunately. The catastrophe ripened him +into artistic maturity, and the very first effort of his lyric power was +marked by surprising symmetry and fullness of power. He wrote to give +overflow to his deep feelings, and the song came from his heart of +hearts. Robert Schumann, the generous critic, gave this first work an +enthusiastic welcome, and the young composer leaped into reputation at a +bound. Of the four hundred or more songs written by Robert Franz, there +are perhaps fifty which rank as masterpieces. His life has passed +devoid of incident, though rich in spiritual insight and passion, as +his <i>Lieder</i> unmistakably show. Though the instrumental setting of this +composer's songs is so elaborate and beautiful oftentimes, we frequently +find him at his best in treating words full of the simplicity and +<i>naïvete</i> of the old <i>Volkslied</i>. Many of his songs are set to the poems +of Robert Burns, one of the few British poets who have been able to give +their works the subtile singing quality which comes not merely of the +rhythm but of the feeling of the verse. Heine also furnished him with +the themes of many of his finest songs, for this poet has been an +inexhaustible treasure-trove to the modern lyric composer. One of the +most striking features of Franz as a composer is found in the delicate +light and shade, introduced into the songs by the simplest means, which +none but the man of genius would think of; for it is the great artist +who attains his ends through the simplest effects. +</p> +<p> +While the same atmosphere of thought and feeling is felt in the +spiritual life of Robert Franz which colored the artistic being of +Schubert and Schumann, there is a certain repose and balance all +his own. We get the idea of one never carried away by his genius, or +delivering passionate utterances from the Delphic tripod, but the +master of all his powers, the conscious and skillful ruler of his own +inspirations. If the sense of spontaneous freshness is sometimes lost, +perhaps there is a gain in breadth and finish. If Schubert has unequaled +melody and dramatic force, Schumann drastic and pointed intensity, +Robert Franz deserves the palm for the finish and symmetry of his work. +</p> +<p> +Of the great song composers, Franz Schubert is the unquestioned master. +To him the modern artistic song owes its birth, and, as in the myth of +Pallas, we find birth and maturity simultaneous. It bloomed at once into +perfect flower, and the wrorld will probably never see any essential +advances in it. It is this form of music which appeals most widely to +the human heart, to old and young, high and low, learned and ignorant. +It has "the one touch of Nature which makes the whole world kin." Even +the mind not attuned to sympathy with the more elaborate forms of music +is soothed and delighted by it; for— +</p> +<pre> + "It is old and plain; + The spinsters and the knitters in the sun, + And the free maids that weave their thread with bones, + Do use to chant it; it is silly sooth, + And dallies with the innocence of love + Like the old age." +</pre> +<a name="2H_4_0009"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHOPIN. +</h2> +<center> +I. +</center> +<p> +Never has Paris, the Mecca of European art, genius, and culture, +presented a more brilliant social spectacle than it did in 1832. Hither +ward came pilgrims from all countries, poets, painters, and musicians, +anxious to breathe the inspiring air of the French capital, where +society laid its warmest homage at the feet of the artist. Here came, +too, in dazzling crowds, the rich nobles and the beautiful women of +Europe to find the pleasure, the freedom, the joyous unrestraint, with +which Paris offers its banquet of sensuous and intellectual delights +to the hungry epicure. Then as now the queen of the art-world, Paris +absorbed and assimilated to herself the most brilliant influences in +civilization. +</p> +<p> +In all of brilliant Paris there was no more charming and gifted circle +than that which gathered around the young Polish pianist and composer, +Chopin, then a recent arrival in the gay city. His peculiarly original +genius, his weird and poetic style of playing, which transported his +hearers into a mystic fairy-land of sunlight and shadow, his strangely +delicate beauty, the alternating reticence and enthusiasm of his +manners, made him the idol of the clever men and women, who courted the +society of the shy and sensitive musician; for to them he was a fresh +revelation. Dr. Franz Liszt gives the world some charming pictures of +this art-coterie, which was wont often to assemble at Chopin's rooms in +the Chaussée d'Antin. +</p> +<p> +His room, taken by surprise, is all in darkness except the luminous ring +thrown off by the candles on the piano, and the flashes flickering from +the fireplace. The guests gather around informally as the piano sighs, +moans, murmurs, or dreams under the fingers of the player. Hein-rich +Heine, the most poetic of humorists, leans on the instrument, and asks, +as he listens to the music and watches the firelight, "if the roses +always glowed with a flame so triumphant? if the trees at moonlight sang +always so harmoniously?" Meyerbeer, one of the musical giants, sits near +at hand lost in reverie; for he forgets his own great harmonies, forged +with hammer of Cyclops, listening to the dreamy passion and poetry woven +into such quaint fabrics of sound. +</p> +<p> +Adolphe Nourrit, passionate and ascetic, with the spirit of some +mediaeval monastic painter, an enthusiastic servant of art in its +purest, severest form, a combination of poet and anchorite, is also +there; for he loves the gentle musician, who seems to be a visitor from +the world of spirits. Eugène Delacroix, one of the greatest of modern +painters, his keen eyes half closed in meditation, absorbs the vague +mystery of color which imagination translates from the harmony, +and attains new insight and inspiration through the bright links of +suggestion by which one art lends itself to another. The two great +Polish poets, Nierncewicz and Mickiewicz (the latter the Dante of the +Slavic race), exiles from their unhappy land, feed their sombre sorrow, +and find in the wild, Oriental rhythms of the player only melancholy +memories of the past. Perhaps Victor Hugo, Balzac, Lamartine, or the +aged Chateaubriand, also drop in by-and-by, to recognize, in the music, +echoes of the daring romanticism which they opposed to the classic and +formal pedantry of the time. +</p> +<p> +Buried in a fauteuil, with her arms resting upon a table, sits Mme. +George Sand (that name so tragically mixed with Chopin's life), +"curiously attentive, gracefully subdued." With the second sight of +genius, which pierces through the mask, she saw the sweetness, the +passion, the delicate emotional sensibility of Chopin; and her insatiate +nature must unravel and assimilate this new study in human enjoyment and +suffering. She had then just finished "Lelia," that strange and +powerful creation, in which she embodied all her hatred of the forms and +tyrannies of society, her craving for an impossible social ideal, her +tempestuous hopes and desires, in such startling types. Exhausted by the +struggle, she panted for the rest and luxury of a companionship in +which both brain and heart could find sympathy. She met Chopin, and she +recognized in the poetry of his temperament and the fire of his genius +what she desired. Her personality, electric, energetic, and imperious, +exercised the power of a magnet on the frail organization of Chopin, and +he loved once and forever, with a passion that consumed him; for in Mme. +Sand he found the blessing and curse of his life. This many-sided woman, +at this point of her development, found in the fragile Chopin one phase +of her nature which had never been expressed, and he was sacrificed +to the demands of an insatiable originality, which tried all things in +turn, to be contented with nothing but an ideal which could never be +attained. +</p> +<p> +About the time of Chopin's arrival in Paris the political effervescence +of the recent revolution had passed into art and letters. It was the +oft-repeated battle of Romanticism against Classicism. There could be no +truce between those who believed that everything must be fashioned after +old models, that Procrustes must settle the height and depth, the length +and breadth of art-forms, and those who, inspired with the new wine of +liberty and free creative thought, held that the rule of form should +always be the mere expression of the vital, flexible thought. The one +side argued that supreme perfection already reached left the artist hope +only in imitation; the other, that the immaterial beautiful could have +no fixed absolute form. Victor Hugo among the poets, Delacroix among the +painters, and Berlioz among the musicians, led the ranks of the romantic +school. +</p> +<p> +Chopin found himself strongly enlisted in this contest on the side of +the new school. His free, unconventional nature found in its teachings +a musical atmosphere true to the artistic and political proclivities of +his native Poland; for Chopin breathed the spirit and tendencies of his +people in every fibre of his soul, both as man and artist. Our +musician, however, in freeing himself from all servile formulas, sternly +repudiated the charlatanism which would replace old abuses with new +ones. +</p> +<p> +Chopin, in his views of his art, did not admit the least compromise +with those who failed earnestly to represent progress, nor, on the other +hand, with those who sought to make their art a mere profitable +trade. With him, as with all the great musicians, his art was a +religion—something so sacred that it must be approached with unsullied +heart and hand. This reverential feeling was shown in the following +touching fact: It was a Polish custom to choose the garments in which +one would be buried. Chopin, though among the first of contemporary +artists, gave fewer concerts than any other; but, notwithstanding this, +he left directions to be borne to the grave in the clothes he had worn +on such occasions. +</p> +<center> +II. +</center> +<p> +Frederick Francis Chopin was born near Warsaw, in 1810, of French +extraction. He learned music at the age of nine from Ziwny, a pupil of +Sebastian Bach, but does not seem to have impressed any one with his +remarkable talent except Madame Catalani, the great singer, who gave +him a watch. Through the kindness of Prince Radziwill, an enthusiastic +patron of art, he was sent to Warsaw College, where his genius began to +unfold itself. He afterward became a pupil of the Warsaw Conservatory, +and acquired there a splendid mastery over the science of music. His +labor was prodigious in spite of his frail health; and his knowledge of +contrapuntal forms was such as to exact the highest encomiums from his +instructors. +</p> +<p> +Through his brother pupils he was introduced to the highest Polish +society, for his fellows bore some of the proudest names in Poland. +Chopin seems to have absorbed the peculiarly romantic spirit of his +race, the wild, imaginative melancholy, which, almost gloomy in the +Polish peasant, when united to grace and culture in the Polish noble, +offered an indescribable social charm. Balzac sketches the Polish woman +in these picturesque antitheses: "Angel through love, demon through +fantasy; child through faith, sage through experience; man through +the brain, woman through the heart; giant through hope, mother through +sorrow; and poet through dreams." The Polish gentleman was chivalrous, +daring, and passionate; the heir of the most gifted and brilliant of the +Slavic races, with a proud heritage of memory which gave his bearing +an indescribable dignity, though the son of a fallen nation. Ardently +devoted to pleasure, the Poles embodied in their national dances wild +and inspiring rhythms, a glowing poetry of sentiment as well as motion, +which mingled with their Bacchanal fire a chaste and lofty meaning that +became at times funereal. Polish society at this epoch pulsated with an +originality, an imagination, and a romance, which transfigured even the +common things of life. +</p> +<p> +It was amid such an atmosphere that Chopin's early musical career was +spent, and his genius received its lasting impress. One afternoon in +after-years he was playing to one of the most distinguished women in +Paris, and she said that his music suggested to her those gardens in +Turkey where bright parterres of flowers and shady bowers were strewed +with gravestones and burial mounds. +</p> +<p> +This underlying depth of melancholy Chopin's music expresses most +eloquently, and it may be called the perfect artistic outcome of his +people; for in his sweetest tissues of sound the imagination can detect +agitation, rancor, revolt, and menace, sometimes despair. Chateaubriand +dreamed of an Eve innocent, yet fallen; ignorant of all, yet knowing +all; mistress, yet virgin. He found this in a Polish girl of seventeen, +whom he paints as a "mixture of Odalisque and Valkyr." The romantic +and fanciful passion of the Poles, bold, yet unworldly, is shown in the +habit of drinking the health of a sweetheart from her own shoe. +</p> +<p> +Chopin, intensely spiritual by temperament and fragile in health, born +an enthusiast, was colored through and through with the rich dyes of +Oriental passion; but with these were mingled the fantastic and ideal +elements which, +</p> +<p> +"Wrapped in sense, yet dreamed of heavenlier joys." +</p> +<p> +And so he went to Paris, the city of his fate, ripe for the tragedy of +his life. After the revolution of 1830, he started to go to London, and, +as he said, "passed through Paris." Yet Paris he did not leave till he +left it with Mme. Sand to live a brief dream of joy in the beautiful +isle of Majorca. +</p> +<center> +III. +</center> +<p> +Liszt describes Chopin in these words: "His blue eyes were more +spiritual than dreamy; his bland smile never writhed into bitterness. +The transparent delicacy of his complexion pleased the eye; his fair +hair was soft and silky; his nose slightly aquiline; his bearing so +distinguished, and his manners stamped with such high breeding, that +involuntarily he was always treated <i>en prince</i>. His gestures were many +and graceful; the tones of his voice veiled, often stifled. His stature +was low, his limbs were slight." Again, Mme. Sand paints him even more +characteristically in her novel "Lucrezia Floriani:" "Gentle, sensitive, +and very lovely, he united the charm of adolescence with the suavity of +a more mature age; through the want of muscular development he retained +a peculiar beauty, an exceptional physiognomy, which, if we may venture +so to speak, belonged to neither age nor sex.... It was more like the +ideal creations with which the poetry of the middle ages adorned +the Christian temples. The delicacy of his constitution rendered him +interesting in the eyes of women. The full yet graceful cultivation of +his mind, the sweet and captivating originality of his conversation, +gained for him the attention of the most enlightened men; while those +less highly cultivated liked him for the exquisite courtesy of his +manners." +</p> +<p> +All this reminds us of Shelley's dream of Hermaphroditus, or perhaps of +Shelley himself, for Chopin was the Shelley of music. +</p> +<p> +His life in Paris was quiet and retired. The most brilliant and +beautiful women desired to be his pupils, but Chopin refused except +where he recognized in the petitioners exceptional earnestness and +musical talent. He gave but few concerts, for his genius could not cope +with great masses of people. He said to Liszt: "I am not suited for +concert-giving. The public intimidate me, their breath stifles me. You +are destined for it; for when you do not gain your public, you have the +force to assault, to overwhelm, to compel them." It was his delight to +play to a few chosen friends, and to evoke for them such dreams from the +ivory gate, which Virgil fabled to be the portal of Elysium, as to make +his music +</p> +<pre> + "The silver key of the fountain of tears, + Where the spirit drinks till the brain is wild: + Softest grave of a thousand fears, + Where their mother, Care, like a weary child, + Is laid asleep in a hed of flowers." +</pre> +<p> +He avoided general society, finding in the great artists and those +sympathetic with art his congenial companions. His life was given up to +producing those unique compositions which make him, <i>par excellence</i>, +the king of the pianoforte. He was recognized by Liszt, Kalkbrenner, Pie +y el, Field, and Meyerbeer, as being the most wonderful of players; yet +he seemed to disdain such a reputation as a cheap notoriety, ceasing +to appear in public after the first few concerts, which produced much +excitement and would have intoxicated most performers. He sought largely +the society of the Polish exiles, men and women of the highest rank who +had thronged to Paris. +</p> +<p> +His sister Louise, whom he dearly loved, frequently came to Paris from +Warsaw to see him; and he kept up a regular correspondence with his own +family. Yet he abhorred writing so much that he would go to any shifts +to avoid answering a note. Some of his beautiful countrywomen, however, +possess precious memorials in the shape of letters written in Polish, +which he loved much more than French. His thoughtfulness was continually +sending pleasant little gifts and souvenirs to his Warsaw friends. +This tenderness and consideration displayed itself too in his love of +children. He would spend whole evenings in playing blind-man's-buff or +telling them charming fairy-stories from the folk-lore in which Poland +is singularly rich. +</p> +<p> +Always gentle, he yet knew how to rebuke arrogance, and had sharp +repartees for those who tried to force him into musical display. On one +occasion, when he had just left the dining-room, an indiscreet host, who +had had the simplicity to promise his guests some piece executed by him +as a rare dessert, pointed him to an open piano. Chopin quietly refused, +but on being pressed said, with a languid and sneering drawl: "Ah, sir, +I have just dined; your hospitality, I see, demands payment." +</p> +<center> +IV. +</center> +<p> +Mme. Sand, in her "Lettres d'un Voyageur," depicts the painful lethargy +which seizes the artist when, having incorporated the emotion which +inspired him in his work, his imagination still remains under the +dominance of the insatiate idea, without being able to find a new +incarnation. She was suffering in this way when the character of Chopin +excited her curiosity and suggested a healthful and happy relief. Chopin +dreaded to meet this modern Sibyl. The superstitious awe he felt was a +premonition whose meaning was hidden from him. They met, and Chopin lost +his fear in one of those passions which feed on the whole being with a +ceaseless hunger. +</p> +<p> +In the fall of 1837 Chopin yielded to a severe attack of the disease +which was hereditary in his frame. In company with Mme. Sand, who had +become his constant companion, he went to the isle of Majorca, to find +rest and medicine in the balmy breezes of the Mediterranean. All the +happiness of Chopin's life was gathered in the focus of this experience. +He had a most loving and devoted nurse, who yielded to all his whims, +soothed his fretfulness, and watched over him as a mother does over +a child. The grounds of the villa where they lived were as perfect as +Nature and art could make them, and exquisite scenes greeted the eye at +every turn. Here they spent long golden days. +</p> +<p> +The feelings of Chopin for his gifted companion are best painted +by herself in the pages of "Lucrezia Floriani," where she is the +"Floriani," Liszt "Count Salvator Albani," and Chopin "Prince Karol:" +"It seemed as if this fragile being was absorbed and consumed by the +strength of his affection.... But he loved for the sake of loving.... +His love was his life, and, delicious or bitter, he had not the power +of withdrawing himself a single moment from its domination." Slowly she +nursed him back into temporary health, and in the sunlight of her love +his mind assumed a gayety and cheerfulness it had never known before. +</p> +<p> +It had been the passionate hope of Chopin to marry Mme. Sand, but +wedlock was alien alike to her philosophy and preference. After a +protracted intimacy, she wearied of his persistent entreaties, or +perhaps her self-development had exhausted what it sought in the +poet-musician. An absolute separation came, and his mistress buried +the episode in her life with the epitaph: "Two natures, one rich in its +exuberance, the other in its exclusiveness, could never really mingle, +and a whole world separated them." Chopin said: "All the cords that bind +me to life are broken." His sad summary of all was that his life had +been an episode which began and ended in Paris. What a contrast to the +being of a few years before, of whom it is written: "He was no longer +on the earth; he was in an empyrean of golden clouds and perfumes; his +imagination, so full of exquisite beauty, seemed engaged in a monologue +with God himself!"* +</p> +<pre> + * "Lucrezia Floriani." +</pre> +<p> +Both Liszt and Mme. Dudevant have painted Chopin somewhat as a sickly +sentimentalist, living in an atmosphere of moonshine and unreality. +Yet this was not precisely true. In spite of his delicacy of frame and +romantic imagination, Chopin was never ill till within the last ten +years of his life, when the seeds of hereditary consumption developed +themselves. As a young man he was lively and joyous, always ready +for frolic, and with a great fund of humor, especially in caricature. +Students of human character know how consistent these traits are with +a deep undercurrent of melancholy, which colors the whole life when the +immediate impulse of joy subsides. +</p> +<p> +From the date of 1840 Chopin's health declined; but through the +seven years during which his connection with Mme. Sand continued, he +persevered actively in his work of composition. The final rupture with +the woman he so madly loved seems to have been his death-blow. He spoke +of Mme. Sand without bitterness, but his soul pined in the bitter-sweet +of memory. He recovered partially, and spent a short season of +concert-giving in London, where he was feted and caressed by the best +society as he had been in Paris. Again he was sharply assailed by his +fatal malady, and he returned to Paris to die. Let us describe one of +his last earthly experiences, on Sunday, the 15th of October, 1849. +</p> +<p> +Chopin had lain insensible from one of his swooning attacks for some +time. His sister Louise was by his side, and the Countess Delphine +Potocka, his beautiful countrywoman and a most devoted friend, watched +him with streaming eyes. The dying musician became conscious, and +faintly ordered a piano to be rolled in from the adjoining room. He +turned to the countess, and whispered, feebly, "Sing." She had a lovely +voice, and, gathering herself for the effort, she sang that famous +canticle to the Virgin which, tradition says, saved Stradella's life +from assassins. "How beautiful it is!" he exclaimed. "My God! how very +beautiful!" Again she sang to him, and the dying musician passed into +a trance, from which he never fully aroused till he expired, two days +afterward, in the arms of his pupil, M. Gutman. +</p> +<p> +Chopin's obsequies took place at the Madeleine Church, and Lablache sang +on this occasion the same passage, the "Tuba Mirum" of Mozart's Requiem +Mass, which he had sung at the funeral of Beethoven in 1827; while the +other solos were given by Mme. Viardot Garcia and Mme. Castellan. He +lies in Père Lachaise, beside Cherubini and Bellini. +</p> +<center> +V. +</center> +<p> +The compositions of Chopin were exclusively for the piano; and alike as +composer and virtuoso he is the founder of a new school, or perhaps +may be said to share that honor with Robert Schumann—the school which +to-day is represented in its advanced form by Liszt and Von Billow. +Schumann called him "the boldest and proudest poetic spirit of +the times." In addition to this remarkable poetic power, he was a +splendidly-trained musician, a great adept in style, and one of the most +original masters of rhythm and harmony that the records of music show. +All his works, though wanting in breadth and robustness of tone, are +characterized by the utmost finish and refinement. Full of delicate and +unexpected beauties, elaborated with the finest touch, his effects are +so quaint and fresh as to fill the mind of the listener with pleasurable +sensations, perhaps not to be derived from grander works. +</p> +<p> +Chopin was essentially the musical exponent of his nation; for he +breathed in all the forms of his art the sensibilities, the fires, the +aspirations, and the melancholy of the Polish race. This is not only +evident in his polonaises, his waltzes and mazurkas, in which the wild +Oriental rhythms of the original dances are treated with the creative +skill of genius; but also in the <i>études</i>, the preludes, nocturnes, +scherzos, ballads, etc., with which he so enriched musical literature. +His genius could never confine itself within classic bonds, but, +fantastic and impulsive, swayed and bent itself with easy grace to +inspirations that were always novel and startling, though his boldness +was chastened by deep study and fine art-sense. +</p> +<p> +All of the suggestions of the quaint and beautiful Polish dance-music +were worked by Chopin into a variety of forms, and were greatly enriched +by his skill in handling. He dreamed out his early reminiscences in +music, and these national memories became embalmed in the history of +art. The polonaises are marked by the fire and ardor of his soldier +race, and the mazurkas are full of the coquetry and tenderness of his +countrywomen; while the ballads are a free and powerful rendering of +Polish folk-music, beloved alike in the herdsman's hut and the palace of +the noble. In deriving his inspiration direct from the national heart, +Chopin did what Schumann, Schubert, and Weber did in Germany, what +Rossini did in Italy, and shares with them a freshness of melodic power +to be derived from no other source. Rather tender and elegiac than +vigorous, the deep sadness underlying the most sparkling forms of his +work is most notable. One can at times almost recognize the requiem of +a nation in the passionate melancholy on whose dark background his fancy +weaves such beautiful figures and colors. +</p> +<p> +Franz Liszt, in characterizing Chopin as a composer, furnishes an +admirable study: "We meet with beauties of a high order, expressions +entirely new, and a harmonic tissue as original as erudite. In his +compositions boldness is always justified; richness, often exuberance, +never interferes with clearness; singularity never degenerates into the +uncouth and fantastic; the sculpturing is never disordered; the luxury +of ornament never overloads the chaste eloquence of the principal lines. +His best works abound in combinations which may be said to be an epoch +in the handling of musical style. Daring, brilliant, and attractive, +they disguise their profundity under so much grace, their science +under so many charms, that it is with difficulty we free ourselves +sufficiently from their magical inthrallment, to judge coldly of their +theoretical value." +</p> +<p> +As a romance composer Chopin struck out his own path, and has no +rival. Full of originality, his works display the utmost dignity and +refinement. He revolted from the bizarre and eccentric, though the +peculiar influences which governed his development might well have +betrayed one less finely organized. +</p> +<p> +As a musical poet, embodying the feelings and tendencies of a people, +Chopin advances his chief claim to his place in art. He did not task +himself to be a national musician; for he is utterly without pretense +and affectation, and sings spontaneously without design or choice, from +the fullness of a rich nature. He collected "in luminous sheaves the +impressions felt everywhere through his country—vaguely felt, it is +true, yet in fragments pervading all hearts." +</p> +<p> +Chopin was repelled by the lusty and almost coarse humor sometimes +displayed by Schubert, for he was painfully fastidious. He could not +fully understand nor appreciate Beethoven, whose works are full of +lion-marrow, robust and masculine alike in conception and treatment. He +did not admire Shakespeare, because his great delineations are too vivid +and realistic. Our musician was essentially a dreamer and idealist. His +range was limited, but within it he reached perfection of finish +and originality never surpassed. But, with all his limitations, the +art-judgment of the world places him high among those +</p> +<pre> + ".... whom Art's service pure + Hallows and claims, whose hearts are made her throne, + "Whose lips her oracle, ordained secure + To lead a priestly life and feed the ray + Of her eternal shrine; to them alone + Her glorious countenance unveiled is shown." +</pre> +<a name="2H_4_0010"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + WEBER. +</h2> +<center> +I. +</center> +<p> +The genius which inspired the three great works, "Der Freischutz," +"Euryanthe," and "Oberon," has stamped itself as one of the most +original and characteristic in German music. Full of bold and surprising +strokes of imagination, these operas are marked by the true atmosphere +of national life and feeling, and Ave feel in them the fresh, rich color +of the popular traditions, and song-music which make the German <i>Lieder</i> +such an inexhaustible treasure-trove. As Weber was maturing into that +fullness of power which gave to the world his greater works, Germany had +been wrought into a passionate patriotism by the Napoleonic wars. The +call to arms resounded from one end of the Fatherland to the other. +Every hamlet thrilled with fervor, and all the resources of national +tradition were evoked to heighten the love of country into a puissance +which should save the land. Germany had been humiliated by a series of +crushing defeats, and national pride was stung to vindicate the +grand old memories. France, in answer to a similar demand for some +art-expression of its patriotism, had produced its Rouget de-Lisle; +Germany produced the poet Korner and the musician Weber. +</p> +<p> +It is not easy to appreciate the true quality and significance of +Weber's art-life without considering the peculiar state of Germany at +the time; for if ever creative imagination was forged and fashioned by +its environments into a logical expression of public needs and impulses, +it was in the case of the father of German romantic opera. This +inspiration permeated the whole soil of national thought, and its +embodiment in art and letters has hardly any parallel except in that +brilliant morning of English thought which we know as the Elizabethan +era. To understand Weber the composer, then, we must think of him not +only as the musician, but as the patriot and revivalist of ancient +tendencies in art, drawn directly from the warm heart of the people. +</p> +<p> +Karl Maria von Weber was born at Eutin, in Holstein, December 18, 1786. +His father had been a soldier, but, owing to extravagance and folly, had +left the career of arms, and, being an educated musician, had become by +turns attached to an orchestra, director of a theatre, Kapellmeister, +and wandering player—never remaining long in one position, for he was +essentially vagrant and desultory in character. Whatever Karl Maria had +to suffer from his father's folly and eccentricity, he was indebted to +him for an excellent training in the art of which he was to become +so brilliant an ornament. He had excellent masters in singing and the +piano, as also in drawing and engraving. So he grew up a melancholy, +imaginative, recluse, absorbed in his studies, and living in a +dream-land of his own, which he peopled with ideal creations. His +passionate love of Nature, tinged with old German superstition, planted +in his imagination those fruitful germs which bore such rich results in +after-years. +</p> +<p> +In 1797 Weber studied the piano and composition under Ilanschkel, a +thoroughly scientific musician, and found in his severe drill a happy +counter-balancing influence to the more desultory studies which had +preceded. Major Weber's restless tendencies did not permit his family +to remain long in one place. In 1798 they moved to Salzburg, where +young Weber was placed at the musical institute of which Michael Haydn, +brother of the great Joseph, was director. Here a variety of misfortunes +assailed the Weber family. Major Franz Anton was unsuccessful in all +his theatrical undertakings, and extreme poverty stared them all in the +face. The gentle mother, too, whom Karl so dearly loved, sickened and +died. This was a terrible blow to the affectionate boy, from which he +did not soon recover. +</p> +<p> +The next resting-place in the pilgrimage of the Weber family was Munich, +where Major Weber, who, however flagrant his shortcomings in other ways, +was resolved that the musical powers of his son should be thoroughly +trained, placed him under the care of the organist Kalcher for studies +in composition. +</p> +<p> +For several years, Karl was obliged to lead the same shifting, nomadic +sort of life, never stopping long, but dragged hither and thither in +obedience to his father's vagaries and necessities, but always studying +under the best masters who could be obtained. While under Kalcher, +several masses, sonatas, trios, and an opera, "Die Macht der Liebe und +des Weins" ("The Might of Love and Wine"), were written. Another opera, +"Das Waldmäd-chen" ("The Forest Maiden"), was composed and produced +when he was fourteen; and two years later in Salzburg he composed "Peter +Schmoll und seine Nachbarn," an operetta, which exacted warm praise from +Michael Haydn. +</p> +<p> +At the age of seventeen he became the pupil of the great teacher Abbé +Vogler, under whose charge also Meyerbeer was then studying. Our young +composer worked with great assiduity under the able instruction of +Vogier, who was of vast service in bringing the chaos of his previous +contradictory teachings into order and light. All these musical +<i>Wanderjahre</i>, however trying, had steeled Karl Maria into a stern +self-reliance, and he found in his skill as an engraver the means to +remedy his father's wastefulness and folly. +</p> +<center> +II. +</center> +<p> +A curious episode in Weber's life was his connection with the royal +family of Wurtemberg, where he found a dissolute, poverty-stricken +court, and a whimsical, arrogant, half-crazy king. Here he remained four +years in a half-official musical position, his nominal duty being that +of secretary to the king's brother, Prince Ludwig. This part of +his career was almost a sheer waste, full of dreary and irritating +experiences, which Weber afterward spoke of with disgust and regret. +His spirit revolted from the capricious tyranny which he was obliged to +undergo, but circumstances seem to have coerced him into a protracted +endurance of the place. His letters tell us how bitterly he detested the +king and his dull, pompous court, though Prince Ludwig in a way seemed +to have been attached to his secretary. One of his biographers says: +</p> +<p> +"Weber hated the king, of whose wild caprice and vices he witnessed +daily scenes, before whose palace-gates he was obliged to slink +bareheaded, and who treated him with unmerited ignominy. Sceptre and +crown had never been imposing objects in his eyes, unless worn by a +worthy man; and consequently he was wont, in the thoughtless levity +of youth, to forget the dangers he ran, and to answer the king with a +freedom of tone which the autocrat was all unused to hear. In turn he +was detested by the monarch. As negotiator for the spendthrift Prince +Ludwig, he was already obnoxious enough; and it sometimes happened that, +by way of variety to the customary torrent of invective, the king, after +keeping the secretary for hours in his antechamber, would receive him +only to turn him rudely out of the room, without hearing a word he had +to say." +</p> +<p> +At last Karl Maria's indignation burst over bounds at some unusual +indignity; and he played a practical joke on the king. Meeting an old +woman in the palace one day near the door of the royal sanctum, she +asked him where she could find the court-washerwoman. "There," said the +reckless Weber, pointing to the door of the king's cabinet. The +king, who hated old women, was in a transport of rage, and, on her +terror-stricken explanation of the intrusion, had no difficulty in +fixing the mischief in the right quarter. Weber was thrown into prison, +and had it not been for Prince Ludwig's intercession he would have +remained there for several years. While confined he managed to compose +one of his most beautiful songs, "Ein steter Kampf ist unser Leben." He +had not long been released when he was again imprisoned on account of +some of his father's wretched follies, that arrogant old gentleman being +utterly reckless how he involved others, so long as he carried out his +own selfish purposes and indulgence. His friend Danzi, director of the +royal opera at Stuttgart, proved his good genius in this instance; for +he wrangled with the king till his young friend was released. +</p> +<p> +Weber's only consolations during this dismal life in Stuttgart were the +friendship of Danzi, and his love for a beautiful singer named Gretchen. +Danzi was a true mentor and a devoted friend. He was wont to say to +Karl: "To be a true artist, you must be a true man." But the lovely +Gretchen, however she may have consoled his somewhat arid life, was not +a beneficial influence, for she led him into many sad extravagances and +an unwholesome taste for playing the cavalier. +</p> +<p> +In spite of his discouraging surroundings, Weber's creative power was +active during this period, and showed how, perhaps unconsciously to +himself, he was growing in power and depth of experience. He wrote the +cantata "Der erste Ton," a large number of songs, the first of his great +piano sonatas, several overtures and symphonies, and the opera "Sylvana" +("Das Waldmädchen" rewritten and enlarged), which, both in its music +and libretto, seems to have been the precursor of his great works "Der +Freischutz" and "Euryanthe." At the first performance of "Sylvana" in +Frankfort, September 16, 1810, he met Miss Caroline Brandt, who sang +the principal character. She afterward became his wife, and her love and +devotion were the solace of his life. +</p> +<p> +Weber spent most of the year 1810 in Darmstadt, where he again met +Vogler and Meyerbeer. Vogler's severe artistic instructions were of +great value to Weber in curbing his extravagance, and impressing on him +that restraint was one of the most valuable factors in art. What Vogler +thought of Weber we learn from a letter in which he writes: "Had I been +forced to leave the world before I found these two, Weber and Meyerbeer, +I should have died a miserable man." +</p> +<center> +III. +</center> +<p> +It was about this time, while visiting Mannheim, that the idea of "Der +Freischutz" first entered his mind. His friend the poet Kind was with +him, and they were ransacking an old book, Apel's "Ghost Stories." +One of these dealt with the ancient legend of the hunter Bartusch, a +woodland myth ranking high in German folk-lore. They were both delighted +with the fantastic and striking story, full of the warm coloring of +Nature, and the balmy atmosphere of the forest and mountain. They +immediately arranged the framework of the libretto, afterward written by +Kind, and set to such weird and enchanting music by Weber. +</p> +<p> +In 1811 Weber began to give concerts, for his reputation was becoming +known far and wide as a brilliant composer and virtuoso. For two years +he played a round of concerts in Munich, Leipsic, Gotha, Weimar, Berlin, +and other places. He was everywhere warmly welcomed. Lichten-stein, in +his "Memoir of Weber," writes of his Berlin reception: "Young artists +fell on their knees before him; others embraced him wherever they could +get at him. All crowded around him, till his head was crowned, not with +a chaplet of flowers, but a circlet of happy faces." The devotion of his +friends, his happy family relations, the success of his published works, +conspired to make Weber cheerful and joyous beyond his wont, for he was +naturally of a melancholy and serious turn, disposed to look at life +from its tragic side. +</p> +<p> +In 1813 he was called to Prague to direct the music of the German opera +in that Bohemian capital. The Bohemians had always been a highly musical +race, and their chief city is associated in the minds of the students of +music as the place where many of the great operas were first presented +to the public. Mozart loved Prague, for he found in its people the +audiences who appreciated and honored him the most. Its traditions were +honored in their treatment of Weber, for his three years there were +among the happiest of his life. +</p> +<p> +Our composer wrote his opera of "Der Freischütz" in Dresden. It was +first produced in the opera-house of that classic city, but it was +not till 1821, when it was performed in Berlin, that its greatness was +recognized. Weber can best tell the story of its reception himself. In +his letter to his co-author, Kind, he writes: +</p> +<p> +"The free-shooter has hit the mark. The second representation has +succeeded as well as the first; there was the same enthusiasm. All the +places in the house are taken for the third, which comes off to-morrow. +It is the greatest triumph one can have. You cannot imagine what a +lively interest your text inspires from beginning to end. How happy I +should have been if you had only been present to hear it for yourself! +Some of the scenes produced an effect which I was far from anticipating; +for example, that of the young girls. If I see you again at Dresden, I +will tell you all about it; for I cannot do it justice in writing. How +much I am indebted to you for your magnificent poem! I embrace you with +the sincerest emotion, returning to your muse the laurels I owe her. +God grant that you may be happy. Love him who loves you with infinite +respect. "Your Weber." +</p> +<p> +"Der Freischütz" was such a success as to place the composer in the +front ranks of the lyric stage. The striking originality, the fire, the +passion of his music, the ardent national feeling, and the freshness of +treatment, gave a genuine shock of delight and surprise to the German +world. +</p> +<center> +IV. +</center> +<p> +The opera of "Preciosa," also a masterpiece, was given shortly after +with great <i>eclat</i>, though it failed to inspire the deep enthusiasm +which greeted "Der Freischütz." In 1823, "Euryanthe" was produced in +Berlin—a work on which Weber exhausted all the treasures of his musical +genius. Without the elements of popular success which made his first +great opera such an immediate favorite, it shows the most finished and +scholarly work which Weber ever attained. Its symmetry and completeness, +the elaboration of all the forms, the richness and variety of the +orchestration, bear witness to the long and thoughtful labor expended +on it. It gradually won its way to popular recognition, and has always +remained one of the favorite works of the German stage. +</p> +<p> +The opera of "Oberon" was Weber's last great production. The celebrated +poet Wieland composed the poem underlying the libretto, from the +mediæval romance of Huon of Bordeaux. The scenes are laid in fairy-land, +and it may be almost called a German "Midsummer-Night's Dream," +though the story differs widely from the charming phantasy of our own +Shakespeare. The opera of "Oberon" was written for Kemble, of the Covent +Garden theatre, in London, and was produced by Weber under circumstances +of failing health and great mental depression. The composer pressed +every energy to the utmost to meet his engagement, and it was feared by +his friends that he would not live to see it put on the stage. It did, +indeed, prove the song of the dying swan, for he only lived four months +after reaching London. "Oberon" was performed with immense success under +the direction of Sir George Smart, and the fading days of the author +were cheered by the acclamations of the English public; but the work +cost him his life. He died in London, June 5,1826. His last words were: +"God reward you for all your kindness to me.—Now let me sleep." +</p> +<p> +Apart from his dramatic compositions, Weber is known for his many +beautiful overtures and symphonies for the orchestra, and his various +works for the piano, from sonatas to waltzes and minuets. Among his most +pleasing piano-works are the "Invitation to the Waltz," the "Perpetual +Rondo," and the "Polonaise in E major." Many of his songs rank among the +finest German lyrics. He would have been recognized as an able composer +had he not produced great operas; but the superior excellence of these +cast all his other compositions in the shade. +</p> +<p> +Weber was fortunate in having gifted poets to write his dramas. As rich +as he was in melodic affluence, his creative faculty seems to have had +its tap-root in deep personal feelings and enthusiasms. One of the +most poetic and picturesque of composers, he needed a powerful exterior +suggestion to give his genius wings and fire. The Germany of his time +was alive with patriotic ardor, and the existence of the nation gathered +from its emergencies new strength and force. The heart of Weber beat +strong with the popular life. Romantic and serious in his taste, his +imagination fed on old German tradition and song, and drew from them its +richest food. The whole life of the Fatherland, with its glow of +love for home, its keen sympathies with the influences of Nature, its +fantastic play of thought, its tendency to embody the primitive forces +in weird myths, found in Weber an eloquent exponent; and we perceive in +his music all the color and vividness of these influences. +</p> +<p> +Weber's love of Nature was singularly keen. The woods, the mountains, +the lakes, and the streams, spoke to his soul with voices full of +meaning. He excelled in making these voices speak and sing; and he may, +therefore, be entitled the father of the romantic and descriptive school +in German operatic music. With more breadth and robustness, he expressed +the national feelings of his people, even as Chopin did those of dying +Poland. Weber's motives are generally caught from the immemorial airs +which resound in every village and hamlet, and the fresh beat of the +German heart sends its thrill through almost every bar of his music. +Here is found the ultimate significance of his art-work, apart from the +mere musical beauty of his compositions. +</p> +<a name="2H_4_0011"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + MENDELSSOHN. +</h2> +<center> +I. +</center> +<p> +Few careers could present more startling contrasts than those of Mozart +and Mendelssohn, in many respects of similar genius, but utterly opposed +in the whole surroundings of their lives. Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy +was the grandson of the celebrated philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, and +the son of a rich Hamburg banker. His uncles were distinguished in +literary and social life. His friends from early childhood were eminent +scholars, poets, painters, and musicians, and his family moved in the +most refined and wealthy circles. He was nursed in the lap of luxury, +and never knew the cold and hunger of life. All the good fairies and +graces seemed to have smiled benignly on his birth, and to have showered +on him their richest gifts. Many successful wooers of the muse have +been, fortunately for themselves, the heirs of poverty, and became +successful only to yield themselves to fat and slothful ease. But, with +every incitement to an idle and contented life, Mendelssohn toiled like +a galley-slave, and saw in his wealth only the means of a more exclusive +consecration to his art. A passionate impulse to labor was the law of +his life. +</p> +<p> +Many will recollect the brilliant novel "Charles Auchester," in which, +under the names of Seraphael, Aronach, Charles Auchester, Julia Bennett, +and Starwood Burney, are painted the characters of Mendelssohn, Zelter +his teacher, Joachim the violinist, Jenny Lind, and Sterndale Bennett +the English composer. The brilliant coloring does not disguise nor +flatter the lofty Christian purity, the splendid genius, and the great +personal charm of the composer, who shares in largest measure the homage +which the English public lays at the feet of Handel. +</p> +<p> +As child and youth Mendelssohn, born at Hamburg, February 3, 1809, +displayed the same precocity of talent as was shown by Mozart. Sir +Julius Benedict relates his first meeting with him. He was walking in +Berlin with Von Weber, and the latter called his attention to a boy +about eleven years old, who, perceiving the author of "Der Freischütz," +gave him a hearty greeting. "'Tis Felix Mendelssohn," said Weber, +introducing the marvelous boy. Benedict narrates his amazement to find +the extraordinary attainments of this beautiful youth, with curling +auburn hair, brilliant clear eyes, and lips smiling with innocence and +candor. Five minutes after young Mendelssohn had astonished his English +friend by his admirable performance of several of his own compositions, +he forgot Weber, quartets, and counterpoint, to leap over the garden +hedges and climb the trees like a squirrel. When scarcely twenty years +old he had composed his octet, three quartets for the piano and strings, +two sonatas, two symphonies, his first violin quartet, various operas, +many songs, and the immortal overture of "A Midsummer-Night's Dream." +</p> +<p> +Mendelssohn received an admirable education, was an excellent classicist +and linguist, and during a short residence at Dusseldorf showed such +talent for painting as to excite much wonder. Before he was twenty he +was the friend of Goethe and Herder, who delighted in a genius so +rich and symmetrical. Some of Goethe's letters are full of charming +expressions of praise and affection, for the aged Jupiter of German +literature found in the promise of this young Apollo something of the +many-sided power which made himself so remarkable. +</p> +<center> +II. +</center> +<p> +The Mendelssohn family had moved to Berlin when Felix was only three +years old, and the Berliners always claimed him as their own. Strange +to say, the city of his birth did not recognize his talent for many +years. At the age of twenty he went to England, and the high breeding, +personal beauty, and charming manner of the young musician gave him +the <i>entrée</i> into the most fastidious and exclusive circles. His first +symphony and the "Midsummer-Night's Dream" overture stamped his power +with the verdict of a warm enthusiasm; for London, though cold and +conservative, is prompt to recognize a superior order of merit. +</p> +<p> +His travels through Scotland inspired Mendelssohn with sentiments +of great admiration. The scenery filled his mind with the highest +suggestions of beauty and grandeur. He afterward tells us that "he +preferred the cold sky and the pines of the north to charming scenes in +the midst of landscapes bathed in the glowing rays of the sun and azure +light." The vague Ossianic figures that raised their gigantic heads in +the fog-wreaths of clouded mountain-tops and lonely lochs had a peculiar +fascination for him, and acted like wine on his imagination. The +"Hebrides" overture was the fruit of this tour, one of the most powerful +and characteristic of his minor compositions. His sister Fanny (Mrs. +Hensel) asked him to describe the gray scenery of the north, and +he replied in music by improvising his impressions. This theme was +afterward worked out in the elaborate overture. +</p> +<p> +We will not follow him in his various travels through France and Italy. +Suffice it to say that his keen and passionate mind absorbed everything +in art which could feed the divine hunger, for he was ever discontented, +and had his mind fixed on an absolute and determined ideal. During this +time of travel he became intimate with the sculptor Thorwaldsen, and +the painters Leopold Robert and Horace Vernet. This period produced +"Walpurgis Night," the first of the "Songs without Words," the great +symphony in A major, and the "Melusine" overture. He is now about to +enter on the epoch which puts to the fullest test the varied resources +of his genius. To Moscheles he writes, in answer to his old teacher's +warm praise: "Your praise is better than three orders of nobility." For +several years we see him busy in multifarious ways, composing, leading +musical festivals, concert-giving, directing opera-houses, and +yet finding time to keep up a busy correspondence with the most +distinguished men in Europe; for Mendelssohn seemed to find in +letter-writing a rest for his overtaxed brain. +</p> +<p> +In 1835 he completed his great oratorio of "St. Paul," for Leipsic. The +next year he received the title of Doctor of Philosophy and the Fine +Arts; and in 1837 he married the charming Cécile Jean-renaud, who made +his domestic life so gentle and harmonious. It has been thought strange +that Mendelssohn should have made so little mention of his lovely wife +in his letters, so prone as he was to speak of affairs of his daily +life. Be this as it may, his correspondence with Moscheles, Devrient, +and others, as well as the general testimony of his friends, shows us +unmistakably that his home-life was blessed in an exceptional degree +with intellectual sympathy, and the tenderest, most thoughtful love. +</p> +<p> +In 1841 Mendelssohn became Kapellmeister of the Prussian court. He now +wrote the "Athalie" music, the "Midsummer-Night's Dream," and a large +number of lesser pieces, including the "Songs without Words," and piano +sonatas, as well as much church music. The greatest work of this +period was the "Hymn of Praise," a symphonic cantata for the Leipsic +anniversary of the invention of printing, regarded by many as his finest +composition. +</p> +<p> +Mendelssohn always loved England, and made frequent visits across the +Channel; for he felt that among the English he was fully appreciated, +both as man and composer. +</p> +<p> +His oratorio of "Elijah" was composed for the English public, and +produced at the great Birmingham festival in 1846, under his own +direction, with magnificent success. It was given a second time in +April, 1847, with his final refinements and revisions; and the event was +regarded in England as one of the greatest since the days of Handel, to +whom, as well as to Haydn and Beethoven, Mendelssohn showed himself +a worthy rival in the field of oratorio composition. Of this visit to +England Lampadius, his friend and biographer, writes: "Her Majesty, +who as well as her husband was a great friend of art, and herself a +distinguished musician, received the distinguished German in her own +sitting-room, Prince Albert being the only one present besides herself. +As he entered she asked his pardon for the somewhat disorderly state +of the room, and began to rearrange the articles with her own hands, +Mendelssohn himself gallantly offering his assistance. Some parrots +whose cages hung in the room she herself carried into the next room, in +which Mendelssohn helped her also. She then requested her guest to play +something, and afterward sang some songs of his which she had sung at +a court concert soon after the attack on her person. She was not wholly +pleased, however, with her own performance, and said pleasantly to +Mendelssohn: 'I can do better—ask Lablache if I cannot; but I am afraid +of you!'" +</p> +<p> +This anecdote was related by Mendelssohn himself to show the +graciousness of the English queen. It was at this time that Prince +Albert sent to Mendelssohn the book of the oratorio "Elijah" with +which he used to follow the performance, with the following autographic +inscription: +</p> +<p> +"To the noble artist, who, surrounded by the Baal worship of corrupted +art, has been able by his genius and science to preserve faithfully like +another Elijah the worship of true art, and once more to accustom our +ear, lost in the whirl of an empty play of sounds, to the pure notes of +expressive composition and legitimate harmony—to the great master, who +makes us conscious of the unity of his conception through the whole maze +of his creation, from the soft whispering to the mighty raging of +the elements: Written in token of grateful remembrance by Albert. +"Buckingham Palace, April 24, 1847." +</p> +<p> +An occurrence at the Birmingham festival throws a clear light +on Mendelssohn's presence of mind, and on his faculty of instant +concentration. On the last day, among other things, one of Handel's +anthems was given. The concert was already going on, when it was +discovered that the short recitative which precedes the "Coronation +Hymn," and which the public had in the printed text, was lacking in the +voice parts. The directors were perplexed. Mendelssohn, who was sitting +in an ante-room of the hall, heard of it, and said, "Wait, I will help +you." He sat down directly at a table, and composed the music for the +recitative and the orchestral accompaniment in about half an hour. It +was at once transcribed, and given without any rehearsal, and went very +finely. +</p> +<p> +On returning to Leipsic he determined to pass the summer in Vevay, +Switzerland, on account of his failing health, which had begun to alarm +himself and his friends. His letters from Switzerland at this period +show how the shadow of rapidly approaching death already threw a deep +gloom over his habitually cheerful nature. He returned to Leipsic, and +resumed hard work. His operetta entitled "Return from among Strangers" +was his last production, with the exception of some lively songs and a +few piano pieces of the "Lieder ohne Worte," or "Songs without Words," +series. Mendelssohn was seized with an apoplectic attack on October +9,1847. Second and third seizures quickly followed, and he died November +4th, aged thirty-eight years. +</p> +<p> +All Germany and Europe sorrowed over the loss of this great musician, +and his funeral was attended by many of the most distinguished persons +from all parts of the land, for the loss was felt to be something like a +national calamity. +</p> +<center> +III. +</center> +<p> +Mendelssohn was one of the most intelligent and scholarly composers of +the century. Learned in various branches of knowledge, and personally +a man of unusual accomplishments, his career was full of manly energy, +enlightened enthusiasm, and severe devotion to the highest forms of the +art of music. Not only his great oratorios, "St. Paul" and "Elijah," but +his music for the piano, including the "Songs without Words," sonatas, +and many occasional pieces, have won him a high place among his musical +brethren. As an orchestral composer, his overtures are filled with +strikingly original thoughts and elevated conceptions, expressed with +much delicacy of instrumental coloring. He was brought but little in +contact with the French and Italian schools, and there is found in his +works a severity of art-form which shows how closely he sympathized with +Bach and Handel in his musical tendencies. He died while at the very +zenith of his powers, and we may well believe that a longer life would +have developed much richer beauty in his compositions. Short as his +career was, however, he left a great number of magnificent works, which +entitle him to a place among the Titans of music. +</p> +<a name="2H_4_0012"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + RICHARD WAGNER. +</h2> +<center> +I. +</center> +<p> +It is curious to note how often art-controversy has become edged with +a bitterness rivaling even the gall and venom of religious dispute. +Scholars have not yet forgotten the fiery war of words which raged +between Richard Bentley and his opponents concerning the authenticity +of the "Epistles of Phalaris," nor how literary Germany was divided into +two hostile camps by Wolf's attack on the personality of Homer. It is +no less fresh in the minds of critics how that modern Jupiter, Lessing, +waged a long and bitter battle with the Titans of the French +classical drama, and finally crushed them with the thunderbolt of the +"Dramaturgie;" nor what acrimony sharpened the discussion between +the rival theorists in music, Gluck and Piccini, at Paris. All of the +intensity of these art-campaigns, and many of the conditions of +the last, enter into the contest between Richard Wagner and the +<i>Italianissimi</i> of the present day. +</p> +<p> +The exact points at issue were for a long time so befogged by the smoke +of the battle that many of the large class who are musically interested, +but never had an opportunity to study the question, will find an +advantage in a clear and comprehensive sketch of the facts and +principles involved. Until recently, there were still many people who +thought of Wagner as a youthful and eccentric enthusiast, all afire with +misdirected genius, a mere carpet-knight on the sublime battle-field +of art, a beginner just sowing his wild-oats in works like "Lohengrin," +"Tristan and Iseult," or the "Rheingold." It is a revelation full of +suggestive value for these to realize that he is a musical thinker, ripe +with sixty years of labor and experience; that he represents the rarest +and choicest fruits of modern culture, not only as musician, but as poet +and philosopher; that he is one of the few examples in the history of +the art where massive scholarship and the power of subtile analysis +have been united, in a preeminent degree, with great creative genius. +Preliminary to a study of what Wagner and his disciples entitle the +"Artwork of the Future," let us take a swift survey of music as a medium +of expression for the beautiful, and some of the forms which it has +assumed. +</p> +<p> +This Ariel of the fine arts sends its messages to the human soul by +virtue of a fourfold capacity: Firstly, the imitation of the voices +of Nature, such as the winds, the waves, and the cries of animals; +secondly, its potential delight as melody, modulation, rhythm, +harmony—in other words, its simple worth as a "thing of beauty," +without regard to cause or consequence; thirdly, its force of boundless +suggestion; fourthly, that affinity for union with the more definite +and exact forms of the imagination (poetry), by which the intellectual +context of the latter is raised to a far higher power of grace, beauty, +passion, sweetness, without losing individuality of outline—like, +indeed, the hazy aureole which painters set on the brow of the man +Jesus, to fix the seal of the ultimate Divinity. Though several or all +of these may be united in the same composition, each musical work may +be characterized in the main as descriptive, sensuous, suggestive, or +dramatic, according as either element contributes most largely to its +purpose. Simple melody or harmony appeals mostly to the sensuous love +of sweet sounds. The symphony does this in an enlarged and complicated +sense, but is still more marked by the marvelous suggestive energy +with which it unlocks all the secret raptures of fancy, floods the +border-lands of thought with a glory not to be found on sea or land, +and paints ravishing pictures, that come and go like dreams, with colors +drawn from the "twelve-tinted tone-spectrum." +</p> +<p> +Shelley describes this peculiar influence of music in his "Prometheus +Unbound," with exquisite beauty and truth: +</p> +<pre> + "My soul is an enchanted boat, + Which, like a sleeping swan, doth float + Upon the silver waves of thy sweet singing; + And thine doth like an angel sit + Beside the helm conducting it, + While all the waves with melody are ringing. + It seems to float ever, forever, + Upon that many-winding river, + Between mountains, woods, abysses, + A paradise of wildernesses." +</pre> +<p> +As the symphony best expresses the suggestive potency in music, the +operatic form incarnates its capacity of definite thought, and the +expression of that thought. The term "lyric," as applied to the genuine +operatic conception, is a misnomer. Under the accepted operatic form, +however, it has relative truth, as the main musical purpose of opera +seems, hitherto, to have been less to furnish expression for exalted +emotions and thoughts, or exquisite sentiments, than to grant the vocal +<i>virtuoso</i> opportunity to display phenomenal qualities of voice and +execution. But all opera, however it may stray from the fundamental +idea, suggests this dramatic element in music, just as mere lyricism +in the poetic art is the blossom from which is unfolded the full-blown +perfection of the word-drama, the highest form of all poetry. +</p> +<center> +II. +</center> +<p> +That music, by and of itself, cannot express the intellectual element in +the beautiful dream-images of art with precision, is a palpable truth. +Yet, by its imperial dominion over the sphere of emotion and sentiment, +the connection of the latter with complicated mental phenomena is +made to bring into the domain of tone vague and shifting fancies and +pictures. How much further music can be made to assimilate to the other +arts in directness of mental suggestion, by wedding to it the noblest +forms of poetry, and making each the complement of the other, is the +knotty problem which underlies the great art-controversy about which +this article concerns itself. On the one side we have the claim that +music is the all-sufficient law unto itself; that its appeal to +sympathy is through the intrinsic sweetness of harmony and tune, and the +intellect must be satisfied with what it may accidentally glean in +this harvest-field; that, in the rapture experienced in the sensuous +apperception of its beauty, lies the highest phase of art-sensibility. +Therefore, concludes the syllogism, it matters nothing as to the +character of the libretto or poem to whose words the music is arranged, +so long as the dramatic framework suffices as a support for the flowery +festoons of song, which drape its ugliness and beguile attention by the +fascinations of bloom and grace. On the other hand, the apostles of the +new musical philosophy insist that art is something more than a vehicle +for the mere sense of the beautiful, an exquisite provocation wherewith +to startle the sense of a selfish, epicurean pleasure; that its highest +function—to follow the idea of the Greek Plato, and the greatest of his +modern disciples, Schopenhauer—is to serve as the incarnation of the +true and the good; and, even as Goethe makes the Earth-Spirit sing in +"Faust"— +</p> +<pre> + "'Tis thus over at the loom of Time I ply, + And weave for God the garment thou seest him by"— +</pre> +<p> +so the highest art is that which best embodies the immortal thought of +the universe as reflected in the mirror of man's consciousness; that +music, as speaking the most spiritual language of any of the art-family, +is burdened with the most pressing responsibility as the interpreter +between the finite and the infinite; that all its forms must be measured +by the earnestness and success with which they teach and suggest what is +best in aspiration and truest in thought; that music, when wedded to the +highest form of poetry (the drama), produces the consummate art-result, +and sacrifices to some extent its power of suggestion, only to acquire +a greater glory and influence, that of investing definite intellectual +images with spiritual raiment, through which they shine on the supreme +altitudes of ideal thought; that to make this marriage perfect as an +art-form and fruitful in result, the two partners must come as equals, +neither one the drudge of the other; that in this organic fusion +music and poetry contribute, each its best, to emancipate art from its +thralldom to that which is merely trivial, commonplace, and accidental, +and make it a revelation of all that is most exalted in thought, +sentiment, and purpose. Such is the aesthetic theory of Richard Wagner's +art-work. +</p> +<center> +III. +</center> +<p> +It is suggestive to note that the earliest recognized function of music, +before it had learned to enslave itself to mere sensuous enjoyment, was +similar in spirit to that which its latest reformer demands for it in +the art of the future. The glory of its birth then shone on its brow. It +was the handmaid and minister of the religious instinct. The imagination +became afire with the mystery of life and Nature, and burst into the +flames and frenzies of rhythm. Poetry was born, but instantly sought the +wings of music for a higher flight than the mere word would permit. Even +the great epics of the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" were originally sung or +chanted by the Ilomerido, and the same essential union seems to have +been in some measure demanded afterward in the Greek drama, which, at +its best, was always inspired with the religious sentiment. There +is every reason to believe that the chorus of the drama ofÆschylus, +Sophocles, and Euripides uttered their comments on the action of the +play with such a prolongation and variety of pitch in the rhythmic +intervals as to constitute a sustained and melodic recitative. Music at +this time was an essential part of the drama. When the creative genius +of Greece had set toward its ebb, they were divorced, and music was only +set to lyric forms. Such remained the status of the art till, in the +Italian Renaissance, modern opera was born in the reunion of music and +the drama. Like the other arts, it assumed at the outset to be a mere +revival of antique traditions. The great poets of Italy had then passed +way, and it was left for music to fill the void. +</p> +<p> +The muse, Polyhymnia, soon emerged from the stage of childish +stammering. Guittone di Arezzo taught her to fix her thoughts in +indelible signs, and two centuries of training culminated in the +inspired composers, Orlando di Lasso and Pales-trina. Of the gradual +degradation of the operatic art as its forms became more elaborate and +fixed; of the arbitrary transfer of absolute musical forms like the +aria, duet, finale, etc., into the action of the opera without regard to +poetic propriety; of the growing tendency to treat the human voice like +any other instrument, merely to show its resources as an organ; of +the final utter bondage of the poet to the musician, till opera became +little more than a congeries of musico-gymnastic forms, wherein the +vocal soloists could display their art, it needs not to speak at length, +for some of these vices have not yet disappeared. In the language of +Dante's guide through the Inferno, at one stage of their wanderings, +when the sights were peculiarly mournful and desolate— +</p> +<pre> + "Non raggioniam da lor, ma guarda e passa." +</pre> +<p> +The loss of all poetic verity and earnestness in opera furnished the +great composer Gluck with the motive of the bitter and protracted +contest which he waged with varying success throughout Europe, though +principally in Paris. Gluck boldly affirmed, and carried out the +principle in his compositions, that the task of dramatic music was to +accompany the different phases of emotion in the text, and give them +their highest effect of spiritual intensity. The singer must be the +mouthpiece of the poet, and must take extreme care in giving the full +poetical burden of the song. Thus, the declamatory music became of +great importance, and Gluck's recitative reached an unequaled degree of +perfection. +</p> +<p> +The critics of Gluck's time hurled at him the same charges which are +familiar to us now as coming from the mouths and pens of the enemies of +Wagner's music. Yet Gluck, however conscious of the ideal unity between +music and poetry, never thought of bringing this about by a sacrifice +of any of the forms of his own peculiar art. His influence, however, was +very great, and the traditions of the great <i>maestro's</i> art have +been kept alive in the works of his no less great disciples, Méhul, +Cherubini, Spontini, and Meyerbeer. +</p> +<p> +Two other attempts to ingraft new and vital power on the rigid and +trivial sentimentality of the Italian forms of opera were those of +Rossini and Weber. The former was gifted with the greatest affluence +of pure melodiousness ever given to a composer. But even his sparkling +originality and freshness did little more than reproduce the old forms +under a more attractive guise. Weber, on the other hand, stood in the +van of a movement which had its fountain-head in the strong romantic and +national feeling, pervading the whole of society and literature. There +was a general revival of mediaeval and popular poetry, with its balmy +odor of the woods, and fields, and streams. Weber's melody was the +direct offspring of the tunefulness of the German <i>Volkslied</i>, and so +it expressed, with wonderful freshness and beauty, all the range +of passion and sentiment within the limits of this pure and simple +language. But the boundaries were far too narrow to build upon them the +ultimate union of music and poetry, which should express the perfect +harmony of the two arts. While it is true that all of the great German +composers protested, by their works, against the spirit and character +of the Italian school of music, Wagner claims that the first abrupt and +strongly-defined departure toward a radical reform in art is found in +Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with chorus. Speaking of this remarkable leap +from instrumental to vocal music in a professedly symphonic composition, +Wagner, in his "Essay on Beethoven," says: "We declare that the work of +art, which was formed and quickened entirely by that deed, must present +the most perfect artistic form, i.e., that form in which, as for the +drama, so also and especially for music, every conventionality would +be abolished." Beethoven is asserted to have founded the new musical +school, when he admitted, by his recourse to the vocal cantata in the +greatest of his symphonic works, that he no longer recognized absolute +music as sufficient unto itself. +</p> +<p> +In Bach and Handel, the great masters of fugue and counterpoint; in +Rossini, Mozart, and Weber, the consummate creators of melody—then, +according to this view, we only recognize thinkers in the realm of pure +music. In Beethoven, the greatest of them all, was laid the basis of the +new epoch of tone-poetry. In the immortal songs of Schubert, Schumann, +Mendelssohn, Liszt, and Franz, and the symphonies of the first four, +the vitality of the reformatory idea is richly illustrated. In the +music-drama of Wagner, it is claimed by his disciples, is found the full +flower and development of the art-work. +</p> +<p> +William Richard Wagner, the formal projector of the great changes whose +details are yet to be sketched, was born at Leipsic in 1813. As a child +he displayed no very marked artistic tastes, though his ear and memory +for music were quite remarkable. When admitted to the Kreuzschule of +Dresden, the young student, however, distinguished himself by his very +great talent for literary composition and the classical languages. To +this early culture, perhaps, we are indebted for the great poetic power +which has enabled him to compose the remarkable libretti which have +furnished the basis of his music. His first creative attempt was a +blood-thirsty drama, where forty-two characters are killed, and the few +survivors are haunted by the ghosts. Young Wagner soon devoted himself +to the study of music, and, in 1833, became a pupil of Theodor Weinlig, +a distinguished teacher of harmony and counterpoint. His four years of +study at this time were also years of activity in creative experiment, +as he composed four operas. +</p> +<p> +His first opera of note was "Rienzi," with which he went to Paris +in 1837. In spite of Meyerbeer's efforts in its favor, this work was +rejected, and laid aside for some years. Wagner supported himself by +musical criticism and other literary work, and soon was in a position +to offer another opera, "Der fliegende Hollander," to the authorities of +the Grand Opera-House. Again the directors refused the work, but were so +charmed with the beauty of the libretto that they bought it to be +reset to music. Until the year 1842, life was a trying struggle for the +indomitable young musician. "Rienzi" was then produced at Dresden, so +much to the delight of the King of Saxony that the composer was made +royal Kapellmeister and leader of the orchestra. The production of +"Der fliegende Hollander" quickly followed; next came "Tanhäuser" +and "Lohengrin," to be swiftly succeeded by the "Meistersinger von +Nürnberg." This period of our <i>maestro's</i> musical activity also +commenced to witness the development of his theories on the philosophy +of his art, and some of his most remarkable critical writings were then +given to the world. +</p> +<p> +Political troubles obliged Wagner to spend seven years of exile in +Zurich; thence he went to London, where he remained till 1861 as +conductor of the London Philharmonic Society. In 1861 the exile +returned to his native country, and spent several years in Germany and +Russia—there having arisen quite a <i>furore</i> for his music in the latter +country. The enthusiasm awakened in the breast of King Louis of Bavaria +by "Der fliegende Holländer" resulted in a summons to Wagner to settle +at Munich, and with the glories of the Royal Opera-House in that +city his name has since been principally connected. The culminating +art-splendor of his life, however, was the production of his stupendous +tetralogy, the "Ring der Nibelungen," at the great opera-house at +Baireuth, in the summer of the year 1876. +</p> +<center> +IV. +</center> +<p> +The first element to be noted in Wagner's operatic forms is the +energetic protest against the artificial and conventional in music. The +utter want of dramatic symmetry and fitness in the operas we have been +accustomed to hear could only be overlooked by the force of habit, and +the tendency to submerge all else in the mere enjoyment of the music. +The utter variance of music and poetry was to Wagner the stumbling-block +which, first of all, must be removed. So he crushed at one stroke all +the hard, arid forms which existed in the lyrical drama as it had been +known. His opera, then, is no longer a congeries of separate musical +numbers, like duets, arias, chorals, and finales, set in a flimsy web +of formless recitative, without reference to dramatic economy. His great +purpose is lofty dramatic truth, and to this end he sacrifices the whole +framework of accepted musical forms, with the exception of the chorus, +and this he remodels. The musical energy is concentrated in the dialogue +as the main factor of the dramatic problem, and fashioned entirely +according to the requirements of the action. The continuous flow of +beautiful melody takes the place alike of the dry recitative and the set +musical forms which characterize the accepted school of opera. As +the dramatic <i>motif</i> demands, this "continuous melody" rises into the +highest ecstasies of the lyrical fervor, or ebbs into a chant-like +swell of subdued feeling, like the ocean after the rush of the storm. +If Wagner has destroyed musical forms, he has also added a positive +element. In place of the aria we have the <i>logos</i>. This is the musical +expression of the principal passion underlying the action of the drama. +Whenever, in the course of the development of the story, this passion +comes into ascendency, the rich strains of the <i>logos</i> are heard anew, +stilling all other sounds. Gounod has, in part, applied this principle +in "Faust." All opera-goers will remember the intense dramatic effect +arising from the recurrence of the same exquisite lyric outburst from +the lips of Marguerite. +</p> +<p> +The peculiar character of Wagner's word-drama next arouses critical +interest and attention. The composer is his own poet, and his creative +genius shines no less here than in the world of tone. The musical energy +flows entirely from the dramatic conditions, like the electrical current +from the cups of the battery; and the rhythmical structure of the +<i>melos</i> (tune) is simply the transfiguration of the poetical basis. The +poetry, then, is all-important in the music-drama. Wagner has rejected +the forms of blank verse and rhyme as utterly unsuited to the lofty +purposes of music, and has gone to the metrical principle of all the +Teutonic and Slavonic poetry. This rhythmic element of alliteration, +or <i>staffrhyme</i>, we find magnificently illustrated in the Scandinavian +Eddas, and even in our own Anglo-Saxon fragments of the days of Cædmon +and Alcuin. By the use of this new form, verse and melody glide together +in one exquisite rhythm, in which it seems impossible to separate the +one from the other. The strong accents of the alliterating syllables +supply the music with firmness, while the low-toned syllables give +opportunity for the most varied <i>nuances</i> of declamation. +</p> +<p> +The first radical development of Wagner's theories we see in "The Flying +Dutchman." In "Tanhhäser" and "Lohengrin" they find full sway. The utter +revolt of his mind from the trivial and commonplace sentimentalities of +Italian opera led him to believe that the most heroic and lofty motives +alone should furnish the dramatic foundation of opera. For a while he +oscillated between history and legend, as best adapted to furnish his +material. In his selection of the dream-land of myth and legend, we +may detect another example of the profound and <i>exigeant</i> art-instincts +which have ruled the whole of Wagner's life. There could be no question +as to the utter incongruity of any dramatic picture of ordinary events, +or ordinary personages, finding expression in musical utterance. Genuine +and profound art must always be consistent with itself, and what we +recognize as general truth. Even characters set in the comparatively +near hack-ground of history are too closely related to our own familiar +surroundings of thought and mood to be regarded as artistically natural +in the use of music as the organ of the every-day life of emotion and +sentiment. But with the dim and heroic shapes that haunt the border-land +of the supernatural, which we call legend, the case is far different. +This is the drama of the demigods, living in a different atmosphere from +our own, however akin to ours may be their passions and purposes. For +these we are no longer compelled to regard the medium of music as a +forced and untruthful expression, for do they not dwell in the magic +lands of the imagination? All sense of dramatic inconsistency instantly +vanishes, and the conditions of artistic illusion are perfect. +</p> +<pre> + "'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view, + And clothes the mountains with their azure hue." +</pre> +<p> +Thus all of Wagner's works, from "Der fliegende Hollander" to the "Ring +der Nibelungen," have been located in the world of myth, in obedience +to a profound art-principle. The opera of "Tristan and Iseult," first +performed in 1865, announced Wagner's absolute emancipation, both in +the construction of music and poetry, from the time-honored and +time-corrupted canons, and, aside from the last great work, it may be +received as the most perfect representation of his school. +</p> +<p> +The third main feature in the Wagner music is the wonderful use of the +orchestra as a factor in the solution of the art-problem. This is no +longer a mere accompaniment to the singer, but translates the passion +of the play into a grand symphony, running parallel and commingling with +the vocal music. Wagner, as a great master of orchestration, has had +few equals since Beethoven; and he uses his power with marked effect to +heighten the dramatic intensity of the action, and at the same time +to convey certain meanings which can only find vent in the vague and +indistinct forms of pure music. The romantic conception of the mediæval +love, the shudderings and raptures of Christian revelation, have certain +phases that absolute music alone can express. The orchestra, then, +becomes as much an integral part of the music-drama, in its actual +current movement, as the chorus or the leading performers. Placed on the +stage, yet out of sight, its strains might almost be fancied the sound +of the sympathetic communion of good and evil spirits, with whose +presence mystics formerly claimed man was constantly surrounded. +Wagner's use of the orchestra may be illustrated from the opera of +"Lohengrin." +</p> +<p> +The ideal background, from which the emotions of the human actors in the +drama are reflected with supernatural light, is the conception of the +"Holy Graal," the mystic symbol of the Christian faith, and its descent +from the skies, guarded by hosts of seraphim. This is the subject of the +orchestral prelude, and never have the sweetnesses and terrors of the +Christian ecstasy been more potently expressed. The prelude opens with +long-drawn chords of the violins, in the highest octaves, in the most +exquisite <i>pianissimo</i>. The inner eye of the spirit discerns in this the +suggestion of shapeless white clouds, hardly discernible from the aerial +blue of the sky. Suddenly the strings seem to sound from the farthest +distance, in continued <i>pianissimo</i>, and the melody, the Graal-motive, +takes shape. Gradually, to the fancy, a group of angels seem to reveal +themselves, slowly descending from the heavenly heights, and bearing +in their midst the <i>Sangréal</i>. The modulations throb through the air, +augmenting in richness and sweetness, till the <i>fortissimo</i> of the full +orchestra reveals the sacred mystery. With this climax of spiritual +ecstasy the harmonious waves gradually recede and ebb away in dying +sweetness, as the angels return to their heavenly abode. This orchestral +movement recurs in the opera, according to the laws of dramatic fitness, +and its melody is heard also in the <i>logos</i> of Lohengrin, the knight of +the Graal, to express certain phases of his action. The immense power +which music is thus made to have in dramatic effect can easily be +fancied. +</p> +<p> +A fourth prominent characteristic of the Wagner music-drama is that, to +develop its full splendor, there must be a cooperation of all the arts, +painting, sculpture, and architecture, as well as poetry and music. +Therefore, in realizing its effects, much importance rests in the +visible beauties of action, as they may be expressed by the painting +of scenery and the grouping of human figures. Well may such a grand +conception be called the "Art-work of the Future." +</p> +<p> +Wagner for a long time despaired of the visible execution of his +ideas. At last the celebrated pianist Tausig suggested an appeal to the +admirers of the new music throughout the world for means to carry +out the composer's great idea, viz., to perform the "Nibelungen" at a +theatre to be erected for the purpose, and by a select company, in the +manner of a national festival, and before an audience entirely removed +from the atmosphere of vulgar theatrical shows. After many delays +Wagner's hopes were attained, and in the summer of 1876 a gathering of +the principal celebrities of Europe was present to criticise the fully +perfected fruit of the composer's theories and genius. This festival +was so recent, and its events have been the subject of such elaborate +comment, that further description will be out of place here. +</p> +<p> +As a great musical poet, rather epic than dramatic in his powers, +there can be no question as to Wagner's rank. The performance of the +"Nibelungenring," covering "Rheingold," "Die Walküren," "Siegfried," and +"Götterdämmerung," was one of the epochs of musical Germany. However +deficient Wagner's skill in writing for the human voice, the power and +symmetry of his conceptions, and his genius in embodying them in +massive operatic forms, are such as to storm even the prejudices of his +opponents. The poet-musician rightfully claims that in his music-drama +is found that wedding of two of the noblest of the arts, pregnantly +suggested by Shakespeare: +</p> +<pre> + "If Music and sweet Poetry both agree, + As they must needs, the sister and the brother; + One God is God of both, as poets feign." +</pre> +<p> +THE END. +</p> + +<br /> +<br /> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Great German Composers, by George T. 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Ferris + +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: The Great German Composers + +Author: George T. Ferris + +Release Date: January 4, 2006 [EBook #17461] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT GERMAN COMPOSERS *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + + +THE GREAT GERMAN COMPOSERS + + +By George T. Ferris + + +Copyright 1878, by D. Appleton and Company + + + +NOTE. + +The sketches of composers contained in this volume may seem arbitrary in +the space allotted to them. The special attention given to certain names +has been prompted as much by their association with great art-epochs as +by the consideration of their absolute rank as composers. + +The introduction of Chopin, born a Pole, and for a large part of his +life a resident of France, among the German composers, may require +an explanatory word. Chopin's whole early training was in the German +school, and he may be looked on as one of the founders of the latest +school of pianoforte composition, whose highest development is in +contemporary Germany. He represents German music by his affinities +and his influences in art, and bears too close a relation to important +changes in musical form to be omitted from this series. + +The authorities to which the author is most indebted for material are: +Schoelcher's "Life of Handel;" Liszt's "Life of Chopin;" Elise +Polko's "Reminiscences;" Lampadius's "Life of Mendelssohn;" Chorley's +"Reminiscences;" Urbino's "Musical Composers;" Franz Heuffner's "Wagner +and the Music of the Future;" Haweis's "Music and Morals;" and articles +in the leading Cyclopaedias. + + + +CONTENTS. + +Bach + +Handel + +Gluck + +Haydn + +Mozart + +Beethoven + +Schubert, Schumann, and Franz. Chopin + +Weber + +Mendelssohn Wagner + + + +THE GREAT GERMAN COMPOSERS. + + + + +BACH. + +I. + +The growth and development of German music are eminently noteworthy +facts in the history of the fine arts. In little more than a century +and a half it reached its present high and brilliant place, its progress +being so consecutive and regular that the composers who illustrated +its well-defined epochs might fairly have linked hands in one connected +series. + +To Johann Sebastian Bach must be accorded the title of "father of modern +music." All succeeding composers have bowed with reverence before his +name, and acknowledged in him the creative mind which not only placed +music on a deep scientific basis, but perfected the form from Which +have been developed the wonderfully rich and varied phases of orchestral +composition. + +Handel, who was his contemporary, having been born the same year, spoke +of him with sincere admiration, and called him the giant of music. Haydn +wrote: "Whoever understands me knows that I owe much to Sebastian Bach, +that I have studied him thoroughly and well, and that I acknowledge him +only as my model." Mozart's unceasing research brought to light many of +his unpublished manuscripts, and helped Germany to a full appreciation +of this great master. In like manner have the other luminaries of music +placed on record their sense of obligation to one whose name is obscure +to the general public in comparison with many of his brother composers. + +Sebastian Bach was born at Eisenach on the 21st of March, 1685, the son +of one of the court musicians. Left in the care of his elder brother, +who was an organist, his brilliant powers displayed themselves at an +early period. He was the descendant of a race of musicians, and even at +that date the wide-spread branches of the family held annual gatherings +of a musical character. Young Bach mastered for himself, without much +assistance, a thorough musical education at Luene-burg, where he studied +in the gymnasium and sang in the cathedral choir; and at the age of +eighteen we find him court musician at Weimar, where a few years later +he became organist and director of concerts. He had in the mean time +studied the organ at Luebeck under the celebrated Buxtehude, and made +himself thoroughly a master of the great Italian composers of sacred +music--Palestrina, Lotti, Vivaldi, and others. + +At this period Germany was beginning to experience its musical +_renaissance_. The various German courts felt that throb of life and +enthusiasm which had distinguished the Italian principalities in the +preceding century in the direction of painting and sculpture. Every +little capital was a focus of artistic rays, and there was a general +spirit of rivalry among the princes, who aspired to cultivate the arts +of peace as well as those of war. Bach had become known as a gifted +musician, not only by his wonderful powers as an organist, but by two +of his earlier masterpieces--"Gott ist mein Koenig" and "Ich hatte viel +Bektlmmerniss." Under the influence of an atmosphere so artistic, Bach's +ardor for study increased with his success, and his rapid advancement in +musical power met with warm appreciation. + +While Bach held the position of director of the chapel of Prince Leopold +of Anhalt-Kothen, which he assumed about the year 1720, he went to +Hamburg on a pilgrimage to see old Reinke, then nearly a centenarian, +whose fame as an organist was national, and had long been the object +of Bach's enthusiasm. The aged man listened while his youthful rival +improvised on the old choral, "Upon the Rivers of Babylon." He shed +tears of joy while he tenderly embraced Bach, and said: "I did think +that this art would die with me; but I see that you will keep it alive." + +Our musician rapidly became known far and wide throughout the musical +centres of Germany as a learned and recondite composer, as a brilliant +improviser, and as an organist beyond rivalry. Yet it was in these last +two capacities that his reputation among his contemporaries was the most +marked. It was left to a succeeding generation to fully enlighten the +world in regard to his creative powers as a musical thinker. + + +II. + +Though Bach's life was mostly spent at Weimar and Leipsic, he was at +successive periods chapel-master and concert-director at several of the +German courts, which aspired to shape public taste in matters of musical +culture and enthusiasm. But he was by nature singularly retiring and +unobtrusive, and he recoiled from several brilliant offers which would +have brought him too much in contact with the gay world of fashion, +apparently dreading any diversion from a severe and exclusive art-life; +for within these limits all his hopes, energies, and wishes were +focalized. Yet he was not without that keen spirit of rivalry, that love +of combat, which seems to be native to spirits of the more robust and +energetic type. + +In the days of the old Minnesingers, tournaments of music shared the +public taste with tournaments of arms. In Bach's time these public +competitions were still in vogue. One of these was held by Augustus +II., Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, one of the most munificent +art-patrons of Europe, but best known to fame from his intimate part in +the wars of Charles XII. of Sweden and Peter the Great of Russia. Here +Bach's principal rival was a French _virtuoso_, Marchand, who, an exile +from Paris, had delighted the king by the lightness and brilliancy of +his execution. They were both to improvise on the same theme. Marchand +heard Bach's performance, and signalized his own inferiority by +declining to play, and secretly leaving the city of Dresden. Augustus +sent Bach a hundred louis d'or, but this splendid _douceur_ never +reached him, as it was appropriated by one of the court officials. + +In Bach's half-century of a studious musical life there is but little +of stirring incident to record. The significance of his career was +interior, not exterior. Twice married, and the father of twenty +children, his income was always small even for that age. Yet, by +frugality, the simple wants of himself and his family never overstepped +the limit of supply; for he seems to have been happily mated with wives +who sympathized with his exclusive devotion to art, and united with this +the virtues of old-fashioned German thrift. + +Three years before his death, Bach, who had a son in the service of the +King of Prussia, yielded to the urgent invitation of that monarch to +go to Berlin. Frederick II., the conqueror of Rossbach, and one of the +greatest of modern soldiers, was a passionate lover of literature and +art, and it was his pride to collect at his court all the leading lights +of European culture. He was not only the patron of Voltaire, whose +connection with the Prussian monarch has furnished such rich material +to the anecdote-history of literature, but of all the distinguished +painters, poets, and musicians, whom he could persuade by his +munificent offers (but rarely fulfilled) to suffer the burden of his +eccentricities. Frederick was not content with playing the part of +patron, but must himself also be poet, philosopher, painter, and +composer. + +On the night of Bach's arrival Frederick was taking part in a concert +at his palace, and, on hearing that the great musician whose name was +in the mouths of all Germany had come, immediately sent for him without +allowing him to don a court dress, interrupting his concert with the +enthusiastic announcement, "Gentlemen, Bach is here." The cordial +hospitality and admiration of Frederick was gratefully acknowledged by +Bach, who dedicated to him a three-part fugue on a theme composed by the +king, known under the name of "A Musical Offering." But he could not be +persuaded to remain long from his Leipsic home. + +Shortly before Bach's death, he was seized with blindness, brought on by +incessant labor; and his end was supposed to have been hastened by the +severe inflammation consequent on two operations performed by an English +oculist. He departed this life July 30, 1750, and was buried in St. +John's churchyard, universally mourned by musical Germany, though his +real title to exceptional greatness was not to be read until the next +generation. + + +III. + +Sebastian Bach was not only the descendant of a widely-known musical +family, but was himself the direct ancestor of about sixty of the +best-known organists and church composers of Germany. As a master of +organ-playing, tradition tells us that no one has been his equal, with +the possible exception of Handel. He was also an able performer on +various stringed instruments, and his preference for the clavichord * +led him to write a method for that instrument, which has been the basis +of all succeeding methods for the piano. Bach's teachings and influence +may be said to have educated a large number of excellent composers and +organ and piano players, among whom were Emanuel Bach, Cramer, Hummel, +and Clementi; and on his school of theory and practice the best results +in music have been built. + + * An old instrument which may be called the nearest + prototype of the modern square piano. + +That Bach's glory as a composer should be largely posthumous is probably +the result of his exceeding simplicity and diffidence, for he always +shrank from popular applause; therefore we may believe his compositions +were not placed in the proper light during his life. It was through +Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven, that the musical world learned what a +master-spirit had wrought in the person of John Sebastian Bach. The +first time Mozart heard one of Bach's hymns, he said, "Thank God! I +learn something absolutely new." Bach's great compositions include his +"Preludes and Fugues" for the organ, works so difficult and elaborate +as perhaps to be above the average comprehension, but sources of delight +and instruction to all musicians; the "Matthaeus Passion," for two +choruses and two orchestras, one of the masterpieces in music, which was +not produced till a century after it was written; the "Oratorio of the +Nativity of Jesus Christ;" and a very large number of masses, anthems, +cantatas, chorals, hymns, etc. These works, from their largeness and +dignity of form, as also from their depth of musical science, have been +to all succeeding composers an art-armory, whence they have derived +and furbished their brightest weapons. In the study of Bach's works the +student finds the deepest and highest reaches in the science of music; +for his mind seems to have grasped all its resources, and to have +embodied them with austere purity and precision of form. As Spenser +is called the poet for poets, and Laplace the mathematician for +mathematicians, so Bach is the musician for musicians. While Handel may +be considered a purely independent and parallel growth, it is not too +much to assert that without Sebastian Bach and his matchless studies +for the piano, organ, and orchestra, we could not have had the varied +musical development in sonata and symphony from such masters as +Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Three of Sebastian Bach's sons became +distinguished musicians, and to Emanuel we owe the artistic development +of the sonata, which in its turn became the foundation of the symphony. + + + + +HANDEL. + + +I. + +To the modern Englishman Handel is almost a contemporary. Paintings and +busts of this great minstrel are scattered everywhere throughout the +land. He lies in Westminster Abbey among the great poets, warriors, and +statesmen, a giant memory in his noble art. A few hours after death +the sculptor Roubiliac took a cast of his face, which he wrought into +imperishable marble; "moulded in colossal calm," he towers above his +tomb, and accepts the homage of the world benignly like a god. Exeter +Hall and the Foundling Hospital in London are also adorned with marble +statues of him. + +There are more than fifty known pictures of Handel, some of them by +distinguished artists. In the best of these pictures Handel is seated in +the gay costume of the period, with sword, shot-silk breeches, and coat +embroidered with gold. The face is noble in its repose. Benevolence +is seated about the finely-shaped mouth, and the face wears the +mellow dignity of years, without weakness or austerity. There are few +collectors of prints in England and America who have not a woodcut or +a lithograph of him. His face and his music are alike familiar to the +English-speaking world. + +Handel came to England in the year 1710, at the age of twenty-five. Four +years before he had met, at Naples, Scarlatti, Porpora, and Corelli. +That year had been the turning-point in his life. With one stride he +reached the front rank, and felt that no musician alive could teach him +anything. + +George Frederick Handel (or Handel, as the name is written in German) +was born at Halle, Lower Saxony, in the year 1685. Like German +literature, German music is a comparatively recent growth. What little +feeling existed for the musical art employed itself in cultivating the +alien flowers of Italian song. Even eighty years after this Mozart and +Haydn were treated like lackeys and vagabonds, just as great actors were +treated in England at the same period. Handel's father looked on music +as an occupation having very little dignity. + +Determined that his young son should become a doctor like himself, and +leave the divine art to Italian fiddlers and French buffoons, he did not +allow him to go to a public school even, for fear he should learn the +gamut. But the boy Handel, passionately fond of sweet sounds, had, with +the connivance of his nurse, hidden in the garret a poor spinet, and in +stolen hours taught himself how to play. At last the senior Handel had +a visit to make to another son in the service of the Duke of +Saxe-Weissenfels, and the young George was taken along to the ducal +palace. The boy strayed into the chapel, and was irresistibly drawn to +the organ. His stolen performance was made known to his father and the +duke, and the former was very much enraged at such a direct evidence of +disobedience. The duke, however, being astonished at the performance of +the youthful genius, interceded for him, and recommended that his taste +should be encouraged and cultivated instead of repressed. + +From this time forward fortune showered upon him a combination of +conditions highly favorable to rapid development. Severe training, +ardent friendship, the society of the first composers, and incessant +practice were vouchsafed him. As the pupil of the great organist Zachau, +he studied the whole existing mass of German and Italian music, and soon +exacted from his master the admission that he had nothing more to teach +him. Thence he went to Berlin to study the opera-school, where Ariosti +and Bononcini were favorite composers. The first was friendly, but the +latter, who with a first-rate head had a cankered heart, determined +to take the conceit out of the Saxon boy. He challenged him to play at +sight an elaborate piece. Handel played it with perfect precision, and +thenceforward Bononcini, though he hated the youth as a rival, treated +him as an equal. + +On the death of his father Handel secured an engagement at the Hamburg +opera-house, where he soon made his mark by the ability with which, on +several occasions, he conducted rehearsals. + +At the age of nineteen Handel received the offer of the Luebeck organ, on +condition that he would marry the daughter of the retiring organist. He +went down with his friend Mattheson, who it seems had been offered +the same terms. They both returned, however, in single blessedness to +Hamburg. + +Though the Luebeck maiden had stirred no bad blood between them, musical +rivalry did. A dispute in the theatre resulted in a duel. The only thing +that saved. Handel's life was a great brass button that shivered his +antagonist's point, when they were parted to become firm friends again. + +While at Hamburg Handel's first two operas were composed, "Almira" and +"Nero." Both of these were founded on dark tales of crime and sorrow, +and, in spite of some beautiful airs and clever instrumentation, were +musical failures, as might be expected. + +Handel had had enough of manufacturing operas in Germany, and so in +July, 1706, he went to Florence. Here he was cordially received; for +Florence was second to no city in Italy in its passion for encouraging +the arts. Its noble specimens of art creations in architecture, +painting, and sculpture, produced a powerful impression upon the young +musician. In little more than a week's time he composed an opera, +"Rodrigo," for which he obtained one hundred sequins. His next visit +was to Venice, where he arrived at the height of the carnival. Whatever +effect Venice, with its weird and mysterious beauty, with its marble +palaces, facades, pillars, and domes, its magnificent shrines and +frescoes, produced on Handel, he took Venice by storm. Handel's power as +an organist and a harpsichord player was only second to his strength as +a composer, even when, in the full zenith of his maturity, he composed +the "Messiah" and "Judas Maccabaeus." + +"Il caro Sassone," the dear Saxon, found a formidable opponent as well +as dear friend in the person of Scarlatti. One night at a masked ball, +given by a nobleman, Handel was present in disguise. He sat at the +harpsichord, and astonished the company with his playing; but no one +could tell who it was that ravished the ears of the assembly. Presently +another masquerader came into the room, walked up to the instrument, and +called out: "It is either the devil or the Saxon!" This was Scarlatti, +who afterward had with Handel, in Florence and Rome, friendly contests +of skill, in which it seemed difficult to decide which was victor. To +satisfy the Venetian public, Handel composed the opera "Agrippina," +which made a _furore_ among all the connoisseurs of the city. + +So, having seen the summer in Florence and the carnival in Venice, he +must hurry on to be in time for the great Easter celebrations in Rome. +Here he lived under the patronage of Cardinal Otto-boni, one of the +wealthiest and most liberal of the Sacred College. The cardinal was +a modern representative of the ancient patrician. Living himself in +princely luxury, he endowed hospitals and surgeries for the public. He +distributed alms, patronized men of science and art, and entertained +the public with comedies, operas, oratorios, puppet-shows, and academic +disputes. Under the auspices of this patron, Handel composed three +operas and two oratorios. Even at this early period the young composer +was parting company with the strict old musical traditions, and his +works showed an extraordinary variety and strength of treatment. + +From Rome he went to Naples, where he spent his second Italian summer, +and composed the original Italian "Aci e Galatea," which in its English +version, afterward written for the Duke of Chandos, has continued a +marked favorite with the musical world. Thence, after a lingering return +through the sunny land where he had been so warmly welcomed, and which +had taught him most effectually, in convincing him that his musical life +had nothing in common with the traditions of Italian musical art, he +returned to Germany, settling at the court of George of Brunswick, +Elector of Hanover, and afterward King of England. He received +commission in the course of a few months from the elector to visit +England, having been warmly invited thither by some English noblemen. On +his return to Hanover, at the end of six months, he found the dull and +pompous little court unspeakably tiresome after the bustle of London. +So it is not to be marveled at that he took the earliest opportunity of +returning to the land which he afterward adopted. At this period he was +not yet twenty-five years old, but already famous as a performer on the +organ and harpsichord, and as a composer of Italian operas. + +When Queen Anne died and Handel's old patron became King of England, +Handel was forbidden to appear before him, as he had not forgotten the +musician's escapade; but his peace was at last made by a little ruse. +Handel had a friend at court, Baron Kilmansegge, from whom he learned +that the king was, on a certain day, going to take an excursion on the +Thames. So he set to work to compose music for the occasion, which he +arranged to have performed on a boat which followed the king's barge. +As the king floated down the river he heard the new and delightful +"Water-Music." He knew that only one man could have composed such music; +so he sent for Handel, and sealed his pardon with a pension of two +hundred pounds a year. + + +II. + +Let us take a glance at the society in which the composer moved in the +heyday of his youth. His greatness was to be perfected in after-years +by bitter rivalries, persecution, alternate oscillations of poverty +and affluence, and a multitude of bitter experiences. But at this time +Handel's life was a serene and delightful one. Rival factions had not +been organized to crush him. Lord Burlington lived much at his mansion, +which was then out of town, although the house is now in the heart of +Piccadilly. The intimate friendship of this nobleman helped to bring the +young musician into contact with many distinguished people. + +It is odd to think of the people Handel met daily without knowing that +their names and his would be in a century famous. The following picture +sketches Handel and his friends in a sprightly fashion: + +"Yonder heavy, ragged-looking youth standing at the corner of Regent +Street, with a slight and rather more refined-looking companion, is +the obscure Samuel Johnson, quite unknown to fame. He is walking with +Richard Savage. As Signor Handel, 'the composer of Italian music,' +passes by, Savage becomes excited, and nudges his friend, who takes only +a languid interest in the foreigner. Johnson did not care for music; of +many noises he considered it the least disagreeable. + +"Toward Charing Cross comes, in shovel-hat and cassock, the renowned +ecclesiastic Dean Swift. He has just nodded patronizingly to Bononcini +in the Strand, and suddenly meets Handel, who cuts him dead. Nothing +disconcerted, the dean moves on, muttering his famous epigram: + + 'Some say that Signor Bononcini, + Compared to Handel, is a ninny; + While others vow that to him Handel + Is hardly fit to hold a candle. + Strange that such difference should be + 'Twixt tweedledum and tweedledee.' + +"As Handel enters the 'Turk's Head' at the corner of Regent Street, +a noble coach and four drives up. It is the Duke of Chandos, who is +inquiring for Mr. Pope. Presently a deformed little man, in an iron-gray +suit, and with a face as keen as a razor, hobbles out, makes a low bow +to the burly Handel, who, helping him into the chariot, gets in after +him, and they drive off together to Cannons, the duke's mansion at +Edge-ware. There they meet Mr. Addison, the poet Gay, and the witty +Arbuthnot, who have been asked to luncheon. The last number of the +_Spectator_ is on the table, and a brisk discussion soon arises between +Pope and Addison concerning the merits of the Italian opera, in which +Pope would have the better if he only knew a little more about music, +and could keep his temper. Arbuthnot sides with Pope in favor of Mr. +Handel's operas; the duke endeavors to keep the peace. Handel probably +uses his favorite exclamation, 'Vat te tevil I care!' and consumes the +_recherche_ wines and rare viands with undiminished gusto. + +"The Magnificent, or the Grand Duke, as he was called, had built himself +a palace for L230,000. He had a private chapel, and appointed Handel +organist in the room of the celebrated Dr. Pepusch, who retired with +excellent grace before one manifestly his superior. On week-days the +duke and duchess entertained all the wits and grandees in town, and on +Sundays the Edgeware Road was thronged with the gay equipages of those +who went to worship at the ducal chapel and hear Mr. Handel play on the +organ. + +"The Edgeware Road was a pleasant country drive, but parts of it were +so solitary that highwaymen were much to be feared. The duke was himself +attacked on one occasion; and those who could afford it never traveled +so far out of town without armed retainers. Cannons was the pride of the +neighborhood, and the duke--of whom Pope wrote, + + 'Thus gracious Chandos is beloved at sight'-- + +was as popular as he was wealthy. But his name is made still more +illustrious by the Chandos anthems. They were all written at Cannons +between 1718 and 1720, and number in all eleven overtures, thirty-two +solos, six duets, a trio, quartet, and forty-seven choruses. Some of the +above are real masterpieces; but, with the exception of 'The waves of +the sea rage horribly,' and 'Who is God but the Lord?' few of them +are ever heard now. And yet these anthems were most significant in the +variety of the choruses and in the range of the accompaniments; and it +was then, no doubt, that Handel was feeling his way toward the great +and immortal sphere of his oratorio music. Indeed, his first oratorio, +'Esther,' was composed at Cannons, as also the English version of 'Acis +and Galatea.'" + +But Handel had other associates, and we must now visit Thomas Britton, +the musical coal-heaver. "There goes the famous small-coal man, a lover +of learning, a musician, and a companion of gentlemen." So the folks +used to say as Thomas Britton, the coal-heaver of Clerkenwell Green, +paced up and down the neighboring streets with his sack of small coal on +his back, destined for one of his customers. Britton was great among the +great. He was courted by the most fashionable folk of his day. He was +a cultivated coal-heaver, who, besides his musical taste and ability, +possessed an extensive knowledge of chemistry and the occult sciences. + +Britton did more than this. He gave concerts in Aylesbury Street, +Clerkenwell, where this singular man had formed a dwelling-house, with +a concert-room and a coal-store, out of what was originally a stable. +On the ground-floor was the small-coal repository, and over that the +concert-room--very long and narrow, badly lighted, and with a ceiling +so low that a tall man could scarcely stand upright in it. The stairs to +this room were far from pleasant to ascend, and the following facetious +lines by Ward, the author of the "London Spy," confirm this: + + "Upon Thursdays repair + To my palace, and there + Hobble up stair by stair + But I pray ye take care + That you break not your shins by a stumble; + + "And without e'er a souse + Paid to me or my spouse, + Sit as still as a mouse + At the top of the house, + And there you shall hear how we fumble." + +Nevertheless beautiful duchesses and the best society in town flocked +to Britton's on Thursdays--not to order coals, but to sit out his +concerts. + +Let us follow the short, stout little man on a concert-day. The +customers are all served, or as many as can be. The coal-shed is made +tidy and swept up, and the coal-heaver awaits his company. There he +stands at the door of his stable, dressed in his blue blouse, +dustman's hat, and maroon kerchief tightly fastened round his neck. The +concert-room is almost full, and, pipe in hand, Britton awaits a new +visitor--the beautiful Duchess of B------. She is somewhat late (the +coachman, possibly, is not quite at home in the neighborhood). + +Here comes a carriage, which stops at the coal-shop; and, laying down +his pipe, the coal-heaver assists her grace to alight, and in the +genteelest manner escorts her to the narrow staircase leading to +the music-room. Forgetting Ward's advice, she trips laughingly and +carelessly up the stairs to the room, from which proceed faint sounds of +music, increasing to quite an _olla podri-da_ of sound as the apartment +is reached--for the musicians are tuning up. The beautiful duchess is +soon recognized, and as soon in deep gossip with her friends. But who is +that gentlemanly man leaning over the chamber-organ? That is Sir Roger +L'Estrange, an admirable performer on the violoncello, and a great lover +of music. He is watching the subtile fingering of Mr. Handel, as his +dimpled hands drift leisurely and marvelously over the keys of the +instrument. + +There, too, is Mr. Bannister with his fiddle--the first Englishman, +by-the-by, who distinguished himself upon the violin; there is Mr. +Woolaston, the painter, relating to Dr. Pepusch of how he had that +morning thrown up his window upon hearing Britton crying "Small coal!" +near his house in Warwick Lane, and, having beckoned him in, had made a +sketch for a painting of him; there, too, is Mr. John Hughes, author of +the "Siege of Damascus." In the background also are Mr. Philip Hart, Mr. +Henry Symonds, Mr. Obadiah Shuttleworth, Mr. Abiell Whichello; while in +the extreme corner of the room is Robe, a justice of the peace, letting +out to Henry Needier of the Excise Office the last bit of scandal that +has come into his court. And now, just as the concert has commenced, in +creeps "Soliman the Magnificent," also known as Mr. Charles Jennens, of +Great Ormond Street, who wrote many of Handel's librettos, and arranged +the words for the "Messiah." + +"Soliman the Magnificent" is evidently resolved to do justice to +his title on this occasion with his carefully-powdered wig, frills, +maroon-colored coat, and buckled shoes; and as he makes his progress up +the room, the company draw aside for him to reach his favorite seat near +Handel. A trio of Corelli's is gone through; then Madame Cuzzoni sings +Handel's last new air; Dr. Pepusch takes his turn at the harpsichord; +another trio of Hasse, or a solo on the violin by Bannister; a selection +on the organ from Mr. Handel's new oratorio; and then the day's +programme is over. + +Dukes, duchesses, wits and philosophers, poets and musicians, make their +way down the satirized stairs to go, some in carriages, some in chairs, +some on foot, to their own palaces, houses, or lodgings. + + +III. + +We do not now think of Handel in connection with the opera. To the +modern mind he is so linked to the oratorio, of which he was the father +and the consummate master, that his operas are curiosities but little +known except to musical antiquaries. Yet some of the airs from the +Handel operas are still cherished by singers as among the most beautiful +songs known to the concert-stage. + +In 1720 Handel was engaged by a party of noblemen, headed by his Grace +of Chandos, to compose operas for the Royal Academy of Music at the +Haymarket. An attempt had been made to put this institution on a firm +foundation by a subscription of L50,000, and it was opened on May 2d +with a full company of singers engaged by Handel. In the course of eight +years twelve operas were produced in rapid succession: "Floridante," +December 9, 1721; "Ottone," January 12, 1723; "Flavio" and "Giulio +Cesare," 1723; "Tamerlano," 1724; "Rodelinda," 1725; "Scipione," 1726; +"Alessandro," 1726; "Admeto," 727; "Siroe," 1728; and "Tolommeo," 1728. +They made as great a _furore_ among the musical public of that day as +would an opera from Gounod or Verdi in the present. The principal airs +were sung throughout the land, and published as harpsichord pieces; for +in these halcyon days of our composers the whole atmosphere of the land +was full of the flavor and color of Handel. Many of the melodies in +these now forgotten operas have been worked up by modern composers, and +so have passed into modern music unrecognized. It is a notorious fact +that the celebrated song, "Where the Bee sucks," by Dr. Arne, is taken +from a movement in "Rinaldo." Thus the new life of music is ever growing +rich with the dead leaves of the past. The most celebrated of these +operas was entitled "Otto." It was a work composed of one long string of +exquisite gems, like Mozart's "Don Giovanni" and Gounod's "Faust." Dr. +Pepusch, who had never quite forgiven Handel for superseding him as the +best organist in England, remarked, of one of the airs, "That great bear +must have been inspired when he wrote that air." The celebrated Madame +Cuzzoni made her _debut_ in it. On the second night the tickets rose +to four guineas each, and Cuzzoni received two thousand pounds for the +season. + +The composer had already begun to be known for his irascible temper. +It is refreshing to learn that operatic singers of the day, however +whimsical and self-willed, were obliged to bend to the imperious genius +of this man. In a spirit of ill-timed revolt Cuzzoni declined to sing +an air. She had already given him trouble by her insolence and freaks, +which at times were unbearable. Handel at last exploded. He flew at the +wretched woman and shook her like a rat. "Ah! I always knew you were +a fery tevil," he cried, "and I shall now let you know that I am +Beelzebub, the prince of de tevils!" and, dragging her to the open +window, was just on the point of pitching her into the street when, +in every sense of the word, she recanted. So, when Carestini, the +celebrated tenor, sent back an air, Handel was furious. Rushing into the +trembling Italian's house, he said, in his four- or five-language style: +"You tog! don't I know better as yourself vaat it pest for you to sing? +If you vill not sing all de song vaat I give you, I vill not pay you ein +stiver." Among the anecdotes told of Handel's passion is one growing out +of the composer's peculiar sensitiveness to discords. The dissonance +of the tuning-up period of an orchestra is disagreeable to the most +patient. Handel, being peculiarly sensitive to this unfortunate +necessity, always arranged that it should take place before the +audience assembled, so as to prevent any sound of scraping or blowing. +Unfortunately, on one occasion, some wag got access to the orchestra +where the ready-tuned instruments were lying, and with diabolical +dexterity put every string and crook out of tune. Handel enters. All +the bows are raised together, and at the given beat all start off _con +spirito_. The effect was startling in the extreme. The unhappy _maestro_ +rushes madly from his place, kicks to pieces the first double-bass he +sees, and, seizing a kettle-drum, throws it violently at the leader of +the band. The effort sends his wig flying, and, rushing bareheaded to +the footlights, he stands a few moments amid the roars of the house, +snorting with rage and choking with passion. Like Burleigh's nod, +Handel's wig seemed to have been a sure guide to his temper. When things +went well, it had a certain complacent vibration; but when he was out of +humor, the wig indicated the fact in a very positive way. The Princess +of Wales was wont to blame her ladies for talking instead of listening. +"Hush, hush!" she would say. "Don't you see Handel's wig?" + +For several years after the subscription of the nobility had been +exhausted, our composer, having invested L10,000 of his own in the +Haymarket, produced operas with remarkable affluence, some of them +_pasticcio_ works, composed of all sorts of airs, in which the +singers could give their _bravura songs_. These were "Lotario," +1729; "Partenope," 1730; "Poro," 1731; "Ezio," 1732; "Sosarme," 1732; +"Orlando," 1733; "Ariadne," 1734; and also several minor works. Handel's +operatic career was not so much the outcome of his choice as dictated +to him by the necessity of time and circumstance. As time went on, his +operas lost public interest. The audiences dwindled, and the overflowing +houses of his earlier experience were replaced by empty benches. This, +however, made little difference with Handel's royal patrons. The king +and the Prince of Wales, with their respective households, made it +an express point to show their deep interest in Handel's success. +In illustration of this, an amusing anecdote is told of the Earl of +Chesterfield. During the performance of "Rinaldo" this nobleman, then +an equerry of the king, was met quietly retiring from the theatre in the +middle of the first act. Surprise being expressed by a gentleman who +met the earl, the latter said: "I don't wish to disturb his Majesty's +privacy." + +Handel paid his singers in those days what were regarded as enormous +prices. Senisino and Carestini had each twelve hundred pounds, and +Cuzzoni two thousand, for the season. Toward the end of what may be +called the Handel season nearly all the singers and nobles forsook him, +and supported Farinelli, the greatest singer living, at the rival house +in Lincoln's Inn Fields. + + +IV. + +From the year 1729 the career of Handel was to be a protracted battle, +in which he was sometimes victorious, sometimes defeated, but always +undaunted and animated with a lofty sense of his own superior power. +Let us take a view of some of the rival musicians with whom he came +in contact. Of all these Bononcini was the most formidable. He came to +England in 1720 with Ariosti, also a meritorious composer. Factions +soon began to form themselves around Handel and Bononcini, and a bitter +struggle ensued between these old foes. The same drama repeated itself, +with new actors, about thirty years afterward, in Paris. Gluck was then +the German hero, supported by Marie Antoinette, and Piccini fought for +the Italian opera under the colors of the king's mistress Du Barry, +while all the _litterateurs_ and nobles ranged themselves on either +side in bitter contest. The battle between Handel and Bononcini, as the +exponents of German and Italian music, was also repeated in after-years +between Mozart and Salieri, Weber and Rossini, and to-day is seen in +the acrimonious disputes going on between Wagner and the Italian school. +Bononcini's career in England came to an end very suddenly. It was +discovered that a madrigal brought out by him was pirated from another +Italian composer; whereupon Bononcini left England, humiliated to the +dust, and finally died obscure and alone, the victim of a charlatan +alchemist, who succeeded in obtaining all his savings. + +Another powerful rival of Handel was Porpora, or, as Handel used to +call him, "old Borbora." Without Bononcini's fire or Handel's daring +originality, he represented the dry contrapuntal school of Italian +music. He was also a great singing-master, famous throughout Europe, +and upon this his reputation had hitherto principally rested. He came to +London in 1733, under the patronage of the Italian faction, especially +to serve as a thorn in the side of Handel. His first opera, "Ariadne," +was a great success; but when he had the audacity to challenge the great +German in the field of oratorio, his defeat was so overwhelming that +he candidly admitted his rival's superiority. But he believed that no +operas in the world were equal to his own, and he composed fifty of them +during his life, extending to the days of Haydn, whom he had the honor +of teaching, while the father of the symphony, on the other hand, +cleaned Por-pora's boots and powdered his wig for him. + +Another Italian opponent was Hasse, a man of true genius, who in his old +age instructed some of the most splendid singers in the history of the +lyric stage. He also married one of the most gifted and most beautiful +divas of Europe, Faustina Bordoni. The following anecdote does equal +credit to Hasse's heart and penetration: In after-years, when he had +left England, he was again sent for to take Handel's place as conductor +of opera and oratorio. Hasse inquired, "What! is Handel dead?" On +being told no, he indignantly refused, saying he was not worthy to tie +Handel's shoe-latchets. + +There are also Dr. Pepusch, the Anglicized Prussian, and Dr. Greene, +both names well known in English music. Pepusch had had the leading +place, before Handel's arrival, as organist and conductor, and made a +distinct place for himself even after the sun of Handel had obscured all +of his contemporaries. He wrote the music of the "Beggar's Opera," which +was the great sensation of the times, and which still keeps possession +of the stage. Pepusch was chiefly notable for his skill in arranging the +popular songs of the day, and probably did more than any other composer +to give the English ballad its artistic form. + +The name of Dr. Greene is best known in connection with choral +compositions. His relations with Handel and Bononcini are hardly +creditable to him. He seems to have flattered each in turn. He upheld +Bononcini in the great madrigal controversy, and appears to have wearied +Handel by his repeated visits. The great Saxon easily saw through the +flatteries of a man who was in reality an ambitious rival, and joked +about him, not always in the best taste. When he was told that Greene +was giving concerts at the "Devil Tavern," near Temple Bar, "Ah!" he +exclaimed, "mein poor friend Toctor Greene--so he is gone to de Tevil!" + +From 1732 to 1740 Handel's life presents the suggestive and +often-repeated experience in the lives of men of genius--a soul with a +great creative mission, of which it is half unconscious, partly +yielding to and partly struggling against the tendencies of the age, yet +gradually crystallizing into its true form, and getting consecrated to +its true work. In these eight years Handel presented to the public ten +operas and five oratorios. It was in 1731 that the great significant +fact, though unrecognized by himself and others, occurred, which stamped +the true bent of his genius. This was the production of his first +oratorio in England. He was already playing his operas to empty houses, +the subject of incessant scandal and abuse on the part of his enemies, +but holding his way with steady cheerfulness and courage. Twelve years +before this he had composed the oratorio of "Esther," but it was still +in manuscript, uncared for and neglected. It was finally produced by a +society called Philharmonic, under the direction of Bernard Gates, the +royal chapel-master. Its fame spread wide, and we read these significant +words in one of the old English newspapers: "'Esther,' an English +oratorio, was performed six times, and very full." + +Shortly after this Handel himself conducted "Esther" at the Haymarket +by royal command. His success encouraged him to write "Deborah," another +attempt in the same field, and it met a warm reception from the public, +March 17, 1733. + +For about fifteen years Handel had struggled heroically in the +composition of Italian operas. With these he had at first succeeded; but +his popularity waned more and more, and he became finally the continued +target for satire, scorn, and malevolence. In obedience to the drift +of opinion, all the great singers, who had supported him at the outset, +joined the rival ranks or left England. In fact it may be almost said +that the English public were becoming dissatisfied with the whole system +and method of Italian music. Colley Cibber, the actor and dramatist, +explains why Italian opera could never satisfy the requirement of +Handel, or be anything more than an artificial luxury in England: "The +truth is, this kind of entertainment is entirely sensational." Still +both Handel and his friends and his foes, all the exponents of musical +opinion in England, persevered obstinately in warming this foreign +exotic into a new lease of life. + +The quarrel between the great Saxon composer and his opponents +raged incessantly both in public and private. The newspaper and the +drawing-room rang alike with venomous diatribes. Handel was called a +swindler, a drunkard, and a blasphemer, to whom Scripture even was +not sacred. The idea of setting Holy Writ to music scandalized the +Pharisees, who reveled in the licentious operas and love-songs of +the Italian school. All the small wits of the time showered on Handel +epigram and satire unceasingly. The greatest of all the wits, however, +Alexander Pope, was his firm friend and admirer; and in the "Dunciad," +wherein the wittiest of poets impaled so many of the small fry of the +age with his pungent and vindictive shaft, he also slew some of the most +malevolent of Handel's foes. + +Fielding, in "Tom Jones," has an amusing hit at the taste of the period: +"It was Mr. Western's custom every afternoon, as soon as he was drunk, +to hear his daughter play on the harpsichord; for he was a great lover +of music, and perhaps, had he lived in town, might have passed as a +connoisseur, for he always excepted against the finest compositions of +Mr. Handel." + +So much had it become the fashion to criticise Handel's new effects in +vocal and instrumental composition, that some years later Mr. Sheridan +makes one of his characters fire a pistol simply to shock the audience, +and makes him say in a stage whisper to the gallery, "This hint, +gentlemen, I took from Handel." + +The composer's Oxford experience was rather amusing and suggestive. +We find it recorded that in July, 1733, "one Handell, a foreigner, was +desired to come to Oxford to perform in music." Again the same writer +says: "Handell with his lousy crew, a great number of foreign fiddlers, +had a performance for his own benefit at the theatre." One of the dons +writes of the performance as follows: "This is an innovation; but every +one paid his five shillings to try how a little fiddling would sit upon +him. And, notwithstanding the barbarous and inhuman combination of such +a parcel of unconscionable scamps, he [Handel] disposed of the most of +his tickets." + +"Handel and his lousy crew," however, left Oxford with the prestige of +a magnificent victory. His third oratorio, "Athaliah," was received with +vast applause by a great audience. Some of his university admirers, who +appreciated academic honors more than the musician did, urged him to +accept the degree of Doctor of Music, for which he would have to pay a +small fee. The characteristic reply was a Parthian arrow: "Vat te tevil +I trow my money away for dat vich the blockhead vish'? I no vant!" + + +V. + +In 1738 Handel was obliged to close the theatre and suspend payment. +He had made and spent during his operatic career the sum of L10,000 +sterling, besides dissipating the sum of L50,000 subscribed by his noble +patrons. The rival house lasted but a few months longer, and the Duchess +of Marlborough and her friends, who ruled the opposition clique and +imported Bononcini, paid L12,000 for the pleasure of ruining Handel. His +failure as an operatic composer is due in part to the same causes +which constituted his success in oratorio and cantata. It is a little +significant to notice that, alike by the progress of his own genius and +by the force of conditions, he was forced out of the operatic field at +the very time when he strove to tighten his grip on it. + +His free introduction of choral and instrumental music, his creation of +new forms and remodeling of old ones, his entire subordination of the +words in the story to a pure musical purpose, offended the singers and +retarded the action of the drama in the eyes of the audience; yet it was +by virtue of these unpopular characteristics that the public mind was +being moulded to understand and love the form of the oratorio. + +From 1734 to 1738 Handel composed and produced a number of operatic +works, the principal ones of which were "Alcina," 1735; "Arminio," 1737; +and "Berenice," 1737. He also during these years wrote the magnificent +music to Dryden's "Alexander's Feast," and the great funeral anthem on +the occasion of Queen Caroline's death in the latter part of the year +1737. + +We can hardly solve the tenacity of purpose with which Handel persevered +in the composition of operatic music after it had ruined him; but it was +still some time before he fully appreciated the true turn of his genius, +which could not be trifled with or ignored. In his adversity he had some +consolation. His creditors were patient, believing in his integrity. The +royal family were his firm friends. + +Southey tells us that Handel, having asked the youthful Prince of +Wales, then a child, and afterward George the Third, if he loved music, +answered, when the prince expressed his pleasure: "A good boy, a good +boy! You shall protect my fame when I am dead." Afterward, when the +half-imbecile George was crazed with family and public misfortunes, he +found his chief solace in the Waverley novels and Handel's music. + +It is also an interesting fact that the poets and thinkers of the age +were Handel's firm admirers. Such men as Gay, Arbuthnot, Hughes, Colley +Cibber, Pope, Fielding, Hogarth, and Smollett, who recognized the deep, +struggling tendencies of the times, measured Handel truly. They defended +him in print, and never failed to attend his performances, and at +his benefit concerts their enthusiastic support always insured him an +overflowing house. + +The popular instinct was also true to him. The aristocratic classes +sneered at his oratorios and complained at his innovations. His music +was found to be good bait for the popular gardens and the holiday-makers +of the period. Jonathan Tyers was one of the most liberal managers +of this class. He was proprietor of Vauxhall Gardens, and Handel +(_incognito_) supplied him with nearly all his music. The composer did +much the same sort of thing for Marylebone Gardens, furbishing up old +and writing new strains with an ease that well became the urgency of the +circumstances. + +"My grandfather," says the Rev. J. Fountagne, "as I have been told, was +an enthusiast in music, and cultivated most of all the friendship of +musical men, especially of Handel, who visited him often, and had a +great predilection for his society. This leads me to relate an anecdote +which I have on the best authority. While Marylebone Gardens were +flourishing, the enchanting music of Handel, and probably of Arne, was +often heard from the orchestra there. One evening, as my grandfather and +Handel were walking together and alone, a new piece was struck up by the +band. 'Come, Mr. Fountagne,' said Handel, 'let us sit down and listen +to this piece; I want to know your opinion about it.' Down they sat, and +after some time the old parson, turning to his companion, said, 'It +is not worth listening to; it's very poor stuff.' 'You are right, Mr. +Fountagne,' said Handel, 'it is very poor stuff; I thought so myself +when I had finished it.' The old gentleman, being taken by surprise, was +beginning to apologize; but Handel assured him there was no necessity, +that the music was really bad, having been composed hastily, and his +time for the production limited; and that the opinion given was as +correct as it was honest." + + +VI. + +The period of Handel's highest development had now arrived. For seven +years his genius had been slowly but surely maturing, in obedience +to the inner law of his being. He had struggled long in the bonds of +operatic composition, but even here his innovations showed conclusively +how he was reaching out toward the form with which his name was to +be associated through all time. The year 1739 was one of prodigious +activity. The oratorio of "Saul" was produced, of which the "Dead March" +is still recognized as one of the great musical compositions of all +time, being one of the few intensely solemn symphonies written in a +major key. Several works now forgotten were composed, and the great +"Israel in Egypt" was written in the incredibly short space of +twenty-seven days. Of this work a distinguished writer on music says: +Handel was now fifty-five years old, and had entered, after many a +long and weary contest, upon his last and greatest creative period. +His genius culminates in the 'Israel.' Elsewhere he has produced longer +recitatives and more pathetic arias; nowhere has he written finer tenor +songs than 'The enemy said,' or finer duets than 'The Lord is a man of +war;' and there is not in the history of music an example of choruses +piled up like so many Ossas on Pelions in such majestic strength, and +hurled in open defiance at a public whose ears were itching for Italian +love-lays and English ballads. In these twenty-eight colossal choruses +we perceive at once a reaction against and a triumph over the tastes of +the age. The wonder is, not that the 'Israel' was unpopular, but that +it should have been tolerated; but Handel, while he appears to have been +for years driven by the public, had been, in reality, driving them. His +earliest oratorio, 'Il Trionfo del Tempo' (composed in Italy), had +but two choruses; into his operas more and more were introduced, with +disastrous consequences; but when, at the zenith of his strength, he +produced a work which consisted almost entirely of these unpopular +peculiarities, the public treated him with respect, and actually sat +out three performances in one season! In addition to these two great +oratorios, our composer produced the beautiful music to Dryden's +"St. Caecilia Ode," and Milton's "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso." +Henceforth neither praise nor blame could turn Handel from his appointed +course. He was not yet popular with the musical _dilettanti_, but we +find no more catering to an absurd taste, no more writing of silly +operatic froth. + +Our composer had always been very fond of the Irish, and, at the +invitation of the lord-lieutenant and prominent Dublin amateurs, +he crossed the channel in 1741. He was received with the greatest +enthusiasm, and his house became the resort of all the musical people in +the city of Dublin. One after another his principal works were produced +before admiring audiences in the new Music Hall in Fishamble Street. The +crush to hear the "Allegro" and "Penseroso" at the opening performances +was so great that the doors had to be closed. The papers declared there +never had been seen such a scene before in Dublin. + +Handel gave twelve performances at very short intervals, comprising +all of his finest works. In these concerts the "Acis and Galatea" and +"Alexander's Feast" were the most admired; but the enthusiasm culminated +in the rendition of the "Messiah," produced for the first time on April +13, 1742. The performance was a beneficiary one in aid of poor and +distressed prisoners for debt in the Marshalsea in Dublin. So, by a +remarkable coincidence, the first performance of the "Messiah" literally +meant deliverance to the captives. The principal singers were Mrs. +Cibber (daughter-in-law of Colley Cibber, and afterward one of the +greatest actresses of her time), Mrs. Avoglio, and Mr. Dubourg. The +town was wild with excitement. Critics, poets, fine ladies, and men of +fashion tore rhetoric to tatters in their admiration. A clergyman so +far forgot his Bible in his rapture as to exclaim to Mrs. Cibber, at +the close of one of her airs, "Woman, for this be all thy sins forgiven +thee." The penny-a-liners wrote that "words were wanting to express the +exquisite delight," etc. And--supreme compliment of all, for Handel was +a cynical bachelor--the fine ladies consented to leave their hoops at +home for the second performance, that a couple of hundred or so extra +listeners might be accommodated. This event was the grand triumph of +Handel's life. Years of misconception, neglect, and rivalry were swept +out of mind in the intoxicating delight of that night's success. + + +VII. + +Handel returned to London, and composed a new oratorio, "Samson," for +the following Lenten season. This, together with the "Messiah," heard +for the first time in London, made the stock of twelve performances. +The fashionable world ignored him altogether; the newspapers kept a +contemptuous silence; comic singers were hired to parody his noblest +airs at the great houses; and impudent Horace Walpole had the audacity +to say that he "had hired all the goddesses from farces and singers of +roast-beef, from between the acts of both theatres, with a man with one +note in his voice, and a girl with never a one; and so they sang and +made brave hallelujahs." + +The new field into which Handel had entered inspired his genius to +its greatest energy. His new works for the season of 1744 were the +"Det-tingen Te Deum," "Semele," and "Joseph and his Brethren;" for +the next year (he had again rented the Haymarket Theatre), "Hercules," +"Belshazzar," and a revival of "Deborah." All these works were produced +in a style of then uncommon completeness, and the great expense he +incurred, combined with the active hostility of the fashionable world, +forced him to close his doors and suspend payment. From this time +forward Handel gave concerts whenever he chose, and depended on the +people, who so supported him by their gradually growing appreciation, +that in two years he had paid off all his debts, and in ten years had +accumulated a fortune of L10,000. The works produced during these latter +years were "Judas Maccabaeus," 1747; "Alexander," 1748; "Joshua," +1748; "Susannah," 1749; "Solomon," 1749; "Theodora," 1750; "Choice of +Hercules," 1751; "Jephthah," 1752, closing with this a stupendous series +of dramatic oratorios. While at work on the last, his eyes suffered an +attack which finally resulted in blindness. + +Like Milton in the case of "Paradise Lost," Handel preferred one of his +least popular oratorios, "Theodora." It was a great favorite with him, +and he used to say that the chorus, "He saw the lovely youth," was finer +than anything in the "Messiah." The public were not of this opinion, and +he was glad to give away tickets to any professors who applied for them. +When the "Messiah" was again produced, two of these gentlemen who had +neglected "Theodora" applied for admission. "Oh! your sarvant, meine +Herren!" exclaimed the indignant composer. "You are tamnable dainty! +You would not go to 'Theodora'--dere was room enough to dance dere when +dat was perform." When Handel heard that an enthusiast had offered to +make himself responsible for all the boxes the next time the despised +oratorio should be given--"He is a fool," said he; "the Jews will not +come to it as to 'Judas Maccabaeus,' because it is a Christian story; and +the ladies will not come, because it is a virtuous one." + +Handel's triumph was now about to culminate in a serene and acknowledged +preeminence. The people had recognized his greatness, and the reaction +at last conquered all classes. Publishers vied with each other in +producing his works, and their performance was greeted with great +audiences and enthusiastic applause. His last ten years were a peaceful +and beautiful ending of a stormy career. + + +VIII. + +Thought lingers pleasantly over this sunset period. Handel throughout +life was so wedded to his art, that he cared nothing for the delights of +woman's love. His recreations were simple--rowing, walking, visiting his +friends, and playing on the organ. He would sometimes try to play the +people out at St. Paul's Cathedral, and hold them indefinitely. He would +resort at night to his favorite tavern, the "Queen's Head," where +he would smoke and drink beer with his chosen friends. Here he would +indulge in roaring conviviality and fun, and delight his friends with +sparkling satire and pungent humor, of which he was a great master, +helped by his amusing compound of English, Italian, and German. Often +he would visit the picture galleries, of which he was passionately fond. +His clumsy but noble figure could be seen almost any morning rolling +through Charing Cross; and every one who met old Father Handel treated +him with the deepest reverence. + +The following graphic narrative, taken from the "Somerset House +Gazette," offers a vivid portraiture. Schoelcher, in his "Life of +Handel," says that "its author had a relative, Zachary Hardcastle, +a retired merchant, who was intimately acquainted with all the +most distinguished men of his time, artists, poets, musicians, and +physicians." This old gentleman, who lived at Paper Buildings, was +accustomed to take his morning walk in the garden of Somerset House, +where he happened to meet with another old man, Colley Cibber, and +proposed to him to go and hear a competition which was to take place +at midday for the post of organist to the Temple, and he invited him to +breakfast, telling him at the same time that Dr. Pepusch and Dr. +Arne were to be with him at nine o'clock. They go in; Pepusch arrives +punctually at the stroke of nine; presently there is a knock, the door +is opened, and Handel unexpectedly presents himself. Then follows the +scene: + +"Handel: 'Vat! mein dear friend Hardgasdle--vat! you are merry py +dimes! Vat! and Misder Golley Cibbers too! ay, and Togder Peepbush +as veil! Vell, dat is gomigal. Veil, mein friendts, andt how vags the +vorldt wid you, mein tdears? Bray, bray, do let me sit town a momend.' + +"Pepusch took the great man's hat, Colley Cibber took his stick, and my +great-uncle wheeled round his reading-chair, which was somewhat about +the dimensions of that in which our kings and queens are crowned; and +then the great man sat him down. + +"'Vell, I thank you, gentlemen; now I am at mein ease vonce more. Upon +mein vord, dat is a picture of a ham. It is very pold of me to gome +to preak my fastd wid you uninvided; and I have brought along wid me +a nodable abbetite; for the wader of old Fader Dems is it not a fine +pracer of the stomach?' + +"'You do me great honor, Mr. Handel,' said my great-uncle. 'I take this +early visit as a great kindness.' + +"'A delightful morning for the water,' said Colley Cibber. + +"'Pray, did you come with oars or scullers, Mr. Handel?' said Pepusch. + +"'Now, how gan you demand of me dat zilly question, you who are a +musician and a man of science, Togder Peepbush? Vat gan it concern you +whether I have one votdermans or two votd-ermans--whether I bull out +mine burce for to pay von shilling or two? Diavolo! I gannot go here, or +I gannot go dere, but some one shall send it to some newsbaber, as +how Misder Chorge Vreder-ick Handel did go somedimes last week in a +votderman's wherry, to preak his fastd wid Misder Zac. Hardgasdle; but +it shall be all the fault wid himself, if it shall be but in print, +whether I was rowed by one votdermans or by two votdermans. So, Togder +Peepbush, you will blease to excuse me from dat.' + +"Poor Dr. Pepusch was for a moment disconcerted, but it was soon +forgotten in the first dish of coffee. + +"'Well, gentlemen,' said my great-uncle Zachary, looking at his tompion, +'it is ten minutes past nine. Shall we wait more for Dr. Arne?" + +"'Let us give him another five minutes' chance, Master Hardcastle,' said +Colley Cibber; 'he is too great a genius to keep time.' + +"'Let us put it to the vote,' said Dr. Pepusch, smiling. 'Who holds up +hands?' + +"'I will segond your motion wid all mine heardt,' said Handel. 'I will +hold up mine feeble hands for mine oldt friendt Custos (Arne's name was +Augustine), for I know not who I wouldt waidt for, over andt above mine +oldt rival, Master Dom (meaning Pepusch). Only by your bermission, I +vill dake a snag of your ham, andt a slice of French roll, or a modicum +of chicken; for to dell you the honest fagd, I am all pote famished, +for I laid me down on mine billow in bed the lastd nightd widout +mine supper, at the instance of mine physician, for which I am not +altogeddere inglined to extend mine fastd no longer.' Then, laughing: +'Berhaps, Mister Golley Cibbers, you may like to pote this to the vote? +But I shall not segond the motion, nor shall I holdt up mine hand, as I +will, by bermission, embloy it some dime in a better office. So, if you +blease, do me the kindness for to gut me a small slice of ham.' + +"At this instant a hasty footstep was heard on the stairs, accompanied +by the humming of an air, all as gay as the morning, which was beautiful +and bright. It was the month of May. + +"'Bresto! be quick,' said Handel; he knew it was Arne; 'fifteen minutes +of dime is butty well for an _ad libitum_.' + +"'Mr. Arne,' said my great-uncle's man. + +"A chair was placed, and the social party commenced their dejeuner. + +"'Well, and how do you find yourself, my dear sir?' inquired Arne, with +friendly warmth. + +"'Why, by the mercy of Heaven, and the waders of Aix-la-Chapelle, andt +the addentions of mine togders andt physicians, and oggulists, of lade +years, under Providence, I am surbrizingly pedder--thank you kindly, +Misder Custos. Andt you have also been doing well of lade, as I am +bleased to hear. You see, sir,' pointing to his plate, 'you see, sir, +dat I am in the way for to regruit mine flesh wid the good viands of +Misder Zachary Hardgasdle.' + +"'So, sir, I presume you are come to witness the trial of skill at +the old round church? I understand the amateurs expect a pretty sharp +contest,' said Arne. + +"'Gondest,' echoed Handel, laying down his knife and fork. 'Yes, no +doubt; your amadeurs have a bassion for gondest. Not vot it vos in our +remembrance. Hey, mine friendt? Ha, ha, ha!' + +"'No, sir, I am happy to say those days of envy and bickering, and party +feeling, are gone and past. To be sure we had enough of such disgraceful +warfare: it lasted too long.' + +"'Why, yes; it tid last too long, it bereft me of mine poor limbs: it +tid bereave of that vot is the most blessed gift of Him vot made us, +andt not wee ourselves. And for vot? Vy, for nod-ing in the vorldt pode +the bleasure and bastime of them who, having no widt, nor no want, set +at loggerheads such men as live by their widts, to worry and destroy +one andt anodere as wild beasts in the Golloseum in the dimes of the +Romans.' + +"Poor Dr. Pepusch during this conversation, as my great-uncle observed, +was sitting on thorns; he was in the confederacy professionally only. + +"'I hope, sir,' observed the doctor, 'you do not include me among those +who did injustice to your talents?' + +"'Nod at all, nod at all, God forbid! I am a great admirer of the airs +of the 'Peggar's Obera,' andt every professional gendtleman must do +his best for to live.' + +"This mild return, couched under an apparent compliment, was well +received; but Handel, who had a talent for sarcastic drolling, added: + +"'Pute why blay the Peggar yourself, togder, andt adapt oldt pallad +humsdrum, ven, as a man of science, you could gombose original airs of +your own? Here is mine friendt, Custos Arne, who has made a road for +himself, for to drive along his own genius to the demple of fame.' Then, +turning to our illustrious Arne, he continued, 'Min friendt Custos, +you and I must meed togeder some dimes before it is long, and hold a +_tede-a-tede_ of old days vat is gone; ha, ha! Oh! it is gomigal now dat +id is all gone by. Custos, to nod you remember as it was almost only of +yesterday dat she-devil Guzzoni, andt dat other brecious taugh-ter of +iniquity, Pelzebub's spoiled child, the bretty-f aced Faustina? Oh! the +mad rage vot I have to answer for, vot with one and the oder of these +fine latdies' airs andt graces. Again, to you nod remember dat ubstardt +buppy Senesino, and the goxgomb Farinelli? Next, again, mine some-dimes +nodtable rival Bononcini, and old Borbora? Ha, ha, ha! all at war wid +me, andt all at war wid themselves. Such a gonfusion of rivalshibs, andt +double-facedness, andt hybocrisy, and malice, vot would make a gomigal +subject for a boem in rhymes, or a biece for the stage, as I hopes to be +saved.'" + + +IX. + +We now turn from the man to his music. In his daily life with the world +we get a spectacle of a quick, passionate temper, incased in a +great burly frame, and raging into whirlwinds of excitement at small +provocation; a gourmand devoted to the pleasure of the table, sometimes +indeed gratifying his appetite in no seemly fashion, resembling his +friend Dr. Samuel Johnson in many notable ways. Handel as a man was +of the earth, earthy, in the extreme, and marked by many whimsical and +disagreeable faults. But in his art we recognize a genius so colossal, +massive, and self-poised as to raise admiration to its superlative of +awe. When Handel had disencumbered himself of tradition, convention, +the trappings of time and circumstance, he attained a place in musical +creation, solitary and unique. His genius found expression in forms +large and austere, disdaining the luxuriant and trivial. He embodied +the spirit of Protestantism in music; and a recognition of this fact +is probably the key of the admiration felt for him by the Anglo-Saxon +races. + +Handel possessed an inexhaustible fund of melody of the noblest order; +an almost unequaled command of musical expression; perfect power over +all the resources of his science; the faculty of wielding huge masses +of tone with perfect ease and felicity; and he was without rival in the +sublimity of ideas. The problem which he so successfully solved in the +oratorio was that of giving such dramatic force to the music, in which +he clothed the sacred texts, as to be able to dispense with all scenic +and stage effects. One of the finest operatic composers of the time, +the rival of Bach as an instrumental composer, and performer on the +harpsichord or organ, the unanimous verdict of the musical world is that +no one has ever equaled him in completeness, range of effect, elevation +and variety of conception, and sublimity in the treatment of sacred +music. We can readily appreciate Handel's own words when describing +his own sensations in writing the "Messiah:" "I did think I did see all +heaven before me, and the great God himself." + +The great man died on Good Friday night, 1759, aged seventy-five years. +He had often wished "he might breathe his last on Good Friday, in +hope," he said, "of meeting his good God, his sweet Lord and Saviour, on +the day of his resurrection." The old blind musician had his wish. + + + + +GLUCK + + +Gluck is a noble and striking figure in musical history, alike in the +services he rendered to his art and the dignity and strength of his +personal character. As the predecessor of Wagner and Meyerbeer, who +among the composers of this century have given opera its largest and +noblest expression, he anticipated their important reforms, and in his +musical creations we see all that is best in what is called the new +school. + +The man, the Ritter Christoph Wilibald von Gluck, is almost as +interesting to us as the musician. He moved in the society of princes +with a calm and haughty dignity, their conscious peer, and never +prostituted his art to gain personal advancement or to curry favor with +the great ones of the earth. He possessed a majesty of nature which was +the combined effect of personal pride, a certain lofty self-reliance, +and a deep conviction that he was the apostle of an important musical +mission. + +Gluck's whole life was illumined by an indomitable sense of his own +strength, and lifted by it into an atmosphere high above that of his +rivals, whom, the world has now almost forgotten, except as they were +immortalized by being his enemies. Like Milton and Bacon, who put on +record their knowledge that they had written for all time, Gluck had a +magnificent consciousness of himself. "I have written," he says, "the +music of my 'Ar-mida' in such a manner as to prevent its soon growing +old." This is a sublime vanity inseparable from the great aggressive +geniuses of the world, the wind of the speed which measures their force +of impact. + +Duplessis's portrait of Gluck almost takes the man out of paint to put +him in flesh and blood. He looks down with wide-open eyes, swelling +nostrils, firm mouth, and massive chin. The noble brow, dome-like +and expanded, relieves the massiveness of his face; and the whole +countenance and figure express the repose of a powerful and passionate +nature schooled into balance and symmetry: altogether the presentment +of a great man, who felt that he could move the world and had found the +_pou sto_. Of a large and robust type of physical beauty, Nature seems +to have endowed him on every hand with splendid gifts. Such a man as +this could say with calm simplicity to Marie Antoinette, who inquired +one night about his new opera of "Armida," then nearly finished: +"_Madame, il est bientot fini, et vraiment ce sera superbe._" + +One night Handel listened to a new opera from a young and unknown +composer, the "Caduta de' Giganti," one of Gluck's very earliest works, +written when he was yet corrupted with all the vices of the Italian +method. "Mein Gott! he is an idiot," said Handel; "he knows no more of +counterpoint then mein cook." Handel did not see with prophetic eyes. He +never met Gluck afterward, and we do not know his later opinion of the +composer of "Orpheus and Eurydice" and "Iphigenia in Tauris." But Gluck +had ever the profoundest admiration for the author of the "Messiah." +There was something in these two strikingly similar, as their music was +alike characterized by massive simplicity and strength, not rough-hewn, +but shaped into austere beauty. + +Before we relate the great episode of our composer's life, let us take +a backward glance at his youth. He was the son of a forester in the +service of Prince Lobkowitz born at Weidenwang in the Upper Palatinate, +July 2,1714. Gluck was devoted to music from early childhood, but +received, in connection with the musical art, an excellent education at +the Jesuit College of Kommotau. Here he learned singing, the organ, the +violin and harpsichord, and had a mind to get his living by devoting +his musical talents to the Church. The Prague public recognized in him +a musician of fair talent, but he found but little encouragement to stay +at the Bohemian capital. So he decided to finish his musical education +at Vienna, where more distinguished masters could be had. Prince +Lobkowitz, who remembered his gamekeeper's son, introduced the young man +to the Italian Prince Melzi, who induced him to accompany him to Milan. +As the pupil of the Italian organist and composer, Sammartini, he made +rapid progress in operatic composition. He was successful in pleasing +Italian audiences, and in four years produced eight operas, for which +the world has forgiven him in forgetting them. Then Gluck must go to +London to see what impression he could make on English critics; for +London then, as now, was one of the great musical centres, where every +successful composer or singer must get his brevet. + +Gluck's failure to please in London was, perhaps, an important epoch +in his career. With a mind singularly sensitive to new impressions, and +already struggling with fresh ideas in the laws of operatic composition, +Handel's great music must have had a powerful effect in stimulating +his unconscious progress. His last production in England, "Pyramus and +Thisbe," was a _pasticcio_ opera, in which he embodied the best bits out +of his previous works. The experiment was a glaring failure, as it ought +to have been; for it illustrated the Italian method, which was designed +for mere vocal display, carried to its logical absurdity. + + +II. + +In 1748 Gluck settled in Vienna, where almost immediately his opera of +"Semiramide" was produced. Here he conceived a passion for Marianne, the +daughter of Joseph Pergin, a rich banker; but on account of the father's +distaste for a musical son-in-law, the marriage did not occur till 1750. +"Telemacco" and "Clemenza di Tito" were composed about this time, and +performed in Vienna, Rome, and Naples. In 1755 our composer received the +order of the Golden Spur from the Roman pontiff in recognition of the +merits of two operas performed at Rome, called "Il Trionfo di Camillo" +and "Antigono." Seven years were now actively employed in producing +operas for Vienna and Italian cities, which, without possessing great +value, show the change which had begun to take place in this composer's +theories of dramatic music. In Paris he had been struck with the operas +of Rameau, in which the declamatory form was strongly marked. His early +Italian training had fixed in his mind the importance of pure melody. +From Germany he obtained his appreciation of harmony, and had made a +deep study of the uses of the orchestra. So we see this great reformer +struggling on with many faltering steps toward that result which he +afterward summed up in the following concise description: "My purpose +was to restrict music to its true office, that of ministering to the +expression of poetry, without interrupting the action." + +In Calzabigi Gluck had met an author who fully appreciated his ideas, +and had the talent of writing a libretto in accordance with them. This +coadjutor wrote all the librettos that belonged to Gluck's greatest +period. He had produced his "Orpheus and Eurydice" and "Alceste" in +Vienna with a fair amount of success; but his tastes drew him strongly +to the French stage, where the art of acting and declamation was +cultivated then, as it is now, to a height unknown in other parts of +Europe. So Ave find him gladly accepting an offer from the managers of +the French Opera to migrate to the great city, in which were fermenting +with much noisy fervor those new ideas in art, literature, politics, +and society, which were turning the eyes of all Europe to the French +capital. + +The world's history has hardly a more picturesque and striking +spectacle, a period more fraught with the working of powerful forces, +than that exhibited by French society in the latter part of Louis XV.'s +reign. We see a court rotten to the core with indulgence in every form +of sensuality and vice, yet glittering with the veneer of a social +polish which made it the admiration of the world. A dissolute king +was ruled by a succession of mistresses, and all the courtiers vied in +emulating the vice and extravagance of their master. Yet in this foul +compost-heap art and literature nourished with a tropical luxuriance. +Voltaire was at the height of his splendid career, the most brilliant +wit and philosopher of his age. The lightnings of his mockery attacked +with an incessant play the social, political, and religious shams of +the period. People of all classes, under the influence of his unsparing +satire, were learning to see with clear eyes what an utterly artificial +and polluted age they lived in, and the cement which bound society in a +compact whole was fast melting under this powerful solvent. + +Rousseau, with his romantic philosophy and eloquence, had planted his +new ideas deep in the hearts of his contemporaries, weary with the +artifice and the corruption of a time which had exhausted itself and had +nothing to promise under the old social _regime_. The ideals uplifted in +the "Nouvelle Heloise" and the "Confessions" awakened men's minds with +a great rebound to the charms of Nature, simplicity, and a social order +untrammeled by rules or conventions. The eloquence with which these +theories were propounded carried the French people by storm, and +Rousseau was a demigod at whose shrine worshiped alike duchess and +peasant. The Encyclopedists stimulated the ferment by their literary +enthusiasm, and the heartiness with which they cooperated with the whole +current of revolutionary thought. + +The very atmosphere was reeking with the prophecy of imminent +change. Versailles itself did not escape the contagion. Courtiers +and aristocrats, in worshiping the beautiful ideals set up by the new +school, which were as far removed as possible from their own effete +civilization, did not realize that they were playing with the fire which +was to burn out the whole social edifice of France with such a terrible +conflagration; for, back and beneath all this, there was a people +groaning under long centuries of accumulated wrong, in whose imbruted +hearts the theories applauded by their oppressors with a sort of +_doctrinaire_ delight were working with a fatal fever. + + +III. + +In this strange condition of affairs Gluck found his new sphere of +labor--Gluck, himself overflowing with the revolutionary spirit, full +of the enthusiasm of reform. At first he carried everything before him. +Protected by royalty, he produced, on the basis of an admirable libretto +by Du Rollet, one of the great wits of the time, "Iphigenia in Aulis." +It was enthusiastically received. The critics, delighted to establish +the reputation of one especially favored by the Dau-phiness Marie +Antoinette, exhausted superlatives on the new opera. The Abbe Arnaud, +one of the leading _dilettanti_, exclaimed: "With such music one might +found a new religion!" To be sure, the connoisseurs could not +understand the complexities of the music; but, following the rule of all +connoisseurs before or since, they considered it all the more learned +and profound. So led, the general public clapped their hands, and agreed +to consider Gluck as a great composer. He was called the Hercules of +music; the opera-house was crammed night after night; his footsteps +were dogged in the streets by admiring enthusiasts; the wits and poets +occupied themselves with composing sonnets in his praise; brilliant +courtiers and fine ladies showered valuable gifts on the new musical +oracle; he was hailed as the exponent of Rousseauism in music. We read +that it was considered to be a priceless privilege to be admitted to +the rehearsal of a new opera, to see Gluck conduct in nightcap and +dressing-gown. + +Fresh adaptations of "Orpheus and Eurydice" and of "Alceste" were +produced. The first, brought out in 1784, was received with an +enthusiasm which could be contented only with forty-nine consecutive +performances. The second act of this work has been called one of the +most astonishing productions of the human mind. The public began to show +signs of fickleness, however, on the production of the "Alceste." On the +first night a murmur arose among the spectators: "The piece has fallen." +Abbe Arnaud, Gluck's devoted defender, arose in his box and replied: +"Yes! fallen from heaven." While Mademoiselle Levasseur was singing one +of the great airs, a voice was heard to say, "Ah! you tear out my ears;" +to which the caustic rejoinder was: "How fortunate, if it is to give +you others!" + +Gluck himself was badly bitten, in spite of his hatred of shams and +shallowness, with the pretenses of the time, which professed to dote on +nature and simplicity. In a letter to his old pupil, Marie Antoinette, +wherein he disclaims any pretension of teaching the French a new school +of music, he says: "I see with satisfaction that the language of Nature +is the universal language." + +So, here on the crumbling crust of a volcano, where the volatile French +court danced and fiddled and sang, unreckoning of what was soon to +come, our composer and his admirers patted each other on the back with +infinite complacency. + +But after this high tide of prosperity there was to come a reverse. A +powerful faction, that for a time had been crushed by Gluck's triumph, +after a while raised their heads and organized an attack. There were +second-rate composers whose scores had been laid on the shelf in the +rage for the new favorite; musicians who were shocked and enraged at the +difficulties of his instrumentation; wits who, having praised Gluck for +a while, thought they could now find a readier field for their quills +in satire; and a large section of the public who changed for no earthly +reason but that they got tired of doing one thing. + +Therefore, the Italian Piccini was imported to be pitted against the +reigning deity. The French court was broken up into hostile ranks. Marie +Antoinette was Gluck's patron, but Madame Du Barry, the king's mistress, +declared for Piccini. Abbe Arnaud fought for Gluck; but the witty +Marmontel was the advocate of his rival. The keen-witted Du Rollet +was Gluckist; but La Harpe, the eloquent, was Piccinist. So this +battle-royal in art commenced and raged with virulence. The green-room +was made unmusical with contentions carried out in polite Billingsgate. +Gluck tore up his unfinished score in rage when he learned that his +rival was to compose an opera on the same libretto. La Harpe said: "The +famous Gluck may puff his own compositions, but he can't prevent them +from boring us to death." Thus the wags of Paris laughed and wrangled +over the musical rivals. Berton, the new director, fancied he could +soften the dispute and make the two composers friends; so at a +dinner-party, when they were all in their cups, he proposed that they +should compose an opera jointly. This was demurred to; but it was +finally arranged that they should compose an opera on the same subject. + +"Iphigenia in Tauris," Gluck's second "Iphigenia," produced in 1779, was +such a masterpiece that his rival shut his own score in his portfolio, +and kept it two years. All Paris was enraptured with this great work, +and Gluck's detractors were silenced in the wave of enthusiasm which +swept the public. Abbe Arnaud's opinion was the echo of the general +mind: "There was but one beautiful part, and that was the whole of it." +This opera may be regarded as the most perfect example of Gluck's +school in making the music the full reflex of the dramatic action. While +Orestes sings in the opera, "My heart is calm," the orchestra continues +to paint the agitation of his thoughts. During the rehearsal the +musician failed to understand the exigency and ceased playing. The +composer cried out, in a rage: "Don't you see he is lying? Go on, go +on; he as just killed his mother." On one occasion, when he was praising +Rameau's chorus of "Castor and Pollux," an admirer of his flattered him +with the remark, "But what a difference between this chorus and that of +your 'Iphigenie'!" "Yet it is very well done," said Gluck; "one is only +a religious ceremony, the other is a real funeral." He was wont to say +that in composing he always tried to forget he was a musician. + +Gluck, however, a few months subsequent to this, was so much humiliated +at the non-success of "Echo and Narcissus," that he left Paris in bitter +irritation, in spite of Marie Antoinette's pleadings that he should +remain at the French capital. + +The composer was now advanced in years, and had become impatient and +fretful. He left Paris for Vienna in 1780, having amassed considerable +property. There, as an old, broken-down man, he listened to the young +Mozart's new symphonies and operas, and applauded them with great zeal; +for Gluck, though fiery and haughty in the extreme, was singularly +generous in recognizing the merits of others. + +This was exhibited in Paris in his treatment of Mehul, the Belgian +composer, then a youth of sixteen, who had just arrived in the gay city. +It was on the eve of the first representation of "Iphigenia in Tauris," +when the operatic battle was agitating the public. With all the ardor +of a novice and a devotee, the young musical student immediately threw +himself into the affray, and by the aid of a friend he succeeded in +gaining admittance to the theatre for the final rehearsal of Gluck's +opera. This so enchanted him that he resolved to be present at the +public performance. But, unluckily for the resolve, he had no money, and +no prospect of obtaining any; so, with a determination and a love for +art which deserve to be remembered, he decided to hide himself in one of +the boxes and there to wait for the time of representation. + +"At the end of the rehearsal," writes George Hogarth in his "Memoirs +of the Drama," "he was discovered in his place of concealment by the +servants of the theatre, who proceeded to turn him out very roughly. +Gluck, who had not left the house, heard the noise, came to the +spot, and found the young man, whose spirit was roused, resisting the +indignity with which he was treated. Mehul, finding in whose presence +he was, was ready to sink with confusion; but, in answer to Gluck's +questions, he told him that he was a young musical student from the +country, whose anxiety to be present at the performance of the opera +had led him into the commission of an impropriety. Gluck, as may be +supposed, was delighted with a piece of enthusiasm so flattering to +himself, and not only gave his young admirer a ticket of admission, but +desired his acquaintance." From this artistic _contretemps_, then, arose +a friendship alike creditable to the goodness and generosity of Gluck, +as it was to the sincerity and high order of Mehul's musical talent. + +Gluck's death, in 1787, was caused by overindulgence in wine at a dinner +which he gave to some of his friends. The love of stimulants had grown +upon him in his old age, and had become almost a passion. An enforced +abstinence of some months was succeeded by a debauch, in which he drank +an immense quantity of brandy. The effects brought on a fit of apoplexy, +of which he died, aged seventy-three. + +Gluck's place in musical history is peculiar and well marked, he entered +the field of operatic composition when it was hampered with a great +variety of dry forms, and utterly without soul and poetic spirit. The +object of composers seemed to be to show mere contrapuntal learning, or +to furnish singers opportunity to display vocal agility. The opera, as +a large and symmetrical expression of human emotions, suggested in the +collisions of a dramatic story, was utterly an unknown quantity in art. +Gluck's attention was early called to this radical inconsistency; and, +though he did not learn for many years to develop his musical ideas +according to a theory, and never carried that theory to the logical +results insisted on by his great after-type, Wagner, he accomplished +much in the way of sweeping reform. He elaborated the recitative or +declamatory element in opera with great care, and insisted that his +singers should make this the object of their most careful efforts. The +arias, duos, quartets, etc., as well as the choruses and orchestral +parts, were made consistent with the dramatic motive and situations. +In a word, Gluck aimed with a single-hearted purpose to make music the +expression of poetry and sentiment. + +The principles of Gluck's school of operatic writing may be briefly +summarized as follows: That dramatic music can only reach its highest +power and beauty when joined to a simple and poetic text, expressing +passions true to Nature; that music can be made the language of all the +varied emotions of the heart; that the music of an opera must exactly +follow the rhythm and melody of the words; that the orchestra must be +only used to strengthen and intensify the feeling embodied in the +vocal parts, as demanded by the text or dramatic situation. We get some +further light on these principles from Gluck's letter of dedication to +the Grand-Duke of Tuscany on the publication of "Alceste." He writes: "I +am of opinion that music must be to poetry what liveliness of color and +a happy mixture of light and shade are for a faultless and well-arranged +drawing, which serve to add life to the figures without injuring the +outlines;... that the overture should prepare the auditors for the +character of the action which is to be presented, and hint at the +progress of the same; that the instruments must be employed according to +the degree of interest and passion; that the composer should avoid too +marked a disparity in the dialogue-between the air and recitative, in +order not to break the sense of a period, or interrupt the energy of the +action.... Finally, I have even felt compelled to sacrifice rules to the +improvement of the effect." + +We find in this composer's music, therefore, a largeness and dignity +of treatment which have never been surpassed. His command of melody is +quite remarkable, but his use of it is under severe artistic restraint; +for it is always characterized by breadth, simplicity, and directness. +He aimed at and attained the symmetrical balance of an old Greek play. + + + + +HAYDN. + + +I. + +"Papa Haydn!" Thus did Mozart ever speak of his foster-father in music, +and the title, transmitted to posterity, admirably expressed the sweet, +placid, gentle nature, whose possessor was personally beloved no less +than he was admired. His life flowed, broad and unruffled, like some +great river, unvexed for the most part by the rivalries, jealousies, and +sufferings, oftentimes self-inflicted, which have harassed the careers +of other great musicians. He remained to the last the favorite of the +imperial court of Vienna, and princes followed his remains to their last +resting-place. + +Joseph Haydn was the eldest of the twenty children of Matthias Haydn, a +wheelwright at Rohrau, Lower Austria, where he was born in 1732. At +the age of twelve years he was engaged to sing in Vienna. He became a +chorister in St. Stephen's Church, but offended the choir-master by the +revolt on the part of himself and parents from submitting to the usual +means then taken to perpetuate a fine soprano in boys. So Haydn, who had +surreptitiously picked up a good deal of musical knowledge apart from +the art of singing, was at the age of sixteen turned out on the world. +A compassionate barber, however, took him in, and Haydn dressed and +powdered wigs down-stairs, while he worked away at a little worm-eaten +harpsichord at night in his room. Unfortunate boy! he managed to get +himself engaged to the barber's daughter, Anne Keller, who was for a +good while the Xantippe of his gentle life, and he paid dearly for his +father-in-law's early hospitality. + +The young musician soon began to be known, as he played the violin in +one church, the organ in another, and got some pupils. His first rise +was his acquaintance with Metastasio, the poet laureate of the court. +Through him, Haydn got introduced to the mistress of the Venetian +embassador, a great musical enthusiast, and in her circle he met +Porpora, the best music-master in the world, but a crusty, snarling old +man. Porpora held at Vienna the position of musical dictator and censor, +and he exercised the tyrannical privileges of his post mercilessly. +Haydn was a small, dark-complexioned, insignificant-looking youth, and +Porpora, of course, snubbed him most contemptuously. But Haydn wanted +instruction, and no one in the world could give it so well as the savage +old _maestro_. So he performed all sorts of menial services for him, +cleaned his shoes, powdered his wig, and ran all his errands. The +result was that Porpora softened and consented to give his young admirer +lessons--no great hardship, for young Haydn proved a most apt and +gifted pupil. And it was not long either before the young musician's +compositions attracted public attention and found a sale. The very +curious relations between Haydn and Porpora are brilliantly sketched in +George Sand's "Consuelo." + +At night Haydn, accompanied by his friends, was wont to wander about +Vienna by moonlight, and serenade his patrons with trios and quartets of +his own composition. He happened one night to stop under the window +of Bernardone Kurz, a director of a theatre and the leading clown of +Vienna. Down rushed Kurz very excitedly. "Who are you?" he shrieked. +"Joseph Haydn." "Whose music is it?" "Mine." "The deuce it is! And +at your age, too!" "Why, I must begin with something." "Come along +up-stairs." + +The enthusiastic director collared his prize, and was soon deep in +explaining a wonderful libretto, entitled "The Devil on Two Sticks." +To write music for this was no easy matter; for it was to represent all +sorts of absurd things, among others a tempest. The tempest made Haydn +despair, and he sat at the piano, banging away in a reckless fashion, +while the director stood behind him, raving in a disconnected way as +to his meaning. At last the distracted pianist brought his fists +simultaneously down upon the key-board, and made a rapid sweep of all +the notes. + +"Bravo! bravo! that is the tempest!" cried Kurz. + +The buffoon also laid himself on a chair, and had it carried about the +room, during which he threw out his limbs in imitation of the act of +swimming. Haydn supplied an accompaniment so suitable that Kurz soon +landed on _terra firma_, and congratulated the composer, assuring him +that he was the man to compose the opera. By this stroke of good luck +our young musician received one hundred and thirty florins. + + +II. + +At the age of twenty-eight Haydn composed his first symphony. Soon after +this he attracted the attention of the old Prince Esterhazy, all the +members of whose family have become known in the history of music as +generous Maecenases of the art. + +"What! you don't mean to say that little blackamoor" (alluding to +Haydn's brown complexion and small stature) "composed that symphony?" + +"Surely, prince," replied the director Friedburg, beckoning to Joseph +Haydn, who advanced toward the orchestra. + +"Little Moor," says the old gentleman, "you shall enter my service. I am +Prince Esterhazy. What's your name?" + +"Haydn." + +"Ah! I've heard of you. Get along and dress yourself like a +_Kapellmeister_. Clap on a new coat, and mind your wig is curled. You're +too short. You shall have red heels; but they shall be high, that your +stature may correspond with your merit." + +So he went to live at Eisenstadt in the Esterhazy household, and +received a salary of four hundred florins, which was afterward raised to +one thousand by Prince Nicholas Esterhazy. Haydn continued the intimate +friend and associate of Prince Nicholas for thirty years, and death only +dissolved the bond between them. In the Esterhazy household the life of +Haydn was a very quiet one, a life of incessant and happy industry; for +he poured out an incredible number of works, among them not a few of +his most famous ones. So he spent a happy life in hard labor, alternated +with delightful recreations at the Esterhazy country-seat, mountain +rambles, hunting and fishing, open-air concerts, musical evenings, etc. + +A French traveler who visited Esterhaz about 1782 says: "The chateau +stands quite solitary, and the prince sees nobody but his officials +and servants, and strangers who come hither from curiosity. He has +a puppet-theatre, which is certainly unique in character. Here the +grandest operas are produced. One knows not whether to be amazed or to +laugh at seeing 'Alceste,' 'Alcides,' etc., put on the stage with all +due solemnity and played by puppets. His orchestra is one of the best +I ever heard, and the great Hadyn is his court and theatre composer. +He employs a poet for his singular theatre, whose humor and skill +in suiting the grandest subjects for the stage, and in parodying the +gravest effects, are often exceedingly happy. He often engages a troupe +of wandering players for months at a time, and he himself and his +retinue form the entire audience. They are allowed to come on the stage +uncombed, drunk, their parts not half learned, and half dressed. The +prince is not for the serious and tragic, and he enjoys it when the +players, like Sancho Panza, give loose reins to their humor." + +Yet Haydn was not perfectly contented. He would have been had it not +been for his terrible wife, the hair-dresser's daughter, who had a +dismal, mischievous, sullen nature, a venomous tongue, and a savage +temper. She kept Haydn in hot water continually, till at last he broke +loose from this plague by separating from her. Scandal says that +Haydn, who had a very affectionate and sympathetic nature, found ample +consolation for marital infelicity in the charms and society of the +lovely Boselli, a great singer. He had her picture painted, and humored +all her whims and caprices, to the sore depletion of his pocket. + +In after-years again he was mixed up in a little affair with the great +Mrs. Billington, whose beautiful person was no less marked than her fine +voice. Sir Joshua Reynolds was painting her portrait for him, and had +represented her as St. Cecilia listening to celestial music. Haydn paid +her a charming compliment at one of the sittings. + +"What do you think of the charming Billington's picture?" said Sir +Joshua. + +"Yes," said Haydn, "it is indeed a beautiful picture. It is just like +her, but there's a strange mistake." + +"What is that?" + +"Why, you have painted her listening to the angels, when you ought to +have painted the angels listening to her." + +At one time, during Haydn's connection with Prince Esterhazy, the +latter, from motives of economy, determined to dismiss his celebrated +orchestra, which he supported at great expense. Haydn was the leader, +and his patron's purpose caused him sore pain, as indeed it did all the +players, among whom were many distinguished instrumentalists. Still, +there was nothing to be done but for all concerned to make themselves as +cheerful as possible under the circumstances; so, with that fund of wit +and humor which seems to have been concealed under the immaculate coat +and formal wig of the straitlaced Haydn, he set about composing a work +for the last performance of the royal band, a work which has ever since +borne the appropriate title of the "Farewell Symphony." + +On the night appointed for the last performance a brilliant company, +including the prince, had assembled. The music of the new symphony began +gayly enough--it was even merry. As it went on, however, it became +soft and dreamy. The strains were sad and "long drawn out." At length a +sorrowful wailing began. One instrument after another left off, and each +musician, as his task ended, blew out his lamp and departed with his +music rolled up under his arm. + +Haydn was the last to finish, save one, and this was the prince's +favorite violinist, who said all that he had to say in a brilliant +violin cadenza, when, behold! he made off. + +The prince was astonished. "What is the meaning of all this?" cried he. + +"It is our sorrowful farewell," answered Haydn. + +This was too much. The prince was overcome, and, with a good laugh, +said: "Well, I think I must reconsider my decision. At any rate, we will +not say 'good-by' now." + + +III. + +During the thirty years of Haydn's quiet life with the Esterhazys he had +been gradually acquiring an immense reputation in France, England, and +Spain, of which he himself was unconscious. His great symphonies had +stamped him worldwide as a composer of remarkable creative genius. +Haydn's modesty prevented him from recognizing his own celebrity. +Therefore, we can fancy his astonishment when, shortly after the death +of Prince Nicholas Esterhazy, a stranger called on him and said: "I am +Salomon, from London, and must strike a bargain with you for that city +immediately." + +Haydn was dazed with the suddenness of the proposition, but the old ties +were broken up, and his grief needed recreation and change. Still, he +had many beloved friends, whose society it was hard to leave. Chief +among these was Mozart. "Oh, papa," said Mozart, "you have had no +training for the wide world, and you speak so few languages." "Oh, my +language is understood all over the world," said Papa Haydn, with a +smile. When he departed for England, December 15, 1790, Mozart could +with difficulty tear himself away, and said, with pathetic tears, "We +shall doubtless now take our last farewell." + +Haydn and Mozart were perfectly in accord, and each thought and did well +toward the other. Mozart, we know, was born when Haydn had just reached +manhood, so that when Mozart became old enough to study composition +the earlier works of Haydn's chamber music had been written; and these +undoubtedly formed the studies of the boy Mozart, and greatly influenced +his style; so that Haydn was the model and, in a sense, the instructor +of Mozart. Strange is it then to find, in after-years, the master +borrowing (perhaps with interest!) from the pupil. Such, however, was +the fact, as every amateur knows. At this we can hardly wonder, for +Haydn possessed unbounded admiration not only for Mozart, but also for +his music, which the following shows. Being asked by a friend at Prague +to send him an opera, he replied: + +"With all my heart, if you desire to have it for yourself alone, but if +you wish to perform it in public, I must be excused; for, being written +specially for my company at the Esterhazy Palace, it would not produce +the proper effect elsewhere. I would do a new score for your theatre; +but what a hazardous step it would be to stand in comparison with +Mozart! Oh, Mozart! If I could instill into the soul of every lover of +music the admiration I have for his matchless works, all countries would +seek to be possessed of so great a treasure. Let Prague keep him, ah! +and well reward him, for without that the history of geniuses is bad; +alas! we see so many noble minds crushed beneath adversity. Mozart is +incomparable, and I am annoyed that he is unable to obtain any court +appointment. Forgive me if I get excited when speaking of him, I am so +fond of him." + +Mozart's admiration for Haydn's music, too, was very marked. He and +Herr Kozeluch were one day listening to a composition of Haydn's which +contained some bold modulations. Kozeluch thought them strange, and +asked Mozart whether he would have written them. "I think not," smartly +replied Mozart, "and for this reason: because they would not have +occurred either to you or me!" + +On another occasion we find Mozart taking to task a Viennese professor +of some celebrity, who used to experience great delight in turning to +Haydn's compositions to find therein any evidence of the master's want +of sound theoretical training--a quest in which the pedant occasionally +succeeded. One day he came to Mozart with a great crime to unfold. +Mozart as usual endeavored to turn the conversation, but the learned +professor still went chattering on, till at last Mozart shut his mouth +with the following pill: "Sir, if you and I were both melted down +together, we should not furnish materials for one Haydn." + +It was one of the most beautiful friendships in the history of art; +full of tender offices, and utterly free from the least taint of envy or +selfishness. + + +IV. + +Haydn landed in England after a voyage which delighted him in spite of +his terror of the sea--a feeling which seems to be usual among people of +very high musical sensibilities. In his diary we find recorded: "By four +o'clock we had come twenty miles. The large vessel stood out to sea five +hours longer, till the tide carried it into the harbor. I remained +on deck the whole passage, in order to gaze my fill at that huge +monster--the ocean." + +The novelty of Haydn's concerts--of which he was to give twenty at fifty +pounds apiece--consisted of their being his own symphonies, conducted +by himself in person. Haydn's name, during his serene, uneventful years +with the Ester-hazys, had become world-famous. His reception was most +brilliant. Dinner parties, receptions, invitations without end, attested +the enthusiasm of the sober English; and his appearance at concerts and +public meetings was the signal for stormy applause. How, in the press of +all this pleasure in which he was plunged, he continued to compose the +great number of works produced at this time, is a marvel. He must have +been little less than a Briareus. It was in England that he wrote the +celebrated Salomon symphonies, the "twelve grand," as they are called. +They may well be regarded as the crowning-point of Haydn's efforts in +that form of writing. He took infinite pains with them, as, indeed, +is well proved by an examination of the scores. More elaborate, more +beautiful, and scored for a fuller orchestra than any others of the one +hundred and twenty or thereabouts which he composed, the Salomon set +also bears marks of the devout and pious spirit in which Haydn ever +labored. + +It is interesting to see how, in many of the great works which have won +the world's admiration, the religion of the author has gone hand in hand +with his energy and his genius; and we find Haydn not ashamed to indorse +his score with his prayer and praise, or to offer the fruits of his +talents to the Giver of all. Thus, the symphony in D (No. 6) bears on +the first page of the score the inscription, "In nomine Domini: di me +Giuseppe Haydn, maia 1791, in London;" and on the last page, "Fine, Laus +Deo, 238." + +That genius may sometimes be trusted to judge of its own work may be +gathered from Haydn's own estimate of these great symphonies. + +"Sir," said the well-satisfied Salomon, after a successful performance +of one of them, "I am strongly of opinion that you will never surpass +these symphonies." + +"No!" replied Haydn; "I never mean to try." + +The public, as we have said, was enthusiastic; but such a full banquet +of severe orchestral music was a severe trial to many, and not a few +heads would keep time to the music by steady nods during the slow +movements. Haydn, therefore, composed what is known as the "Surprise" +symphony. The slow movement is of the most lulling and soothing +character, and about the time the audience should be falling into its +first snooze, the instruments having all died away into the softest +_pianissimo_, the full orchestra breaks out with a frightful BANG. It is +a question whether the most vigorous performance of this symphony would +startle an audience nowadays, accustomed to the strident effects of +Wagner and Liszt. A wag in a recent London journal tells us, indeed, +that at the most critical part in the work a gentleman opened one eye +sleepily and said, "Come in." + +Simple-hearted Haydn was delighted at the attention lavished on him +in London. He tells us how he enjoyed his various entertainments and +feastings by such dignitaries as William Pitt, the Lord Chancellor, and +the Duke of Lids (Leeds). The gentlemen drank freely the whole night, +and the songs, the crazy uproar, and smashing of glasses were very +great. He went down to stay with the Prince of Wales (George IV.) who +played on the violoncello, and charmed the composer by his kindness. "He +is the handsomest man on God's earth. He has an extraordinary love of +music, and a great deal of feeling, but very little money." + +To stem the tide of Haydn's popularity, the Italian faction had recourse +to Giardini; and they even imported a pet pupil of Haydn, Pleyel, to +conduct the rival concerts. Our composer kept his temper, and wrote: "He +[Pleyel] behaves himself with great modesty." Later we read, "Pleyel's +presumption is a public laughingstock;" but he adds, "I go to all his +concerts and applaud him." + +Far different were the amenities that passed between Haydn and Giardini. +"I won't know the German hound," says the latter. Haydn wrote, "I +attended his concert at Ranelagh, and he played the fiddle like a hog." + +Among the pleasant surprises Haydn had in England was his visit to +Herschel, the great astronomer, in whom he recognized one of his old +oboe-players. The big telescope amazed him, and so did the patient +star-gazer, who often sat out-of-doors in the most intense cold for five +or six hours at a time. + +Our composer returned to Vienna in May, 1795. with the little fortune of +12,000 florins in his pocket. + + +V. + +In his charming little cottage near Vienna Haydn was the centre of a +brilliant society. Princes and nobles were proud to do honor to him; +and painters, poets, scholars, and musicians made a delightful coterie, +which was not even disturbed by the political convulsions of the time. +The baleful star of Napoleon shot its disturbing influences throughout +Europe, and the roar of his cannon shook the established order of things +with the echoes of what was to come. Haydn was passionately attached to +his country and his emperor, and regarded anxiously the rumblings and +quakings of the period; but he did not intermit his labor, or allow +his consecration to his divine art to be in the least shaken. Like +Archimedes of old, he toiled serenely at his appointed work, while the +political order of things was crumbling before the genius and energy of +the Corsican adventurer. + +In 1798 he completed his great oratorio of "The Creation," on which he +had spent three years of toil, and which embodied his brightest genius. +Haydn was usually a very rapid composer, but he seems to have labored +at the "Creation" with a sort of reverential humility, which never +permitted him to think his work worthy or complete. It soon went the +round of Germany, and passed to England and France, everywhere awakening +enthusiasm by its great symmetry and beauty. Without the sublimity +of Handel's "Messiah," it is marked by a richness of melody, a serene +elevation, a matchless variety in treatment, which make it the most +characteristic of Haydn's works. Napoleon, the first consul, was +hastening to the opera-house to hear this, January 24, 1801, when he was +stopped by an attempt at assassination. + +Two years after "The Creation" appeared "The Seasons," founded on +Thomson's poem, also a great work, and one of his last; for the grand +old man was beginning to think of rest, and he only composed two or +three quartets after this. He was now seventy years old, and went but +little from his own home. His chief pleasure was to sit in his shady +garden, and see his friends, who loved to solace the musical patriarch +with cheerful talk and music. Haydn often fell into deep melancholy, and +he tells us that God revived him; for no more sweet, devout nature ever +lived. His art was ever a religion. A touching incident of his old age +occurred at a grand performance of "The Creation" in 1808. Haydn was +present, but he was so old and feeble that he had to be wheeled in a +chair into the theatre, where a princess of the house of Ester-hazy +took her seat by his side. This was the last time that Haydn appeared +in public, and a very impressive sight it must have been to see the aged +father of music listening to "The Creation" of his younger days, but too +old to take any active share in the performance. The presence of the old +man roused intense enthusiasm among the audience, which could no longer +be suppressed as the chorus and orchestra burst in full power upon the +superb passage, "And there was light." + +Amid the tumult of the enraptured audience the old composer was seen +striving to raise himself. Once on his feet, he mustered up all his +strength, and, in reply to the applause of the audience, he cried out +as loud as he was able: "No, no! not from me, but," pointing to heaven, +"from thence--from heaven above--comes all!" saying which, he fell back +in his chair, faint and exhausted, and had to be carried out of the +room. + +One year after this Vienna was bombarded by the French, and a shot fell +in Haydn's garden. He requested to be led to his piano, and played the +"Hymn to the Emperor" three times over with passionate eloquence and +pathos. This was his last performance. He died five days afterward, aged +seventy-seven, and lies buried in the cemetery of Gumpfenzdorf, in his +own beloved Vienna. + + +VI. + +The serene, genial face of Haydn, as seen in his portraits, measures +accurately the character of his music. In both we see health fulness, +good-humor, vivacity, devotional feeling, and warm affections; a mind +contented, but yet attaching high importance to only one thing in life, +the composing of music. Haydn pursued this with a calm, insatiable +industry, without haste, without rest. His works number eight hundred, +comprising cantatas, symphonies, oratorios, masses, concertos, trios, +sonatas, quartets, minuets, etc., and also twenty-two operas, eight +German and fourteen Italian. + +As a creative mind in music, Haydn was the father of the quartet and +symphony. Adopting the sonata form as scientifically illustrated by +Emanuel Bach, he introduced it into compositions for the orchestra +and the chamber. He developed these into a completeness and full-orbed +symmetry, which have never been improved. Mozart is richer, Beethoven +more sublime, Schubert more luxuriant, Mendelssohn more orchestral and +passionate; but Haydn has never been surpassed in his keen perception +of the capacities of instruments, his subtile distribution of parts, his +variety in treating his themes, and his charmingly legitimate effects. +He fills a large space in musical history, not merely from the number, +originality, and beauty of his compositions, but as one who represents +an era in art-development. + +In Haydn genius and industry were happily united. With a marvelously +rich flow of musical ideas, he clearly knew what he meant to do, and +never neglected the just elaboration of each one. He would labor on a +theme till it had shaped itself into perfect beauty. + +Haydn is illustrious in the history of art as a complete artistic life, +which worked out all of its contents as did the great Goethe. In the +words of a charming writer: "His life was a rounded whole. There was no +broken light about it; it orbed slowly, with a mild, unclouded lustre, +into a perfect star. Time was gentle with him, and Death was kind, for +both waited upon his genius until all was won. Mozart was taken away at +an age when new and dazzling effects had not ceased to flash through +his brain: at the very moment when his harmonies began to have a +prophetic ring of the nineteenth century, it was decreed that he should +not see its dawn. Beethoven himself had but just entered upon an unknown +'sea whose margin seemed to fade forever and forever as he moved;' but +good old Haydn had come into port over a calm sea and after a prosperous +voyage. The laurel wreath was this time woven about silver locks; the +gathered-in harvest was ripe and golden." + + + + +MOZART. + + +I. + +The life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, one of the immortal names in music, +contradicts the rule that extraordinary youthful talent is apt to be +followed by a sluggish and commonplace maturity. His father entered the +room one day with a friend, and found the child bending over a music +score. The little Mozart, not yet five years old, told his father he was +writing a concerto for the piano. The latter examined it, and tears of +joy and astonishment rolled down his face on perceiving its accuracy. + +"It is good, but too difficult for general use," said the friend. + +"Oh," said Wolfgang, "it must be practised till it is learned. This is +the way it goes." So saying, he played it with perfect correctness. + +About the same time he offered to take the violin at a performance of +some chamber music. His father refused, saying, "How can you? You have +never learned the violin." + +"One needs not study for that," said this musical prodigy; and taking +the instrument, he played second violin with ease and accuracy. Such +precocity seems almost incredible, and only in the history of music does +it find any parallel. + +Born in Salzburg, January 27, 1756, he was carefully trained by his +father, who resigned his place as court musician to devote himself +more exclusively to his family. From the earliest age he showed an +extraordinary passion for music and mathematics, scrawling notes and +diagrams in every place accessible to his insatiate pencil. + +Taken to Vienna, the six-year-old virtuoso astonished the court by his +brilliant talents. The future Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, was +particularly delighted with him, and the little Mozart naively said he +would like to marry her, for she was so good to him. His father devoted +several years to an artistic tour, with him and his little less talented +sister, through the German cities, and it was also extended to Paris and +London. Everywhere the greatest enthusiasm was evinced in this charming +bud of promise. The father writes home: "We have swords, laces, +mantillas, snuff-boxes, gold cases, sufficient to furnish a shop; but as +for money, it is a scarce article, and I am positively poor." + +At Paris they were warmly received at the court, and the boy is said +to have expressed his surprise when Mme. Pompadour refused to kiss him, +saying: "Who is she, that she will not kiss me? Have I not been kissed +by the queen?" In London his improvisations and piano sonatas excited +the greatest admiration. Here he also published his third work. These +journeys were an uninterrupted chain of triumphs for the child-virtuoso +on the piano, organ, violin, and in singing. He was made honorary member +of the Academies of Bologna and Verona, decorated with orders, +and received at the age of thirteen an order to write the opera of +"Mithridates," which was successfully produced at Milan in 1770. Several +other fine minor compositions were also written to order at this time +for his Italian admirers. At Rome Mozart attended the Sistine Chapel +and wrote the score of Allegri's great mass, forbidden by the pope to be +copied, from the memory of a single performance. + +The record of Mozart's youthful triumphs might be extended at great +length; but aside from the proof they furnish of his extraordinary +precocity, they have lent little vital significance in the great problem +of his career, except so far as they stimulated the marvelous boy to lay +a deep foundation for his greater future, which, short as it was, was +fruitful in undying results. + + +II. + +Mozart's life in Paris, where he lived with his mother in 1778 and +1779, was a disappointment, for he despised the French nation. His deep, +simple, German nature revolted from Parisian frivolity, in which he +found only sensuality and coarseness, disguised under a thin veneering +of social grace. He abhorred French music in these bitter terms: "The +French are and always will be downright donkeys. They cannot sing, they +scream." It was just at this time that Gluck and Piccini were having +their great art-duel. We get a glimpse of the pious tendency of the +young composer in his characterization of Voltaire: "The ungodly +arch-villain, Voltaire, has just died like a dog." Again he writes: +"Friends who have no religion cannot long be my friends.... I have such +a sense of religion that I shall never do anything that I would not do +before the whole world." + +With Mozart's return to Germany in 1779, being then twenty-three years +of age, comes the dawn of his classical period as a composer. The +greater number of his masses had already been written, and now he +settled himself in serious earnest to the cultivation of a true German +operatic school. This found its dawn in the production of "Idomeneo," +his first really great work for the lyric stage. + +The young composer had hard struggles with poverty in these days. His +letters to his father are full of revelations of his friction with +the little worries of life. Lack of money pinched him close, yet his +cheerful spirit was ever buoyant. "I have only one small room; it is +quite crammed with a piano, a table, a bed, and a chest of drawers," he +writes. + +Yet he would marry; for he was willing to face poverty in the +companionship of a loving woman who dared to face it with him. At +Mannheim he had met a beautiful young singer, Aloysia Weber, and he went +to Munich to offer her marriage. She, however, saw nothing attractive +in the thin, pale young man, with his long nose, great eyes, and +little head; for he was anything but prepossessing. A younger sister, +Constance, however, secretly loved Mozart, and he soon transferred his +repelled affections to this charming woman, whom he married in 1782 at +the house of Baroness Waldstetten. His _naive_ reasons for marrying show +Mozart's ingenuous nature. He had no one to take care of his linen, he +would not live dissolutely like other young men, and he loved Constance +Weber. His answer to his father, who objected on account of his poverty, +is worth quoting: + +"Constance is a well-conducted, good girl, of respectable parentage, and +I am in a position to earn at least _daily bread_ for her. We love +each other, and are resolved to marry. All that you have written or +may possibly write on the subject can be nothing but well-meant advice, +which, however good and sensible, can no longer apply to a man who has +gone so far with a girl." + +Poor as Mozart was, he possessed such integrity and independence that +he refused a most liberal offer from the King of Prussia to become his +chapel-master, for some unexplained reason which involved his sense of +right and wrong. The first year of his marriage he wrote "Il Seraglio," +and made the acquaintance of the aged Gluck, who took a deep interest in +him and warmly praised his genius. Haydn, too, recognized his brilliant +powers. "I tell you, on the word of an honest man," said the author of +the "Creation" to Leopold Mozart, the father, who asked his opinion, +"that I consider your son the greatest composer I have ever heard. He +writes with taste, and possesses a thorough knowledge of composition." + +Poverty and increasing expense pricked Mozart into intense, restless +energy. His life had no lull in its creative industry. His splendid +genius, insatiable and tireless, broke down his body, like a sword +wearing out its scabbard. He poured out symphonies, operas, and sonatas +with such prodigality as to astonish us, even when recollecting how +fecund the musical mind has often been. Alike as artist and composer, he +never ceased his labors. Day after day and night after night he hardly +snatched an hour's rest. We can almost fancy he foreboded how short +his brilliant life was to be, and was impelled to crowd into its brief +compass its largest measure of results. + +Yet he was always pursued by the spectre of want. Oftentimes his sick +wife could not obtain needed medicines. He made more money than most +musicians, yet was always impoverished. But it was his glory that he +was never impoverished by sensual indulgence, extravagance, and riotous +living, but by his lavish generosity to those who in many instances +needed help less than himself. Like many other men of genius and +sensibility, he could not say "no" to even the pretense of distress and +suffering. + + +III. + +The culminating point of Mozart's artistic development was in 1786. The +"Marriage of Figaro" was the first of a series of masterpieces which +cannot be surpassed alike for musical greatness and their hold on +the lyric stage. The next year "Don Giovanni" saw the light, and was +produced at Prague. The overture of this opera was composed and scored +in less than six hours. The inhabitants of Prague greeted the work with +the wildest enthusiasm, for they seemed to understand Mozart better than +the Viennese. + +During this period he made frequent concert tours to recruit his +fortunes, but with little financial success. Presents of watches, +snuff-boxes, and rings were common, but the returns were so small that +Mozart was frequently obliged to pawn his gifts to purchase a dinner and +lodging. What a comment on the period which adored genius, but allowed +it to starve! His audiences could be enthusiastic enough to carry him +to his hotel on their shoulders, but probably never thought that the +wherewithal of a hearty supper was a more seasonable homage. So our +musician struggled on through the closing years of his life with the +wolf constantly at his door, and an invalid wife whom he passionately +loved, yet must needs see suffer from the want of common necessaries. In +these modern days, when distinguished artists make princely fortunes +by the exercise of their musical gifts, it is not easy to believe that +Mozart, recognized as the greatest pianoforte player and composer of his +time by all of musical Germany, could suffer such dire extremes of want +as to be obliged more than once to beg for a dinner. In 1791 he composed +the score of the "Magic Flute" at the request of Schikaneder, a Viennese +manager, who had written the text from a fairy tale, the fantastic +elements of which are peculiarly German in their humor. Mozart put +great earnestness into the work, and made it the first German opera of +commanding merit, which embodied the essential intellectual sentiment +and kindly warmth of popular German life. The manager paid the composer +but a trifle for a work whose transcendent success enabled him to build +a new opera-house and laid the foundation of a large fortune. We are +told, too, that at the time of Mozart's death in extreme want, when his +sick wife, half maddened with grief, could not buy a coffin for the dead +composer, this hard-hearted wretch, who owed his all to the genius of +the great departed, rushed about through Vienna bewailing the loss to +music with sentimental tears, but did not give the heart-broken widow +one kreutzer to pay the expense of a decent burial. + +In 1791 Mozart's health was breaking down with great rapidity, though +he himself would never recognize his own swiftly advancing fate. He +experienced, however, a deep melancholy which nothing could remove. For +the first time his habitual cheerfulness deserted him. His wife had been +enabled through the kindness of her friends to visit the healing waters +of Baden, and was absent. + +An incident now occurred which impressed Mozart with an ominous chill. +One night there came a stranger, singularly dressed in gray, with an +order for a requiem to be composed without fail within a month. The +visitor, without revealing his name, departed in mysterious gloom, as +he came. Again the stranger called and solemnly reminded Mozart of his +promise. The composer easily persuaded himself that this was a visitor +from the other world, and that the requiem would be his own; for he +was exhausted with labor and sickness, and easily became the prey of +superstitious fancies. When his wife returned, she found him with a +fatal pallor on his face, silent and melancholy, laboring with intense +absorption on the funereal mass. He would sit brooding over the score +till he swooned away in his chair, and only come to consciousness to +bend his waning energies again to their ghastly work. The mysterious +visitor, whom Mozart believed to be the precursor of his death, we now +know to have been Count Walseck, who had recently lost his wife, and +wished a musical memorial. + +His final sickness attacked the composer while laboring at the requiem. +The musical world was ringing with the fame of his last opera. To the +dying man was brought the offer of the rich appointment of organist of +St. Stephen's Cathedral. Most flattering propositions were made him by +eager managers, who had become thoroughly awake to his genius when it +was too late. The great Mozart was dying in the very prime of his youth +and his powers, when success was in his grasp and the world opening wide +its arms to welcome his glorious gifts with substantial recognition; +but all too late; for he was doomed to die in his spring-tide, though "a +spring mellow with all the fruits of autumn." + +The unfinished requiem lay on the bed, and his last efforts were to +imitate some peculiar instrumental effects, as he breathed out his life +in the arms of his wife and his friend Suessmaier. + +The epilogue to this life-drama is one of the saddest in the history of +art: a pauper funeral for one of the world's greatest geniuses. "It was +late one winter afternoon," says an old record, "before the coffin was +deposited on the side aisles on the south side of St. Stephen's. Van +Swieten, Salieri, Suessmaier, and two unknown musicians were the only +persons present besides the officiating priest and the pall-bearers. +It was a terribly inclement day; rain and sleet came down fast; and an +eye-witness describes how the little band of mourners stood shivering +in the blast, with their umbrellas up, round the hearse, as it left +the door of the church. It was then far on in the dark cold December +afternoon, and the evening was fast closing in before the solitary +hearse had passed the Stubenthor, and reached the distant graveyard of +St. Marx, in which, among the 'third class,' the great composer of the +'G minor Symphony' and the 'Requiem' found his resting-place. By this +time the weather had proved too much for all the mourners; they had +dropped off one by one, and Mozart's body was accompanied only by the +driver of the carriage. There had been already two pauper funerals that +day--one of them a midwife--and Mozart was to be the third in the grave +and the uppermost. + +"When the hearse drew up in the slush and sleet at the gate of the +graveyard, it was welcomed by a strange pair, Franz Harruschka, the +assistant grave-digger, and his mother Katharina, known as 'Frau Katha,' +who filled the quaint office of official mendicant to the place. + +"The old woman was the first to speak: 'Any coaches or mourners coming?' + +"A shrug from the driver of the hearse was the only response. + +"'Whom have you got there, then?' continued she. + +"'A band-master,' replied the other. + +"'A musician? they're a poor lot; then I've no more money to look for +to-day. It is to be hoped we shall have better luck in the morning.' + +"To which the driver said, with a laugh: 'I'm devilish thirsty, too--not +a kreutzer of drink-money have I had.' + +"After this curious colloquy the coffin was dismounted and shoved into +the top of the grave already occupied by the two paupers of the morning; +and such was Mozart's last appearance on earth." + +To-day no stone marks the spot where were deposited the last remains +of one of the brightest of musical spirits; indeed, the very grave is +unknown, for it was the grave of a pauper. + + +IV. + +Mozart's charming letters reveal to us such a gentle, sparkling, +affectionate nature, as to inspire as much love for the man as +admiration for his genius. Sunny humor and tenderness bubble in almost +every sentence. A clever writer says that "opening these is like +opening a painted tomb.... The colors are all fresh, the figures are all +distinct." + +No better illustration of the man Mozart can be had than in a few +extracts from his correspondence. + +He writes to his sister from Rome while yet a mere lad: + +"I am, thank God! except my miserable pen, well, and send you and mamma +a thousand kisses. I wish you were in Rome; I am sure it would please +you. Papa says I am a little fool, but that is nothing new. Here we have +but one bed; it is easy to understand that I can't rest comfortably +with papa. I shall be glad when we get into new quarters. I have just +finished drawing the Holy Peter with his keys, the Holy Paul with his +sword, and the Holy Luke with my sister. I have had the honor of kissing +St. Peter's foot; and because I am so small as to be unable to reach it, +they had to lift me up. I am the same old +"Wolfgang." + +Mozart was very fond of this sister Nannerl, and he used to write to +her in a playful mosaic of French, German, and Italian. Just after his +wedding he writes: + +"My darling is now a hundred times more joyful at the idea of going to +Salzburg, and I am willing to stake--ay, my very life, that you will +rejoice still more in my happiness when you know her; if, indeed, in +your estimation, as in mine, a high-principled, honest, virtuous, and +pleasing wife ought to make a man happy." + +Late in his short life he writes the following characteristic note to a +friend, whose life does not appear to have been one of the most regular: + +"Now tell me, my dear friend, how you are. I hope you are all as well as +we are. You cannot fail to be happy, for you possess everything that +you can wish for at your age and in your position, especially as you +now seem to have entirely given up your former mode of life. Do you not +every day become more convinced of the truth of the little lectures I +used to inflict on you? Are not the pleasures of a transient, capricious +passion widely different from the happiness produced by rational and +true love? I feel sure that you often in your heart thank me for my +admonitions. I shall feel quite proud if you do. But, jesting apart, +you do really owe me some little gratitude if you are become worthy of +Fraeulein N------, for I certainly played no insignificant part in your +improvement or reform. + +"My great-grandfather used to say to his wife, my great-grandmother, +who in turn told it to her daughter, my mother, who repeated it to her +daughter, my own sister, that it was a very great art to talk eloquently +and well, but an equally great one to know the right moment to stop. I +therefore shall follow the advice of my sister, thanks to our mother, +grandmother, and great-grandmother, and thus end, not only my moral +ebullition, but my letter." + +His playful tenderness lavished itself on his wife in a thousand quaint +ways. He would, for example, rise long before her to take his horseback +exercise, and always kiss her sleeping face and leave a little note like +the following resting on her forehead: "Good-morning, dear little wife! +I hope you have had a good sleep and pleasant dreams. I shall be back in +two hours. Behave yourself like a good little girl, and don't run away +from your husband." + +Speaking of an infant child, our composer would say merrily, "That boy +will be a true Mozart, for he always cries in the very key in which I am +playing." + +Mozart's musical greatness, shown in the symmetry of his art as well as +in the richness of his inspirations, has been unanimously acknowledged +by his brother composers. Meyerbeer could not restrain his tears when +speaking of him. Weber, Mendelssohn, Rossini, and Wagner always praise +him in terms of enthusiastic admiration. Haydn called him the greatest +of composers. In fertility of invention, beauty of form, and exactness +of method, he has never been surpassed, and has but one or two rivals. +The composer of three of the greatest operas in musical history, besides +many of much more than ordinary excellence; of symphonies that rival +Haydn's for symmetry and melodic affluence; of a great number of +quartets, quintets, etc.; and of pianoforte sonatas which rank high +among the best; of many masses that are standard in the service of the +Catholic Church; of a great variety of beautiful songs--there is hardly +any form of music which he did not richly adorn with the treasures of +his genius. We may well say, in the words of one of his most competent +critics: + +"Mozart was a king and a slave--king in his own beautiful realm of +music; slave of the circumstances and the conditions of this world. +Once over the boundaries of his own kingdom, and he was supreme; but the +powers of the earth acknowledged not his sovereignty." + + + + +BEETHOVEN. + + +I. + +The name and memory of this composer awaken, in the heart of the lover +of music, sentiments of the deepest reverence and admiration. His life +was so marked with affliction and so isolated as to make him, in his +environment of conditions as a composer, a unique figure. + +The principal fact which made the exterior life of Beethoven so bare of +the ordinary pleasures that brighten and sweeten existence, his total +deafness, greatly enriched his spiritual life. Music finally became to +him a purely intellectual conception, for he was without any sensual +enjoyment of its effects. To this Samson of music, for whom the ear was +like the eye to other men, Milton's lines may indeed well apply: + + "Oh! dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon! + Irrecoverably dark--total eclipse, + Without all hope of day! + Oh first created Beam, and thou, great Word, + 'Let there be light,' and light was over all, + Why am I thus bereaved thy prime decree? + The sun to me is dark." + +To his severe affliction we owe alike many of the defects of his +character and the splendors of his genius. All his powers, concentrated +into a spiritual focus, wrought such things as lift him into a solitary +greatness. The world has agreed to measure this man as it measures +Homer, Dante, and Shakespeare. We do not compare him with others. + +Beethoven had the reputation among his contemporaries of being harsh, +bitter, suspicious, and unamiable. There is much to justify this in the +circumstances of his life; yet our readers will discover much to show, +on the other hand, how deep, strong, and tender was the heart which was +so wrung and tortured, and wounded to the quick by-- + +"The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune." + +Weber gives a picture of Beethoven: "The square Cyclopean figure attired +in a shabby coat with torn sleeves." Everybody will remember his noble, +austere face, as seen in the numerous prints: the square, massive head, +with the forest of rough hair; the strong features, so furrowed with the +marks of passion and sadness; the eyes, with their look of introspection +and insight; the whole expression of the countenance as of an ancient +prophet. Such was the impression made by Beethoven on all who saw him, +except in his moods of fierce wrath, which toward the last were not +uncommon, though short-lived. A sorely tried, sublimely gifted man, he +met his fate stubbornly, and worked out his great mission with all his +might and main, through long years of weariness and trouble. Posterity +has rewarded him by enthroning him on the highest peaks of musical fame. + + +II. + +Ludwig van Beethoven was born at Bonn, in 1770. It is a singular fact +that at an early age he showed the deepest distaste for music, unlike +the other great composers, who evinced their bent from their earliest +years. His father was obliged to whip him severely before he would +consent to sit down at the harpsichord; and it was not till he was +past ten that his genuine interest in music showed itself. His first +compositions displayed his genius. Mozart heard him play them, and said, +"Mind, you will hear that boy talked of." Haydn, too, met Beethoven for +the first and only time when the former was on his way to England, +and recognized his remarkable powers. He gave him a few lessons in +composition, and was after that anxious to claim the young Titan as a +pupil. + +"Yes," growled Beethoven, who for some queer reason never liked Haydn, +"I had some lessons of him, indeed, but I was not his disciple. I never +learned anything from him." + +Beethoven made a profound impression even as a youth on all who +knew him. Aside from the palpable marks of his power, there was +an indomitable _hauteur_, a mysterious, self-wrapped air as of one +constantly communing with the invisible, an unconscious assertion of +mastery about him, which strongly impressed the imagination. + +At the very outset of his career, when life promised all fair and bright +things to him, two comrades linked themselves to him, and ever after +that refused to give him up--grim poverty and still grimmer disease. +About the same time that he lost a fixed salary through the death of +his friend the Elector of Cologne, he began to grow deaf. Early in +1800, walking one day in the woods with his devoted friend and pupil, +Ferdinand Ries, he disclosed the sad secret to him that the whole joyous +world of sound was being gradually closed up to him; the charm of the +human voice, the notes of the woodland birds, the sweet babblings of +Nature, jargon to others, but intelligible to genius, the full-born +splendors of _heard_ music--all, all were fast receding from his grasp. + +Beethoven was extraordinarily sensitive to the influences of Nature. +Before his disease became serious he writes: "I wander about here with +music-paper among the hills, and dales, and valleys, and scribble a good +deal. No man on earth can love the country as I do." But one of Nature's +most delightful modes of speech to man was soon to be utterly lost to +him. At last he became so deaf that the most stunning crash of thunder +or the _fortissimo_ of the full orchestra were to him as if they were +not. His bitter, heartrending cry of agony, when he became convinced +that the misfortune was irremediable, is full of eloquent despair: "As +autumn leaves wither and fall, so are my hopes blighted. Almost as I +came, I depart. Even the lofty courage, which so often animated me in +the lovely days of summer, is gone forever. O Providence! vouchsafe me +one day of pure felicity! How long have I been estranged from the glad +echo of true joy! When, O my God! when shall I feel it again in the +temple of Nature and man? Never!" + +And the small-souled, mole-eyed gossips and critics called him hard, +churlish, and cynical--him, for whom the richest thing in Nature's +splendid dower had been obliterated, except a soul, which never in its +deepest sufferings lost its noble faith in God and man, or allowed its +indomitable courage to be one whit weakened. That there were periods +of utterly rayless despair and gloom we may guess; but not for long did +Beethoven's great nature cower before its evil genius. + + +III. + +Within three years, from 1805 to 1808, Beethoven composed some of his +greatest works: the oratorio of "The Mount of Olives," the opera of +"Fidelio," and the two noble symphonies, "Pastorale" and "Eroica," +besides a large number of concertos, sonatas, songs, and other +occasional pieces. However gloomy the externals of his life, his +creative activities knew no cessation. + +The "Sinfonia Eroica," the "Choral" only excepted, is the longest of +the immortal nine, and is one of the greatest examples of musical +portraiture extant. All the great composers from Handel to Wagner have +attempted what is called descriptive music with more or less success, +but never have musical genius and skill achieved a result so admirable +in its relation to its purpose and by such strictly legitimate means as +in this work. + +"The 'Eroica,'" says a great writer, "is an attempt to draw a musical +portrait of an historical character--a great statesman, a great +general, a noble individual; to represent in music--Beethoven's own +language--what M. Thiers has given in words and Paul Delaroche in +painting." Of Beethoven's success another writer has said: "It wants +no title to tell its meaning, for throughout the symphony the hero is +visibly portrayed." + +It is anything but difficult to realize why Beethoven should have +admired the first Napoleon. Both the soldier and musician were made +of that sturdy stuff which would and did defy the world; and it is not +strange that Beethoven should have desired in some way--and he knew +of no better course than through his art--to honor one so +characteristically akin to himself, and who at that time was the most +prominent man in Europe. Beethoven began the work in 1802, and in 1804 +it was completed, and bore the following title: + + Sinfonia grande + + "Napoleon Bonaparte" + + 1804 in August + + del Sigr + + Louis van Beethoven + + Sinfonia 3. + + Op. 55. + + +This was copied and the original score dispatched to the embassador for +presentation, while Beethoven retained the copy. Before the composition +was laid before Napoleon, however, the great general had accepted the +title of Emperor. No sooner did Beethoven hear of this from his pupil +Ries than he started up in a rage, and exclaimed: "After all, then, he's +nothing but an ordinary mortal! He will trample the rights of men under +his feet!" saying which, he rushed to his table, seized the copy of the +score, and tore the title-page completely off. From this time Beethoven +hated Napoleon, and never again spoke of him in connection with the +symphony until he heard of his death in St. Helena, when he observed, "I +have already composed music for this calamity," evidently referring to +the "Funeral March" in this symphony. + +The opera of "Fidelio," which he composed about the same time, may be +considered, in the severe sense of a great and symmetrical musical work, +the finest lyric drama ever written, with the possible exception of +Gluck's "Orpheus and Eurydice" and "Iphigenia in Tauris." It is rarely +performed, because its broad, massive, and noble effects are beyond +the capacity of most singers, and belong to the domain of pure music, +demanding but little alliance with the artistic clap-trap of startling +scenery and histrionic extravagance. Yet our composer's conscience shows +its completeness in his obedience to the law of opera; for the music he +has written to express the situations cannot be surpassed for beauty, +pathos, and passion. Beethoven, like Mendelssohn, revolted from the idea +of lyric drama as an art-inconsistency, but he wrote "Fidelio" to show +his possibilities in a direction with which he had but little sympathy. + +He composed four overtures for this opera at different periods, on +account of the critical caprices of the Viennese public--a concession to +public taste which his stern independence rarely made. + + +IV. + +Beethoven's relations with women were peculiar and characteristic, as +were all the phases of a nature singularly self-poised and robust. Like +all men of powerful imagination and keen (though perhaps not delicate) +sensibility, he was strongly attracted toward the softer sex. But a +certain austerity of morals, and that purity of feeling which is the +inseparable shadow of one's devotion to lofty aims, always kept +him within the bounds of Platonic affection. Yet there is enough +in Beethoven's letters, as scanty as their indications are in this +direction, to show what ardor and glow of feeling he possessed. + +About the time that he was suffering keenly with the knowledge of his +fast-growing infirmity, he was bound by a strong tie of affection to +Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, his "immortal beloved," "his angel," +"his all," "his life," as he called her in a variety of passionate +utterances. It was to her that he dedicated his song "Adelaida," which +as an expression of lofty passion is world-famous. Beethoven was very +much dissatisfied with the work even in the glow of composition. Before +the notes were dry on the music paper, the composer's old friend Barth +was announced. "Here," said Beethoven, putting a roll of score paper in +Earth's hands, "look at that. I have just finished it, and don't like +it. There is hardly fire enough in the stove to burn it, but I will +try." Barth glanced through the composition, then sang it, and soon grew +into such enthusiasm as to draw from Beethoven the expression, "No? +then we will not burn it, old fellow." Whether it was the reaction of +disgust, which so often comes to genius after the tension of work, or +whether his ideal of its lovely theme was so high as to make all effort +seem inadequate, the world came very near losing what it could not +afford to have missed. + +The charming countess, however, preferred rank, wealth, and unruffled +ease to being linked even with a great genius, if, indeed, the affair +ever looked in the direction of marriage. She married another, and +Beethoven does not seem to have been seriously disturbed. It may be +that, like Goethe, he valued the love of woman not for itself or its +direct results, but as an art-stimulus which should enrich and fructify +his own intellectual life. + +We get glimpses of successors to the fair countess. The beautiful Marie +Pachler was for some time the object of his adoration. The affair is a +somewhat mysterious one, and the lady seems to have suffered from the +fire through which her powerful companion passed unscathed. Again, +quaintest and oddest of all, is the fancy kindled by that "mysterious +sprite of genius," as one of her contemporaries calls her, Bettina +Brentano, the gifted child-woman, who fascinated all who came within her +reach, from Goethe and Beethoven down to princes and nobles. Goethe's +correspondence with this strange being has embalmed her life in classic +literature. + +Our composer's intercourse with women--for he was always alive to the +charms of female society--was for the most part homely and practical in +the extreme, after his deafness destroyed the zest of the more romantic +phases of the divine passion. He accepted adoration, as did Dean Swift, +as a right. He permitted his female admirers to knit him stockings and +comforters, and make him dainty puddings and other delicacies, which he +devoured with huge gusto. He condescended, in return, to go to sleep on +their sofas, after picking his teeth with the candle-snuffers (so +says scandal), while they thrummed away at his sonatas, the artistic +slaughter of which Beethoven was mercifully unable to hear. + + +V. + +The friendship of the Archduke Rudolph relieved Beethoven of the +immediate pressure of poverty; for in 1809 he settled a small +life-pension upon him. The next ten years were passed by him in +comparative ease and comfort, and in this time he gave to the world five +of his immortal symphonies, and a large number of his finest sonatas and +masses. His general health improved very much; and in his love for his +nephew Karl, whom Beethoven had adopted, the lonely man found an outlet +for his strong affections, which was medicine for his soul, though the +object was worthless and ungrateful. + +We get curious and amusing insights into the daily tenor of Beethoven's +life during this period--things sometimes almost grotesque, were they +not so sad. The composer lived a solitary life, and was very much at the +mercy of his servants on account of his self-absorption and deafness. +He was much worried by these prosaic cares. One story of a slatternly +servant is as follows: The master was working at the mass in D, the +great work which he commenced in 1819 for the celebration of the +appointment of the Archduke Rudolph as Archbishop of Olmutz, and which +should have been completed by the following year. Beethoven, however, +became so engrossed with his work, and increased its proportions so +much, that it was not finished until some two years after the event +which it was intended to celebrate. While Beethoven was engaged upon +this score, he one day woke up to the fact that some of his pages were +missing. "Where on earth could they be?" he asked himself, and the +servant too; but the problem remained unsolved. Beethoven, beside +himself, spent hours and hours in searching, and so did the servant, but +it was all in vain. At last they gave up the task as a useless one, and +Beethoven, mad with despair, and pouring the very opposite to blessings +upon the head of her who, he believed, was the author of the mischief, +sat down with the conclusion that he must rewrite the missing part. He +had no sooner commenced a new Kyrie--for this was the movement which was +not to be found--than some loose sheets of score paper were discovered +in the kitchen! Upon examination they proved to be the identical pages +that Beethoven so much desired, and which the woman, in her anxiety to +be "tidy" and to "keep things straight," had appropriated at some time +or other for wrapping up, not only old boots and clothes, but also some +superannuated pots and pans that were greasy and black! + +Thus he was continually fretted by the carelessness or the rascality of +the servants in whom he was obliged to trust. He writes in his diary: +"Nancy is too uneducated for a housekeeper--indeed, quite a beast." "My +precious servants were occupied from seven o'clock till ten trying to +kindle a fire." "The cook's off again." "I shied half a dozen books at +her head." They made his dinner so nasty he couldn't eat it. "No soup +to-day, no beef, no eggs. Got something from the inn at last." + +His temper and peculiarities, too, made it difficult for him to live in +peace with landlords and fellow-lodgers. As his deafness increased, he +struck and thumped harder at the keys of his piano, the sound of which +he could scarcely hear. Nor was this all. The music that filled his +brain gave him no rest. He became an inspired madman. For hours he would +pace the room "howling and roaring" (as his pupil Ries puts it); or he +would stand beating time with hand and foot to the music which was +so vividly present to his mind. This soon put him into a feverish +excitement, when, to cool himself, he would take his water-jug, and, +thoughtless of everything, pour its contents over his hands, after which +he could sit down to his piano. With all this it can easily be imagined +that Beethoven was frequently remonstrated with. The landlord complained +of a damaged ceiling, and the fellow-lodgers declared that either they +or the madman must leave the house, for they could get no rest where he +was. So Beethoven never for long had a resting-place. Impatient at being +interfered with, he immediately packed up and went off to some other +vacant lodging. From this cause he was at one time paying the rent of +four lodgings at once. At times he would get tired of this changing from +one place to another--from the suburbs to the town--and then he would +fall back upon the hospitable home of a patron, once again taking +possession of an apartment which he had vacated, probably without +the least explanation or cause. One admirer of his genius, who always +reserved him a chamber in his establishment, used to say to his +servants: "Leave it empty; Beethoven is sure to come back again." + +The instant that Beethoven entered the house he began to write and +cipher on the walls, the blinds, the table, everything, in the most +abstracted manner. He frequently composed on slips of paper, which he +afterward misplaced, so that he had great difficulty in finding them. At +one time, indeed, he forgot his own name and the date of his birth. + +It is said that he once went into a Viennese restaurant, and, instead of +giving an order, began to write a score on the back of the bill-of-fare, +absorbed and unconscious of time and place. At last he asked how much +he owed. "You owe nothing, sir," said the waiter. "What! do you think I +have not dined?" "Most assuredly." "Very well, then, give me something." +"What do you wish?" "Anything." + +These infirmities do not belittle the man of genius, but set off his +greatness as with a foil. They illustrate the thought of Goethe: "It is +all the same whether one is great or small, he has to pay the reckoning +of humanity." + + +VI. + +Yet beneath these eccentricities what wealth of tenderness, sympathy, +and kindliness existed! His affection for his graceless nephew Karl is a +touching picture. With the rest of his family he had never been on very +cordial terms. His feeling of contempt for snobbery and pretense is very +happily illustrated in his relations with his brother Johann. The latter +had acquired property, and he sent Ludwig his card, inscribed "Johann +van Beethoven, land-owner." The caustic reply was a card, on which +was written, "Ludwig van Beethoven, brain-owner." But on Karl all the +warmest feelings of a nature which had been starving to love and be +loved poured themselves out. He gave the scapegrace every luxury and +indulgence, and, self-absorbed as he was in an ideal sphere, felt the +deepest interest in all the most trivial things that concerned him. Much +to the uncle's sorrow, Karl cared nothing for music; but, worst of +all, he was an idle, selfish, heartless fellow, who sneered at his +benefactor, and valued him only for what he could get from him. At last +Beethoven became fully aware of the lying ingratitude of his nephew, and +he exclaims: "I know now you have no pleasure in coming to see me, which +is only natural, for my atmosphere is too pure for you. God has never +yet forsaken me, and no doubt some one will be found to close my eyes." +Yet the generous old man forgave him, for he says in the codicil of his +will, "I appoint my nephew Karl my sole heir." + +Frequently, glimpses of the true vein showed themselves in such little +episodes as that which occurred when Moscheles, accompanied by his +brother, visited the great musician for the first time. + +"Arrived at the door of the house," writes Moscheles, "I had some +misgivings, knowing Beethoven's strong aversion to strangers. I +therefore told my brother to wait below. After greeting Beethoven, I +said: 'Will you permit me to introduce my brother to you?' + +"'Where is he?' he suddenly replied. + +"'Below.' + +"'What, down-stairs?' and Beethoven immediately rushed off, seized hold +of my brother, saying: 'Am I such a savage that you are afraid to come +near me?' + +"After this he showed great kindness to us." + +While referring to the relations of Moscheles and Beethoven, the +following anecdote related by Mme. Moscheles will be found suggestive. +The pianist had been arranging some numbers of "Fidelio," which he +took to the composer. He, _a la_ Haydn, had inscribed the score with the +words, "By God's help." Beethoven did not fail to perceive this, and he +wrote underneath this phylactory the characteristic advice: "O man, help +thyself." + +The genial and sympathetic nature of Beethoven is illustrated in this +quaint incident: + +It was in the summer of 1811 that Ludwig Lowe, the actor, first met +Beethoven in the dining-room of the Blue Star at Toplitz. Lowe was +paying his addresses to the landlord's daughter; and conversation being +impossible at the hour he dined there, the charming creature one day +whispered to him: "Come at a later hour when the customers are gone and +only Beethoven is here. He cannot hear, and will therefore not be in +the way." This answered for a time; but the stern parents, observing +the acquaintanceship, ordered the actor to leave the house and not to +return. "How great was our despair!" relates Lowe. "We both desired to +correspond, but through whom? Would the solitary man at the opposite +table assist us? Despite his serious reserve and seeming churlishness, +I believe he is not unfriendly. I have often caught a kind smile across +his bold, defiant face." Lowe determined to try. Knowing Beethoven's +custom, he contrived to meet the master when he was walking in the +gardens. Beethoven instantly recognized him, and asked the reason why he +no longer dined at the Blue Star. A full confession was made, and then +Lowe timidly asked if he would take charge of a letter to give to the +girl. + +"Why not?" pleasantly observed the rough-looking musician. "You mean +what is right." + +So pocketing the note, he was making his way onward when Lowe again +interfered. + +"I beg your pardon, Herr van Beethoven, that is not all." + +"So, so," said the master. + +"You must also bring back the answer," Lowe went on to say. + +"Meet me here at this time to-morrow," said Beethoven. + +Lowe did so, and there found Beethoven awaiting him, with the coveted +reply from his lady-love. In this manner Beethoven carried the letters +backward and forward for some five or six weeks--in short, as long as he +remained in the town. + +His friendship with Ferdinand Ries commenced in a way which testified +how grateful he was for kindness. When his mother lay ill at Bonn, he +hurried home from Vienna just in time to witness her death. After the +funeral he suffered greatly from poverty, and was relieved by Ries the +violinist. Years afterward young Ries waited on Beethoven with a letter +of introduction from his father. The composer received him with cordial +warmth, and said: "Tell your father I have not forgotten the death of +my mother." Ever afterward he was a helpful and devoted friend to young +Ries, and was of inestimable value in forwarding his musical career. + +Beethoven in his poverty never forgot to be generous. At a concert given +in aid of wounded soldiers, where he conducted, he indignantly refused +payment with the words: "Say Beethoven never accepts anything where +humanity is concerned." To an Ursuline convent he gave an entirely new +symphony to be performed at their benefit concert. Friend or enemy +never applied to him for help that he did not freely give, even to the +pinching of his own comfort. + + +VII. + +Rossini could write best when he was under the influence of Italian wine +and sparkling champagne. Paesiello liked the warm bed in which to jot +down his musical notions, and we are told that "it was between the +sheets that he planned the 'Barber of Seville,' the 'Molinara,' and so +many other _chefs-d'oeuvre_ of ease and gracefulness." Mozart could chat +and play at billiards or bowls at the same time that he composed the +most beautiful music. Sacchini found it impossible to write anything of +any beauty unless a pretty woman was by his side, and he was surrounded +by his cats, whose graceful antics stimulated and affected him in a +marked fashion. "Gluck," Bombet says, "in order to warm his imagination +and to transport himself to Aulis or Sparta, was accustomed to place +himself in the middle of a beautiful meadow. In this situation, with his +piano before him, and a bottle of champagne on each side, he wrote in +the open air his two 'Iphigenias,' his 'Orpheus,' and some other +works." The agencies which stimulated Beethoven's grandest thoughts +are eminently characteristic of the man. He loved to let the winds +and storms beat on his bare head, and see the dazzling play of the +lightning. Or, failing the sublimer moods of Nature, it was his +delight to walk in the woods and fields, and take in at every pore the +influences which she so lavishly bestows on her favorites. His true life +was his ideal life in art. To him it was a mission and an inspiration, +the end and object of all things; for these had value only as they fed +the divine craving within. + +"Nothing can be more sublime," he writes, "than to draw nearer to the +Godhead than other men, and to diffuse here on earth these Godlike rays +among mortals." Again: "What is all this compared to the grandest of all +Masters of Harmony--above, above?" + + "All experience seemed an arch, wherethrough + Gleamed that untraveled world, whose margin fades + Forever and forever as we move." + +The last four years of our composer's life were passed amid great +distress from poverty and feebleness. He could compose but little; and, +though his friends solaced his latter days with attention and kindness, +his sturdy independence would not accept more. It is a touching fact +that Beethoven voluntarily suffered want and privation in his last +years, that he might leave the more to his selfish and ungrateful +nephew. He died in 1827, in his fifty-seventh year, and is buried in +the Wahring Cemetery near Vienna. Let these extracts from a testamentary +paper addressed to his brothers in 1802, in expectation of death, speak +more eloquently of the hidden life of a heroic soul than any other words +could: + +"O ye, who consider or declare me to be hostile, obstinate, or +misanthropic, what injustice ye do me! Ye know not the secret causes of +that which to you wears such an appearance. My heart and my mind were +from childhood prone to the tender feelings of affection. Nay, I was +always disposed even to perform great actions. But, only consider that, +for the last six years, I have been attacked by an incurable complaint, +aggravated by the unskillful treatment of medical men, disappointed from +year to year in the hope of relief, and at last obliged to submit to the +endurance of an evil the cure of which may last perhaps for years, if +it is practicable at all. Born with a lively, ardent disposition, +susceptible to to the diversions of society, I was forced at an early +age to renounce them, and to pass my life in seclusion. If I strove at +any time to set myself above all this, oh how cruelly was I driven back +by the doubly painful experience of my defective hearing! and yet it +was not possible for me to say to people, 'Speak louder--bawl--for I +am deaf!' Ah! how could I proclaim the defect of a sense that I once +possessed in the highest perfection--in a perfection in which few of my +colleagues possess or ever did possess it? Indeed, I cannot! Forgive +me, then, if ye see me draw back when I would gladly mingle among you. +Doubly mortifying is my misfortune to me, as it must tend to cause me to +be misconceived. From recreation in the society of my fellow-creatures, +from the pleasures of conversation, from the effusions of friendship, I +am cut off. Almost alone in the world, I dare not venture into society +more than absolute necessity requires. I am obliged to live as an +exile. If I go into company, a painful anxiety comes over me, since I am +apprehensive of being exposed to the danger of betraying my situation. +Such has been my state, too, during this half year that I have spent in +the country. Enjoined by my intelligent physician to spare my hearing +as much as possible, I have been almost encouraged by him in my present +natural disposition, though, hurried away by my fondness for society, I +sometimes suffered myself to be enticed into it. But what a humiliation +when any one standing beside me could hear at a distance a flute that I +could not hear, or any one heard the shepherd singing, and I could +not distinguish a sound! Such circumstances brought me to the brink of +despair, and had well-nigh made me put an end to my life: nothing but +my art held my hand. Ah! it seemed to me impossible to quit the world +before I had produced all that I felt myself called to accomplish. And +so I endured this wretched life--so truly wretched, that a somewhat +speedy change is capable of transporting me from the best into the +worst condition. Patience--so I am told--I must choose for my guide. +Steadfast, I hope, will be my resolution to persevere, till it shall +please the inexorable Fates to cut the thread. Perhaps there may be an +amendment--perhaps not; I am prepared for the worst--I, who so early +as my twenty-eighth year was forced to become a philosopher--it is not +easy--for the artist more difficult than for any other. O God! thou +lookest down upon my misery; thou knowest that it is accompanied with +love of my fellow-creatures, and a disposition to do good! O men! when +ye shall read this, think that ye have wronged me; and let the child of +affliction take comfort on finding one like himself, who, in spite of +all the impediments of Nature, yet did all that lay in his power to +obtain admittance into the rank of worthy artists and men.... I go to +meet death with joy. If he comes before I have had occasion to develop +all my professional abilities, he will come too soon for me, in spite +of my hard fate, and I should wish that he had delayed his arrival. But +even then I am content, for he will release me from a state of endless +suffering. Come when thou wilt, I shall meet thee with firmness. +Farewell, and do not quite forget me after I am dead; I have deserved +that you should think of me, for in my lifetime I have often thought of +you to make you happy. May you ever be so!" + + +VIII. + +The music of Beethoven has left a profound impress on art. In speaking +of his genius it is difficult to keep expression within the limits of +good taste. For who has so passed into the very inner _penetralia_ of +his great art, and revealed to the world such heights and depths of +beauty and power in sound? + +Beethoven composed nine symphonies, which, by one voice, are ranked as +the greatest ever written, reaching in the last, known as the "Choral," +the full perfection of his power and experience. Other musicians have +composed symphonic works remarkable for varied excellences, but in +Beethoven this form of writing seems to have attained its highest +possibilities, and to have been illustrated by the greatest variety of +effects, from the sublime to such as are simply beautiful and melodious. +His hand swept the whole range of expression with unfaltering mastery. +Some passages may seem obscure, some too elaborately wrought, some +startling and abrupt, but on all is stamped the die of his great genius. + +Beethoven's compositions for the piano, the sonatas, are no less notable +for range and power of expression, their adaptation to meet all the +varied moods of passion and sentiment. Other pianoforte composers have +given us more warm and vivid color, richer sensual effects of tone, more +wild and bizarre combination, perhaps even greater sweetness in melody; +but we look in vain elsewhere for the spiritual passion and poetry, the +aspiration and longing, the lofty humanity, which make the Beethoven +sonatas the _suspiria de pro-fundis_ of the composer's inner life. In +addition to his symphonies and sonatas, he wrote the great opera of +"Fidelio," and in the field of oratorio asserted his equality with +Handel and Haydn by composing "The Mount of Olives." A great variety of +chamber music, masses, and songs, bear the same imprint of power. He +may be called the most original and conscientious of all the composers. +Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, and Mendelssohn were inveterate +thieves, and pilfered the choicest gems from old and forgotten writers +without scruple. Beethoven seems to have been so fecund in great +conceptions, so lifted on the wings of his tireless genius, so austere +in artistic morality, that he stands for the most part above the +reproach deservedly borne by his brother composers. + +Beethoven's principal title to fame is in his superlative place as a +symphonic composer. In the symphony music finds its highest intellectual +dignity; in Beethoven the symphony has found its loftiest master. + + + + +SCHUBERT, SCHUMANN, AND FRANZ. + + +I. + +Heinrich Heine, in his preface to a translation of "Don Quixote," +discusses the creative powers of different peoples. To the Spaniard +Cervantes is awarded the first place in novel-writing, and to our own +Shakespeare, of course, the transcendent rank in drama. + +"And the Germans," he goes on to say, "what palm is due to them? Well, +we are the best writers of songs in the world. No people possesses such +beautiful _Lieder_ as the Germans. Just at present the nations have too +much political business on hand; but, after that has once been settled, +we Germans, English, Spaniards, Frenchmen, and Italians, will all go to +the green forest and sing, and the nightingale shall be umpire. I feel +sure that in this contest the song of Wolfgang Goethe will gain the +prize." + +There are few, if any, who will be disposed to dispute the verdict of +the German poet, himself no mean rival, in depth and variety of lyric +inspiration, even of the great Goethe. But a greater poet than either +one of this great pair bears the suggestive and impersonal name of "The +People." It is to the countless wealth of the German race in folk-songs, +an affluence which can be traced back to the very dawn of civilization +among them, that the possibility of such lyric poets as Goethe, Heine, +Ruckert, and Uhland is due. From the days of the "Nibelungenlied," that +great epic which, like the Homeric poems, can hardly be credited to any +one author, every hamlet has rung with beautiful national songs, which +sprung straight from the fervid heart of the people. These songs are +balmy with the breath of the forest, the meadow, and river, and +have that simple and bewitching freshness of motive and rhythm which +unconsciously sets itself to music. + +The German _Volkslied_, as the exponent of the popular heart, has a wide +range, from mere comment on historical events, and quaint, droll +satire, such as may be found in Hans Sachs, to the grand protest against +spiritual bondage which makes the burden of Luther's hymn, "Ein' feste +Burg." But nowhere is the beauty of the German song so marked as in +those _Lieder_ treating of love, deeds of arms, and the old mystic +legends so dear to the German heart. Tieck writes of the "Minnesinger +period:" "Believers sang of faith, lovers of love; knights described +knightly actions and battles, and loving, believing knights were their +chief audiences. The spring, beauty, gayety, were objects that could +never tire; great duels and deeds of arms carried away every hearer, the +more surely the stronger they were painted; and as the pillars and dome +of the church encircled the flock, so did Religion, as the highest, +encircle poetry and reality, and every heart in equal love humbled +itself before her." + +A similar spirit has always inspired the popular German song, a simple +and beautiful reverence for the unknown, the worship of heroism, a vital +sympathy with the various manifestations of Nature. Without the fire +of the French _chansons_, the sonorous grace of the Tuscan _stornelli_, +these artless ditties, with their exclusive reliance on true feeling, +possess an indescribable charm. + +The German _Lied_ always preserved its characteristic beauty. Goethe, +and the great school of lyric poets clustered around him, simply +perfected the artistic form, without departing from the simplicity and +soulfulness of the stock from which it came. Had it not been for the +rich soil of popular song, we should not have had the peerless lyrics +of modern Germany. Had it not been for the poetic inspiration of +such word-makers as Goethe and Heine, we should not have had such +music-makers in the sphere of song as Schubert and Franz. + +The songs of these masters appeal to the interest and admiration of the +world, then, not merely in virtue of musical beauty, but in that they +are the most vital outgrowths of Teutonic nationality and feeling. + +The immemorial melodies to which the popular songs of Germany were +set display great simplicity of rhythm, even monotony, with frequent +recurrence of the minor keys, so well adapted to express the melancholy +tone of many of the poems. The strictly strophic treatment is used, or, +in other words, the repetition of the melody of the first stanza in all +the succeeding ones. The chasm between this and the varied form of the +artistic modern song is deep and wide, yet it was overleaped in a single +swift bound by the remarkable genius of Franz Schubert, who, though his +compositions were many and matchless of their kind, died all too young; +for, as the inscription on his tombstone pathetically has it, he was +"rich in what he gave, richer in what he promised." + + +II. + +The great masters of the last century tried their hands in the domain +of song with only comparative success, partly because they did not fully +realize the nature of this form of art, partly because they could +not limit the sweep of the creative power within such narrow limits. +Schubert was a revelation to his countrymen in his musical treatment +of subjective passion, in his instinctive command over condensed, +epigrammatic expression. This rich and gifted life, however quiet in its +exterior facts, was great in its creative and spiritual manifestation. +Born at Vienna of humble parents, January 31, 1797, the early life of +Franz Schubert was commonplace in the extreme, the most interesting +feature being the extraordinary development of his genius. At the age of +fourteen he had made himself a master of counterpoint and harmony, and +composed a large mass of chamber-music and works for the piano. His +poverty was such that he was oftentimes unable to obtain the music-paper +with which to fasten the immortal thoughts that thronged through his +brain. It was two years later that his special creative function found +exercise in the production of the two great songs, the "Erl-King" and +the "Serenade," the former of which proved the source of most of the +fame and money emolument he enjoyed during life. It is hardly needful to +speak of the power and beauty of this composition, the weird sweetness +of its melodies, the dramatic contrasts, the wealth of color and +shading in its varying phrases, the subtilty of the accompaniment, which +elaborates the spirit of the song itself. The piece was composed in +less than an hour. One of Schubert's intimates tells us that he left him +reading Goethe's great poem for the first time. He instantly conceived +and arranged the melody, and when the friend returned after a short +absence Schubert was rapidly noting the music from his head on paper. +When the song was finished he rushed to the Stadtconvict school, his +only _alma mater_, and sang it to the scholars. The music-master, +Rucziszka, was overwhelmed with rapture and astonishment, and embraced +the young composer in a transport of joy. When this immortal music was +first sung to Goethe, the great poet said: "Had music, instead of words, +been my instrument of thought, it is so I would have framed the legend." + +The "Serenade" is another example of the swiftness of Schubert's +artistic imagination. He and a lot of jolly boon-companions sat one +Sunday afternoon in an obscure Viennese tavern, known as the Biersack. +The surroundings were anything but conducive to poetic fancies--dirty +tables, floor, and ceiling, the clatter of mugs and dishes, the loud +dissonance of the beery German roisterers, the squalling of children, +and all the sights and noises characteristic of the beer-cellar. One of +our composer's companions had a volume of poems, which Schubert looked +at in a lazy way, laughing and drinking the while. Singling out some +verses, he said: "I have a pretty melody in my head for these lines, if +I could only get a piece of ruled paper." Some staves were drawn on the +back of a bill-of-fare, and here, amid all the confusion and riot, the +divine melody of the "Serenade" was born, a tone-poem which embodies the +most delicate dream of passion and tenderness that the heart of man ever +conceived. + +Both these compositions were eccentric and at odds with the old canons +of song, fancied with a grace, warmth, and variety of color hitherto +characteristic only of the more pretentious forms of music, which had +already been brought to a great degree of perfection. They inaugurate +the genesis of the new school of musical lyrics, the golden wedding of +the union of poetry with music. + +For a long time the young composer was unsuccessful in his attempts to +break through the barren and irritating drudgery of a schoolmaster's +life. At last a wealthy young dilettante, Franz von Schober, who had +become an admirer of Schubert's songs, persuaded his mother to offer him +a fixed home in her house. The latter gratefully accepted the overture +of friendship, and thence became a daily guest at Schober's house. He +made at this time a number of strong friendships with obscure poets, +whose names only live through the music of the composer set to verses +furnished by them; for Schubert, in his affluence of creative power, +merely needed the slightest excuse for his genius to flow forth. But, +while he wrote nothing that was not beautiful, his masterpieces are +based only on themes furnished by the lyrics of such poets as Goethe, +Heine, and Rilckert. It is related, in connection with his friendship +with Mayrhofer, one of his rhyming associates of these days, that he +would set the verses to music much faster than the other could compose +them. + +The songs of the obscure Schubert were gradually finding their way to +favor among the exclusive circles of Viennese aristocracy. A celebrated +singer of the opera, Vogl, though then far advanced in years, was much +sought after for the drawing-room concerts so popular in Vienna, on +account of the beauty of his art. Vogl was a warm admirer of Schubert's +genius, and devoted himself assiduously to the task of interpreting +it--a friendly office of no little value. Had it not been for this, our +composer would have sunk to his early grave probably without even the +small share of reputation and monetary return actually vouchsafed +to him. The strange, dreamy unconsciousness of Schubert is very well +illustrated in a story told by Vogl after his friend's death. One day +Schubert left a new song at the singer's apartments, which, being too +high, was transposed. Vogl, a fortnight afterward, sang it in the lower +key to his friend, who remarked: "Really, that _Lied_ is not so bad; who +composed it?" + + +III. + +Our great composer, from the peculiar constitution of his gifts, the +passionate subjectiveness of his nature, might be supposed to have been +peculiarly sensitive to the fascinations of love, for it is in this +feeling that lyric inspiration has found its most fruitful root. But +not so. Warmly susceptible to the charms of friendship, Schubert for +the most part enacted the _role_ of the woman-hater, which was not all +affected; for the Hamletlike mood is only in part a simulated madness +with souls of this type. In early youth he would sneer at the amours +of his comrades. It is true he fell a victim to the charms of Theresa +Grobe, a beautiful soprano, who afterward became the spouse of a +master-baker. But the only genuine love-sickness of Schubert was of a +far different type, and left indelible traces on his nature, as its very +direction made it of necessity unfortunate. This was his attachment to +Countess Caroline Esterhazy. + +The Count Esterhazy, one of those great feudal princes still extant +among the Austrian nobility, took a traditional pride in encouraging +genius, and found in Franz Schubert a noble object for the exercise of +his generous patronage. He was almost a boy (only nineteen), except in +the prodigious development of his genius, when he entered the Esterhazy +family as teacher of music, though always treated as a dear and familiar +friend. During the summer months, Schubert went with the Esterhazy s to +their country-seat at Zelesz, in Hungary. Here, amid beautiful scenery, +and the sweetness of a social life perfect of its kind, our poet's life +flew on rapid wings, the one bright, green spot of unalloyed happiness, +for the dream was delicious while it lasted. Here, too, his musical +life gathered a fresh inspiration, since he became acquainted with the +treasures of the national Hungarian music, with its weird, wild rhythms +and striking melodies. He borrowed the motives of many of his most +characteristic songs from these reminiscences of hut and hall, for +the Esterhazys were royal in their hospitality, and exercised a wide +patriarchal sway. + +The beautiful Countess Caroline, an enthusiastic girl of great beauty, +became the object of a romantic passion. A young, inexperienced maiden, +full of _naive_ sweetness, the finest flower of the haughty Austrian +caste, she stood at an infinite distance from Schubert, while she +treated him with childlike confidence and fondness, laughing at his +eccentricities, and worshiping his genius, lie bowed before this idol, +and poured out all the incense of his heart. Schubert's exterior was +anything but that of the ideal lover. Rude, unshapely features, thick +nose, coarse, protruding mouth, and a shambling, awkward figure, were +redeemed only by eyes of uncommon splendor and depth, aflame with the +unmistakable light of the soul. + +The inexperienced maiden hardly understood the devotion of the artist, +which found expression in a thousand ways peculiar to himself. Only +once he was on the verge of a full revelation. She asked him why he +had dedicated nothing to her. With abrupt, passionate intensity of tone +Schubert answered, "What's the use of that? Everything belongs to you!" +This brink of confession seems to have frightened him, for it is said +that after this he threw much more reserve about his intercourse with +the family, till it was broken off. Hints in his letters, and the deep +despondency which increased after this, indicate, however, that the +humbly-born genius never forgot his beautiful dream. + +He continued to pour out in careless profusion songs, symphonies, +quartets, and operas, many of which knew no existence but in the score +till after his death, hardly knowing of himself whether the productions +had value or not. He created because it was the essential law of his +being, and never paused to contemplate or admire the beauties of his own +work. Schubert's body had been mouldering for several years, when his +wonderful symphony in C major, one of the _chefs-d'oeuvre_ of orchestral +composition, was brought to the attention of the world by the critical +admiration of Robert Schumann, who won the admiration of lovers of +music, not less by his prompt vindication of neglected genius than by +his own creative powers. + +In the contest between Weber and Rossini which agitated Vienna, +Schubert, though deeply imbued with the seriousness of art, and +by nature closely allied in sympathies with the composer of "Der +Freischuetz," took no part. He was too easy-going to become a volunteer +partisan, too shy and obscure to make his alliance a thing to be sought +after. Besides, Weber had treated him with great brusqueness, and damned +an opera for him, a slight which even good-natured Franz Schubert could +not easily forgive. + +The fifteen operas of Schubert, unknown now except to musicians, contain +a wealth of beautiful melody which could easily be spread over a score +of ordinary works. The purely lyric impulse so dominated him that +dramatic arrangement was lost sight of, and the noblest melodies were +likely to be lavished on the most unworthy situations. Even under +the operatic form he remained essentially the song-writer. So in +the symphony his affluence of melodic inspiration seems actually +to embarrass him, to the detriment of that breadth and symmetry of +treatment so vital to this form of art. It is in the musical lyric that +our composer stands matchless. + +During his life as an independent musician at Vienna, Schubert lived +fighting a stern battle with want and despondency, while the publishers +were commencing to make fortunes by the sale of his exquisite _Lieder_. +At that time a large source of income for the Viennese composers was the +public performance of their works in concerts under their own direction. +From recourse to this, Schubert's bashfulness and lack of skill as a +_virtuoso_ on any instrument helped to bar him, though he accompanied +his own songs with exquisite effect. Once only his friends organized +a concert for him, and the success was very brilliant. But he was +prevented from repeating the good fortune by that fatal illness +which soon set in. So he lived out the last glimmers of his life, +poverty-stricken, despondent, with few even of the amenities of +friendship to soothe his declining days. Yet those who know the +beautiful results of that life, and have even a faint glow of sympathy +with the life of a man of genius, will exclaim with one of the most +eloquent critics of Schubert: + +"But shall we, therefore, pity a man who all the while reveled in the +treasures of his creative ore, and from the very depths of whose despair +sprang the sweetest flowers of song? Who would not battle with the +iciest blast of the north if out of storm and snow he could bring back +to his chamber the germs of the 'Winterreise?' Who would grudge the +moisture of his eyes if he could render it immortal in the strains of +Schubert's 'Lob der Thrane?'" + +Schubert died in the flower of his youth, November 19, 1828; but he left +behind him nearly a thousand compositions, six hundred of which were +songs. Of his operas only the "Enchanted Harp" and "Rosamond" were put +on the stage during his lifetime. "Fierabras," considered to be his +finest dramatic work, has never been produced. His church music, +consisting of six masses, many offertories, and the great "Hallelujah" +of Klopstock, is still performed in Germany. Several of his symphonies +are ranked among the greatest works of this nature. His pianoforte +compositions are brilliant, and strongly in the style of Beethoven, +who was always the great object of Schubert's devoted admiration, his +artistic idol and model. It was his dying request that he should be +buried by the side of Beethoven, of whom the art-world had been deprived +the year before. + +Compared with Schubert, other composers seem to have written in prose. +His imagination burned with a passionate love of Nature. The lakes, the +woods, the mountain heights, inspired him with eloquent reveries that +burst into song; but he always saw Nature through the medium of human +passion and sympathy, which transfigured it. He was the faithful +interpreter of spiritual suffering, and the joy which is born thereof. + +The genius of Schubert seems to have been directly formed for the +expression of subjective emotion in music. That his life should have +been simultaneous with the perfect literary unfolding of the old +_Volkslied_ in the superb lyrics of Goethe, Heine, and their school, +is quite remarkable. Poe-try and song clasped hands on the same lofty +summits of genius. Liszt has given to our composer the title of _le +musicien le plus poetique_, which very well expresses his place in art. + +In the song as created by Schubert and transmitted to his successors, +there are three forms, the first of which is that of the simple _Lied_, +with one unchanged melody. A good example of this is the setting of +Goethe's "Haideroslein," which is full of quaint grace and simplicity. +A second and more elaborate method is what the Germans call +"through-composed," in which all the different feelings are successively +embodied in the changes of the melody, the sense of unity being +preserved by the treatment of the accompaniment, or the recurrence of +the principal motive at the close of the song. Two admirable models of +this are found in the "Lindenbaum" and "Serenade." + +The third and finest art-method, as applied by Schubert to lyric music, +is the "declamatory." In this form we detect the consummate flower of +the musical lyric. The vocal part is lifted into a species of passionate +chant, full of dramatic fire and color, while the accompaniment, which +is extremely elaborate, furnishes a most picturesque setting. The genius +of the composer displays itself here fully as much as in the vocal +treatment. When the lyric feeling rises to its climax it expresses +itself in the crowning melody, this high tide of the music and poetry +being always in unison. As masterpieces of this form may be cited "Die +Stadt" and "Der Erlkoenig," which stand far beyond any other works of the +same nature in the literature of music. + + +IV. + +Robert Schumann, the loving critic, admirer, and disciple of Schubert in +the province of song, was in most respects a man of far different +type. The son of a man of wealth and position, his mind and tastes were +cultivated from early youth with the utmost care. Schumann is known +in Germany no less as a philosophical thinker and critic than as +a composer. As the editor of the _Neue Zeitschrift fuer Musik_, he +exercised a powerful influence over contemporary thought in art-matters, +and established himself both as a keen and incisive thinker and as a +master of literary style. Schumann was at first intended for the law, +but his unconquerable taste for music asserted itself in spite of family +opposition. His acquaintance with the celebrated teacher Wieck, whose +gifted daughter Clara afterward became his wife, finally established +his career; for it was through Wieck's advice that the Schumann family +yielded their opposition to the young man's bent. + +Once settled in his new career, Schumann gave himself up to work with +the most indefatigable ardor. The early part of the present century was +a halcyon time for the _virtuosi_, and the fame and wealth that poured +themselves on such players as Paganini and Liszt made such a pursuit +tempting in the extreme. Fortunately, the young musician was saved from +such a career. In his zeal of practice and desire to attain a perfectly +independent action for each finger on the piano, Schumann devised some +machinery, the result of which was to weaken the sinews of his third +finger by undue distention. By this he lost the effective use of the +whole right hand, and of course his career as a _virtuoso_ practically +closed. + +Music gained in its higher walks what it lost in a lower. Schumann +devoted himself to composition and aesthetic criticism, after he had +passed through a thorough course of preparatory studies. Both as a +writer and a composer Schumann fought against Philistinism in music. +Ardent, progressive, and imaginative, he soon became the leader of the +romantic school, and inaugurated the crusade which had its parallel in +France in that carried on by Victor Hugo in the domain of poetry. His +early pianoforte compositions bear the strong impress of this fiery, +revolutionary spirit. I lis great symphonic works belong to a later +period, when his whole nature had mellowed and ripened without losing +its imaginative sweep and brilliancy. Schumann's compositions for the +piano and orchestra are those by which his name is most widely honored, +but nowhere do we find a more characteristic exercise of his genius than +in his songs, to which this article will call more special attention. + +Such works as the "Etudes Symphoniques" and the "Kreisleriana" express +much of the spirit of unrest and longing aspiration, the struggle to +get away from prison-bars and limits, which seem to have sounded the +key-note of Schumann's deepest nature. But these feelings could only +find their fullest outlet in the musical form expressly suited to +subjective emotion. Accordingly, the "Sturm and Drang" epoch of his +life, when all his thoughts and conceptions were most unsettled and +visionary, was most fruitful in lyric song. In Heinrich Heine he found +a fitting poetical co-worker, in whose moods he seemed to see a perfect +reflection of his own--Heine, in whom the bitterest irony was wedded to +the deepest pathos, "the spoiled favorite of the Graces," "the knight +with the laughing tear in his scutcheon"--Heine, whose songs are +charged with the brightest light and deepest gloom of the human heart. + +Schumann's songs never impress us as being deliberate attempts at +creative effort, consciously selected forms through which to express +thoughts struggling for speech. They are rather involuntary experiments +to relieve one's self of some wo-ful burden, medicine for the soul. +Schumann is never distinctively the lyric composer; his imagination had +too broad and majestic a wing. But in those moods, peculiar to genius, +where the soul is flung back on itself with a sense of impotence, our +composer instinctively burst into song. He did not in the least advance +or change its artistic form, as fixed by Schubert. This, indeed, would +have been irreconcilable with his use of the song as a simple medium of +personal feeling, an outlet and safeguard. + +The peculiar place of Schumann as a songwriter is indicated by his being +called the musical exponent of Heine, who seems to be the other half of +his soul. The composer enters into each shade and detail of the poet's +meaning with an intensity and fidelity which one can never cease +admiring. It is this phase which gives the Schumann songs their great +artistic value. In their clean-cut, abrupt, epigrammatic force there is +something different from the work of any other musical lyrist. So much +has this impressed the students of the composer that more than one +able critic has ventured to prophesy that Schumann's greatest claim to +immortality would yet be found in such works as the settings of "Ich +grolle nicht" and the "Dichterliebe" series--a perverted estimate, +perhaps, but with a large substratum of truth. The duration of +Schumann's song-time was short, the greater part of his _Lieder_ +having been written in 1840. After this he gave himself up to oratorio, +symphony, and chamber-music. + + +V. + +Among the contemporary masters of the musical lyric, the most shining +name is that of Robert Franz, a marked individuality, and, though +indirectly moulded by the influence of Schubert and Schumann, a creative +mind of a striking type. + +The art-impulse, strikingly characteristic of Franz as a song composer, +or, perhaps, to express it more accurately, the art-limitation, is that +the musical inspiration is directly dependent on the poetic strength of +the _Lied_. He would be utterly at a loss to treat a poem which lacked +beauty and force. With but little command over absolute music, that flow +of melody which pours from some natures like a perennial spring, the +poetry of word is necessary to evoke poetry of tone. + +Robert Franz, like Schumann, was embarrassed in his youth by the bitter +opposition of his family to his adoption of music, and, like the great +apostle of romantic music, his steady perseverance wore it out. He made +himself a severe student of the great masters, and rapidly acquired a +deep knowledge of the mysteries of harmony and counterpoint. There are +no songs with such intricate and difficult accompaniments, though always +vital to the lyrical motive, as those of Robert Franz. For a long time, +even after he felt himself fully equipped, Franz refrained from artistic +production, waiting till the processes of fermenting and clarifying +should end, in the mean while promising he would yet have a word to say +for himself. + +With him, as with many other men of genius, the blow which broke the +seal of inspiration was an affair of the heart. He loved a beautiful and +accomplished woman, but loved unfortunately. The catastrophe ripened him +into artistic maturity, and the very first effort of his lyric power was +marked by surprising symmetry and fullness of power. He wrote to give +overflow to his deep feelings, and the song came from his heart of +hearts. Robert Schumann, the generous critic, gave this first work an +enthusiastic welcome, and the young composer leaped into reputation at a +bound. Of the four hundred or more songs written by Robert Franz, there +are perhaps fifty which rank as masterpieces. His life has passed +devoid of incident, though rich in spiritual insight and passion, as +his _Lieder_ unmistakably show. Though the instrumental setting of this +composer's songs is so elaborate and beautiful oftentimes, we frequently +find him at his best in treating words full of the simplicity and +_naivete_ of the old _Volkslied_. Many of his songs are set to the poems +of Robert Burns, one of the few British poets who have been able to give +their works the subtile singing quality which comes not merely of the +rhythm but of the feeling of the verse. Heine also furnished him with +the themes of many of his finest songs, for this poet has been an +inexhaustible treasure-trove to the modern lyric composer. One of the +most striking features of Franz as a composer is found in the delicate +light and shade, introduced into the songs by the simplest means, which +none but the man of genius would think of; for it is the great artist +who attains his ends through the simplest effects. + +While the same atmosphere of thought and feeling is felt in the +spiritual life of Robert Franz which colored the artistic being of +Schubert and Schumann, there is a certain repose and balance all +his own. We get the idea of one never carried away by his genius, or +delivering passionate utterances from the Delphic tripod, but the +master of all his powers, the conscious and skillful ruler of his own +inspirations. If the sense of spontaneous freshness is sometimes lost, +perhaps there is a gain in breadth and finish. If Schubert has unequaled +melody and dramatic force, Schumann drastic and pointed intensity, +Robert Franz deserves the palm for the finish and symmetry of his work. + +Of the great song composers, Franz Schubert is the unquestioned master. +To him the modern artistic song owes its birth, and, as in the myth of +Pallas, we find birth and maturity simultaneous. It bloomed at once into +perfect flower, and the wrorld will probably never see any essential +advances in it. It is this form of music which appeals most widely to +the human heart, to old and young, high and low, learned and ignorant. +It has "the one touch of Nature which makes the whole world kin." Even +the mind not attuned to sympathy with the more elaborate forms of music +is soothed and delighted by it; for-- + + "It is old and plain; + The spinsters and the knitters in the sun, + And the free maids that weave their thread with bones, + Do use to chant it; it is silly sooth, + And dallies with the innocence of love + Like the old age." + + + + +CHOPIN. + + +I. + +Never has Paris, the Mecca of European art, genius, and culture, +presented a more brilliant social spectacle than it did in 1832. Hither +ward came pilgrims from all countries, poets, painters, and musicians, +anxious to breathe the inspiring air of the French capital, where +society laid its warmest homage at the feet of the artist. Here came, +too, in dazzling crowds, the rich nobles and the beautiful women of +Europe to find the pleasure, the freedom, the joyous unrestraint, with +which Paris offers its banquet of sensuous and intellectual delights +to the hungry epicure. Then as now the queen of the art-world, Paris +absorbed and assimilated to herself the most brilliant influences in +civilization. + +In all of brilliant Paris there was no more charming and gifted circle +than that which gathered around the young Polish pianist and composer, +Chopin, then a recent arrival in the gay city. His peculiarly original +genius, his weird and poetic style of playing, which transported his +hearers into a mystic fairy-land of sunlight and shadow, his strangely +delicate beauty, the alternating reticence and enthusiasm of his +manners, made him the idol of the clever men and women, who courted the +society of the shy and sensitive musician; for to them he was a fresh +revelation. Dr. Franz Liszt gives the world some charming pictures of +this art-coterie, which was wont often to assemble at Chopin's rooms in +the Chaussee d'Antin. + +His room, taken by surprise, is all in darkness except the luminous ring +thrown off by the candles on the piano, and the flashes flickering from +the fireplace. The guests gather around informally as the piano sighs, +moans, murmurs, or dreams under the fingers of the player. Hein-rich +Heine, the most poetic of humorists, leans on the instrument, and asks, +as he listens to the music and watches the firelight, "if the roses +always glowed with a flame so triumphant? if the trees at moonlight sang +always so harmoniously?" Meyerbeer, one of the musical giants, sits near +at hand lost in reverie; for he forgets his own great harmonies, forged +with hammer of Cyclops, listening to the dreamy passion and poetry woven +into such quaint fabrics of sound. + +Adolphe Nourrit, passionate and ascetic, with the spirit of some +mediaeval monastic painter, an enthusiastic servant of art in its +purest, severest form, a combination of poet and anchorite, is also +there; for he loves the gentle musician, who seems to be a visitor from +the world of spirits. Eugene Delacroix, one of the greatest of modern +painters, his keen eyes half closed in meditation, absorbs the vague +mystery of color which imagination translates from the harmony, +and attains new insight and inspiration through the bright links of +suggestion by which one art lends itself to another. The two great +Polish poets, Nierncewicz and Mickiewicz (the latter the Dante of the +Slavic race), exiles from their unhappy land, feed their sombre sorrow, +and find in the wild, Oriental rhythms of the player only melancholy +memories of the past. Perhaps Victor Hugo, Balzac, Lamartine, or the +aged Chateaubriand, also drop in by-and-by, to recognize, in the music, +echoes of the daring romanticism which they opposed to the classic and +formal pedantry of the time. + +Buried in a fauteuil, with her arms resting upon a table, sits Mme. +George Sand (that name so tragically mixed with Chopin's life), +"curiously attentive, gracefully subdued." With the second sight of +genius, which pierces through the mask, she saw the sweetness, the +passion, the delicate emotional sensibility of Chopin; and her insatiate +nature must unravel and assimilate this new study in human enjoyment and +suffering. She had then just finished "Lelia," that strange and +powerful creation, in which she embodied all her hatred of the forms and +tyrannies of society, her craving for an impossible social ideal, her +tempestuous hopes and desires, in such startling types. Exhausted by the +struggle, she panted for the rest and luxury of a companionship in +which both brain and heart could find sympathy. She met Chopin, and she +recognized in the poetry of his temperament and the fire of his genius +what she desired. Her personality, electric, energetic, and imperious, +exercised the power of a magnet on the frail organization of Chopin, and +he loved once and forever, with a passion that consumed him; for in Mme. +Sand he found the blessing and curse of his life. This many-sided woman, +at this point of her development, found in the fragile Chopin one phase +of her nature which had never been expressed, and he was sacrificed +to the demands of an insatiable originality, which tried all things in +turn, to be contented with nothing but an ideal which could never be +attained. + +About the time of Chopin's arrival in Paris the political effervescence +of the recent revolution had passed into art and letters. It was the +oft-repeated battle of Romanticism against Classicism. There could be no +truce between those who believed that everything must be fashioned after +old models, that Procrustes must settle the height and depth, the length +and breadth of art-forms, and those who, inspired with the new wine of +liberty and free creative thought, held that the rule of form should +always be the mere expression of the vital, flexible thought. The one +side argued that supreme perfection already reached left the artist hope +only in imitation; the other, that the immaterial beautiful could have +no fixed absolute form. Victor Hugo among the poets, Delacroix among the +painters, and Berlioz among the musicians, led the ranks of the romantic +school. + +Chopin found himself strongly enlisted in this contest on the side of +the new school. His free, unconventional nature found in its teachings +a musical atmosphere true to the artistic and political proclivities of +his native Poland; for Chopin breathed the spirit and tendencies of his +people in every fibre of his soul, both as man and artist. Our +musician, however, in freeing himself from all servile formulas, sternly +repudiated the charlatanism which would replace old abuses with new +ones. + +Chopin, in his views of his art, did not admit the least compromise +with those who failed earnestly to represent progress, nor, on the other +hand, with those who sought to make their art a mere profitable +trade. With him, as with all the great musicians, his art was a +religion--something so sacred that it must be approached with unsullied +heart and hand. This reverential feeling was shown in the following +touching fact: It was a Polish custom to choose the garments in which +one would be buried. Chopin, though among the first of contemporary +artists, gave fewer concerts than any other; but, notwithstanding this, +he left directions to be borne to the grave in the clothes he had worn +on such occasions. + + +II. + +Frederick Francis Chopin was born near Warsaw, in 1810, of French +extraction. He learned music at the age of nine from Ziwny, a pupil of +Sebastian Bach, but does not seem to have impressed any one with his +remarkable talent except Madame Catalani, the great singer, who gave +him a watch. Through the kindness of Prince Radziwill, an enthusiastic +patron of art, he was sent to Warsaw College, where his genius began to +unfold itself. He afterward became a pupil of the Warsaw Conservatory, +and acquired there a splendid mastery over the science of music. His +labor was prodigious in spite of his frail health; and his knowledge of +contrapuntal forms was such as to exact the highest encomiums from his +instructors. + +Through his brother pupils he was introduced to the highest Polish +society, for his fellows bore some of the proudest names in Poland. +Chopin seems to have absorbed the peculiarly romantic spirit of his +race, the wild, imaginative melancholy, which, almost gloomy in the +Polish peasant, when united to grace and culture in the Polish noble, +offered an indescribable social charm. Balzac sketches the Polish woman +in these picturesque antitheses: "Angel through love, demon through +fantasy; child through faith, sage through experience; man through +the brain, woman through the heart; giant through hope, mother through +sorrow; and poet through dreams." The Polish gentleman was chivalrous, +daring, and passionate; the heir of the most gifted and brilliant of the +Slavic races, with a proud heritage of memory which gave his bearing +an indescribable dignity, though the son of a fallen nation. Ardently +devoted to pleasure, the Poles embodied in their national dances wild +and inspiring rhythms, a glowing poetry of sentiment as well as motion, +which mingled with their Bacchanal fire a chaste and lofty meaning that +became at times funereal. Polish society at this epoch pulsated with an +originality, an imagination, and a romance, which transfigured even the +common things of life. + +It was amid such an atmosphere that Chopin's early musical career was +spent, and his genius received its lasting impress. One afternoon in +after-years he was playing to one of the most distinguished women in +Paris, and she said that his music suggested to her those gardens in +Turkey where bright parterres of flowers and shady bowers were strewed +with gravestones and burial mounds. + +This underlying depth of melancholy Chopin's music expresses most +eloquently, and it may be called the perfect artistic outcome of his +people; for in his sweetest tissues of sound the imagination can detect +agitation, rancor, revolt, and menace, sometimes despair. Chateaubriand +dreamed of an Eve innocent, yet fallen; ignorant of all, yet knowing +all; mistress, yet virgin. He found this in a Polish girl of seventeen, +whom he paints as a "mixture of Odalisque and Valkyr." The romantic +and fanciful passion of the Poles, bold, yet unworldly, is shown in the +habit of drinking the health of a sweetheart from her own shoe. + +Chopin, intensely spiritual by temperament and fragile in health, born +an enthusiast, was colored through and through with the rich dyes of +Oriental passion; but with these were mingled the fantastic and ideal +elements which, + +"Wrapped in sense, yet dreamed of heavenlier joys." + +And so he went to Paris, the city of his fate, ripe for the tragedy of +his life. After the revolution of 1830, he started to go to London, and, +as he said, "passed through Paris." Yet Paris he did not leave till he +left it with Mme. Sand to live a brief dream of joy in the beautiful +isle of Majorca. + + +III. + +Liszt describes Chopin in these words: "His blue eyes were more +spiritual than dreamy; his bland smile never writhed into bitterness. +The transparent delicacy of his complexion pleased the eye; his fair +hair was soft and silky; his nose slightly aquiline; his bearing so +distinguished, and his manners stamped with such high breeding, that +involuntarily he was always treated _en prince_. His gestures were many +and graceful; the tones of his voice veiled, often stifled. His stature +was low, his limbs were slight." Again, Mme. Sand paints him even more +characteristically in her novel "Lucrezia Floriani:" "Gentle, sensitive, +and very lovely, he united the charm of adolescence with the suavity of +a more mature age; through the want of muscular development he retained +a peculiar beauty, an exceptional physiognomy, which, if we may venture +so to speak, belonged to neither age nor sex.... It was more like the +ideal creations with which the poetry of the middle ages adorned +the Christian temples. The delicacy of his constitution rendered him +interesting in the eyes of women. The full yet graceful cultivation of +his mind, the sweet and captivating originality of his conversation, +gained for him the attention of the most enlightened men; while those +less highly cultivated liked him for the exquisite courtesy of his +manners." + +All this reminds us of Shelley's dream of Hermaphroditus, or perhaps of +Shelley himself, for Chopin was the Shelley of music. + +His life in Paris was quiet and retired. The most brilliant and +beautiful women desired to be his pupils, but Chopin refused except +where he recognized in the petitioners exceptional earnestness and +musical talent. He gave but few concerts, for his genius could not cope +with great masses of people. He said to Liszt: "I am not suited for +concert-giving. The public intimidate me, their breath stifles me. You +are destined for it; for when you do not gain your public, you have the +force to assault, to overwhelm, to compel them." It was his delight to +play to a few chosen friends, and to evoke for them such dreams from the +ivory gate, which Virgil fabled to be the portal of Elysium, as to make +his music + + "The silver key of the fountain of tears, + Where the spirit drinks till the brain is wild: + Softest grave of a thousand fears, + Where their mother, Care, like a weary child, + Is laid asleep in a hed of flowers." + +He avoided general society, finding in the great artists and those +sympathetic with art his congenial companions. His life was given up to +producing those unique compositions which make him, _par excellence_, +the king of the pianoforte. He was recognized by Liszt, Kalkbrenner, Pie +y el, Field, and Meyerbeer, as being the most wonderful of players; yet +he seemed to disdain such a reputation as a cheap notoriety, ceasing +to appear in public after the first few concerts, which produced much +excitement and would have intoxicated most performers. He sought largely +the society of the Polish exiles, men and women of the highest rank who +had thronged to Paris. + +His sister Louise, whom he dearly loved, frequently came to Paris from +Warsaw to see him; and he kept up a regular correspondence with his own +family. Yet he abhorred writing so much that he would go to any shifts +to avoid answering a note. Some of his beautiful countrywomen, however, +possess precious memorials in the shape of letters written in Polish, +which he loved much more than French. His thoughtfulness was continually +sending pleasant little gifts and souvenirs to his Warsaw friends. +This tenderness and consideration displayed itself too in his love of +children. He would spend whole evenings in playing blind-man's-buff or +telling them charming fairy-stories from the folk-lore in which Poland +is singularly rich. + +Always gentle, he yet knew how to rebuke arrogance, and had sharp +repartees for those who tried to force him into musical display. On one +occasion, when he had just left the dining-room, an indiscreet host, who +had had the simplicity to promise his guests some piece executed by him +as a rare dessert, pointed him to an open piano. Chopin quietly refused, +but on being pressed said, with a languid and sneering drawl: "Ah, sir, +I have just dined; your hospitality, I see, demands payment." + + +IV. + +Mme. Sand, in her "Lettres d'un Voyageur," depicts the painful lethargy +which seizes the artist when, having incorporated the emotion which +inspired him in his work, his imagination still remains under the +dominance of the insatiate idea, without being able to find a new +incarnation. She was suffering in this way when the character of Chopin +excited her curiosity and suggested a healthful and happy relief. Chopin +dreaded to meet this modern Sibyl. The superstitious awe he felt was a +premonition whose meaning was hidden from him. They met, and Chopin lost +his fear in one of those passions which feed on the whole being with a +ceaseless hunger. + +In the fall of 1837 Chopin yielded to a severe attack of the disease +which was hereditary in his frame. In company with Mme. Sand, who had +become his constant companion, he went to the isle of Majorca, to find +rest and medicine in the balmy breezes of the Mediterranean. All the +happiness of Chopin's life was gathered in the focus of this experience. +He had a most loving and devoted nurse, who yielded to all his whims, +soothed his fretfulness, and watched over him as a mother does over +a child. The grounds of the villa where they lived were as perfect as +Nature and art could make them, and exquisite scenes greeted the eye at +every turn. Here they spent long golden days. + +The feelings of Chopin for his gifted companion are best painted +by herself in the pages of "Lucrezia Floriani," where she is the +"Floriani," Liszt "Count Salvator Albani," and Chopin "Prince Karol:" +"It seemed as if this fragile being was absorbed and consumed by the +strength of his affection.... But he loved for the sake of loving.... +His love was his life, and, delicious or bitter, he had not the power +of withdrawing himself a single moment from its domination." Slowly she +nursed him back into temporary health, and in the sunlight of her love +his mind assumed a gayety and cheerfulness it had never known before. + +It had been the passionate hope of Chopin to marry Mme. Sand, but +wedlock was alien alike to her philosophy and preference. After a +protracted intimacy, she wearied of his persistent entreaties, or +perhaps her self-development had exhausted what it sought in the +poet-musician. An absolute separation came, and his mistress buried +the episode in her life with the epitaph: "Two natures, one rich in its +exuberance, the other in its exclusiveness, could never really mingle, +and a whole world separated them." Chopin said: "All the cords that bind +me to life are broken." His sad summary of all was that his life had +been an episode which began and ended in Paris. What a contrast to the +being of a few years before, of whom it is written: "He was no longer +on the earth; he was in an empyrean of golden clouds and perfumes; his +imagination, so full of exquisite beauty, seemed engaged in a monologue +with God himself!"* + + * "Lucrezia Floriani." + +Both Liszt and Mme. Dudevant have painted Chopin somewhat as a sickly +sentimentalist, living in an atmosphere of moonshine and unreality. +Yet this was not precisely true. In spite of his delicacy of frame and +romantic imagination, Chopin was never ill till within the last ten +years of his life, when the seeds of hereditary consumption developed +themselves. As a young man he was lively and joyous, always ready +for frolic, and with a great fund of humor, especially in caricature. +Students of human character know how consistent these traits are with +a deep undercurrent of melancholy, which colors the whole life when the +immediate impulse of joy subsides. + +From the date of 1840 Chopin's health declined; but through the +seven years during which his connection with Mme. Sand continued, he +persevered actively in his work of composition. The final rupture with +the woman he so madly loved seems to have been his death-blow. He spoke +of Mme. Sand without bitterness, but his soul pined in the bitter-sweet +of memory. He recovered partially, and spent a short season of +concert-giving in London, where he was feted and caressed by the best +society as he had been in Paris. Again he was sharply assailed by his +fatal malady, and he returned to Paris to die. Let us describe one of +his last earthly experiences, on Sunday, the 15th of October, 1849. + +Chopin had lain insensible from one of his swooning attacks for some +time. His sister Louise was by his side, and the Countess Delphine +Potocka, his beautiful countrywoman and a most devoted friend, watched +him with streaming eyes. The dying musician became conscious, and +faintly ordered a piano to be rolled in from the adjoining room. He +turned to the countess, and whispered, feebly, "Sing." She had a lovely +voice, and, gathering herself for the effort, she sang that famous +canticle to the Virgin which, tradition says, saved Stradella's life +from assassins. "How beautiful it is!" he exclaimed. "My God! how very +beautiful!" Again she sang to him, and the dying musician passed into +a trance, from which he never fully aroused till he expired, two days +afterward, in the arms of his pupil, M. Gutman. + +Chopin's obsequies took place at the Madeleine Church, and Lablache sang +on this occasion the same passage, the "Tuba Mirum" of Mozart's Requiem +Mass, which he had sung at the funeral of Beethoven in 1827; while the +other solos were given by Mme. Viardot Garcia and Mme. Castellan. He +lies in Pere Lachaise, beside Cherubini and Bellini. + + +V. + +The compositions of Chopin were exclusively for the piano; and alike as +composer and virtuoso he is the founder of a new school, or perhaps +may be said to share that honor with Robert Schumann--the school which +to-day is represented in its advanced form by Liszt and Von Billow. +Schumann called him "the boldest and proudest poetic spirit of +the times." In addition to this remarkable poetic power, he was a +splendidly-trained musician, a great adept in style, and one of the most +original masters of rhythm and harmony that the records of music show. +All his works, though wanting in breadth and robustness of tone, are +characterized by the utmost finish and refinement. Full of delicate and +unexpected beauties, elaborated with the finest touch, his effects are +so quaint and fresh as to fill the mind of the listener with pleasurable +sensations, perhaps not to be derived from grander works. + +Chopin was essentially the musical exponent of his nation; for he +breathed in all the forms of his art the sensibilities, the fires, the +aspirations, and the melancholy of the Polish race. This is not only +evident in his polonaises, his waltzes and mazurkas, in which the wild +Oriental rhythms of the original dances are treated with the creative +skill of genius; but also in the _etudes_, the preludes, nocturnes, +scherzos, ballads, etc., with which he so enriched musical literature. +His genius could never confine itself within classic bonds, but, +fantastic and impulsive, swayed and bent itself with easy grace to +inspirations that were always novel and startling, though his boldness +was chastened by deep study and fine art-sense. + +All of the suggestions of the quaint and beautiful Polish dance-music +were worked by Chopin into a variety of forms, and were greatly enriched +by his skill in handling. He dreamed out his early reminiscences in +music, and these national memories became embalmed in the history of +art. The polonaises are marked by the fire and ardor of his soldier +race, and the mazurkas are full of the coquetry and tenderness of his +countrywomen; while the ballads are a free and powerful rendering of +Polish folk-music, beloved alike in the herdsman's hut and the palace of +the noble. In deriving his inspiration direct from the national heart, +Chopin did what Schumann, Schubert, and Weber did in Germany, what +Rossini did in Italy, and shares with them a freshness of melodic power +to be derived from no other source. Rather tender and elegiac than +vigorous, the deep sadness underlying the most sparkling forms of his +work is most notable. One can at times almost recognize the requiem of +a nation in the passionate melancholy on whose dark background his fancy +weaves such beautiful figures and colors. + +Franz Liszt, in characterizing Chopin as a composer, furnishes an +admirable study: "We meet with beauties of a high order, expressions +entirely new, and a harmonic tissue as original as erudite. In his +compositions boldness is always justified; richness, often exuberance, +never interferes with clearness; singularity never degenerates into the +uncouth and fantastic; the sculpturing is never disordered; the luxury +of ornament never overloads the chaste eloquence of the principal lines. +His best works abound in combinations which may be said to be an epoch +in the handling of musical style. Daring, brilliant, and attractive, +they disguise their profundity under so much grace, their science +under so many charms, that it is with difficulty we free ourselves +sufficiently from their magical inthrallment, to judge coldly of their +theoretical value." + +As a romance composer Chopin struck out his own path, and has no +rival. Full of originality, his works display the utmost dignity and +refinement. He revolted from the bizarre and eccentric, though the +peculiar influences which governed his development might well have +betrayed one less finely organized. + +As a musical poet, embodying the feelings and tendencies of a people, +Chopin advances his chief claim to his place in art. He did not task +himself to be a national musician; for he is utterly without pretense +and affectation, and sings spontaneously without design or choice, from +the fullness of a rich nature. He collected "in luminous sheaves the +impressions felt everywhere through his country--vaguely felt, it is +true, yet in fragments pervading all hearts." + +Chopin was repelled by the lusty and almost coarse humor sometimes +displayed by Schubert, for he was painfully fastidious. He could not +fully understand nor appreciate Beethoven, whose works are full of +lion-marrow, robust and masculine alike in conception and treatment. He +did not admire Shakespeare, because his great delineations are too vivid +and realistic. Our musician was essentially a dreamer and idealist. His +range was limited, but within it he reached perfection of finish +and originality never surpassed. But, with all his limitations, the +art-judgment of the world places him high among those + + ".... whom Art's service pure + Hallows and claims, whose hearts are made her throne, + "Whose lips her oracle, ordained secure + To lead a priestly life and feed the ray + Of her eternal shrine; to them alone + Her glorious countenance unveiled is shown." + + + + +WEBER. + + +I. + +The genius which inspired the three great works, "Der Freischutz," +"Euryanthe," and "Oberon," has stamped itself as one of the most +original and characteristic in German music. Full of bold and surprising +strokes of imagination, these operas are marked by the true atmosphere +of national life and feeling, and Ave feel in them the fresh, rich color +of the popular traditions, and song-music which make the German _Lieder_ +such an inexhaustible treasure-trove. As Weber was maturing into that +fullness of power which gave to the world his greater works, Germany had +been wrought into a passionate patriotism by the Napoleonic wars. The +call to arms resounded from one end of the Fatherland to the other. +Every hamlet thrilled with fervor, and all the resources of national +tradition were evoked to heighten the love of country into a puissance +which should save the land. Germany had been humiliated by a series of +crushing defeats, and national pride was stung to vindicate the +grand old memories. France, in answer to a similar demand for some +art-expression of its patriotism, had produced its Rouget de-Lisle; +Germany produced the poet Korner and the musician Weber. + +It is not easy to appreciate the true quality and significance of +Weber's art-life without considering the peculiar state of Germany at +the time; for if ever creative imagination was forged and fashioned by +its environments into a logical expression of public needs and impulses, +it was in the case of the father of German romantic opera. This +inspiration permeated the whole soil of national thought, and its +embodiment in art and letters has hardly any parallel except in that +brilliant morning of English thought which we know as the Elizabethan +era. To understand Weber the composer, then, we must think of him not +only as the musician, but as the patriot and revivalist of ancient +tendencies in art, drawn directly from the warm heart of the people. + +Karl Maria von Weber was born at Eutin, in Holstein, December 18, 1786. +His father had been a soldier, but, owing to extravagance and folly, had +left the career of arms, and, being an educated musician, had become by +turns attached to an orchestra, director of a theatre, Kapellmeister, +and wandering player--never remaining long in one position, for he was +essentially vagrant and desultory in character. Whatever Karl Maria had +to suffer from his father's folly and eccentricity, he was indebted to +him for an excellent training in the art of which he was to become +so brilliant an ornament. He had excellent masters in singing and the +piano, as also in drawing and engraving. So he grew up a melancholy, +imaginative, recluse, absorbed in his studies, and living in a +dream-land of his own, which he peopled with ideal creations. His +passionate love of Nature, tinged with old German superstition, planted +in his imagination those fruitful germs which bore such rich results in +after-years. + +In 1797 Weber studied the piano and composition under Ilanschkel, a +thoroughly scientific musician, and found in his severe drill a happy +counter-balancing influence to the more desultory studies which had +preceded. Major Weber's restless tendencies did not permit his family +to remain long in one place. In 1798 they moved to Salzburg, where +young Weber was placed at the musical institute of which Michael Haydn, +brother of the great Joseph, was director. Here a variety of misfortunes +assailed the Weber family. Major Franz Anton was unsuccessful in all +his theatrical undertakings, and extreme poverty stared them all in the +face. The gentle mother, too, whom Karl so dearly loved, sickened and +died. This was a terrible blow to the affectionate boy, from which he +did not soon recover. + +The next resting-place in the pilgrimage of the Weber family was Munich, +where Major Weber, who, however flagrant his shortcomings in other ways, +was resolved that the musical powers of his son should be thoroughly +trained, placed him under the care of the organist Kalcher for studies +in composition. + +For several years, Karl was obliged to lead the same shifting, nomadic +sort of life, never stopping long, but dragged hither and thither in +obedience to his father's vagaries and necessities, but always studying +under the best masters who could be obtained. While under Kalcher, +several masses, sonatas, trios, and an opera, "Die Macht der Liebe und +des Weins" ("The Might of Love and Wine"), were written. Another opera, +"Das Waldmaed-chen" ("The Forest Maiden"), was composed and produced +when he was fourteen; and two years later in Salzburg he composed "Peter +Schmoll und seine Nachbarn," an operetta, which exacted warm praise from +Michael Haydn. + +At the age of seventeen he became the pupil of the great teacher Abbe +Vogler, under whose charge also Meyerbeer was then studying. Our young +composer worked with great assiduity under the able instruction of +Vogier, who was of vast service in bringing the chaos of his previous +contradictory teachings into order and light. All these musical +_Wanderjahre_, however trying, had steeled Karl Maria into a stern +self-reliance, and he found in his skill as an engraver the means to +remedy his father's wastefulness and folly. + + +II. + +A curious episode in Weber's life was his connection with the royal +family of Wurtemberg, where he found a dissolute, poverty-stricken +court, and a whimsical, arrogant, half-crazy king. Here he remained four +years in a half-official musical position, his nominal duty being that +of secretary to the king's brother, Prince Ludwig. This part of +his career was almost a sheer waste, full of dreary and irritating +experiences, which Weber afterward spoke of with disgust and regret. +His spirit revolted from the capricious tyranny which he was obliged to +undergo, but circumstances seem to have coerced him into a protracted +endurance of the place. His letters tell us how bitterly he detested the +king and his dull, pompous court, though Prince Ludwig in a way seemed +to have been attached to his secretary. One of his biographers says: + +"Weber hated the king, of whose wild caprice and vices he witnessed +daily scenes, before whose palace-gates he was obliged to slink +bareheaded, and who treated him with unmerited ignominy. Sceptre and +crown had never been imposing objects in his eyes, unless worn by a +worthy man; and consequently he was wont, in the thoughtless levity +of youth, to forget the dangers he ran, and to answer the king with a +freedom of tone which the autocrat was all unused to hear. In turn he +was detested by the monarch. As negotiator for the spendthrift Prince +Ludwig, he was already obnoxious enough; and it sometimes happened that, +by way of variety to the customary torrent of invective, the king, after +keeping the secretary for hours in his antechamber, would receive him +only to turn him rudely out of the room, without hearing a word he had +to say." + +At last Karl Maria's indignation burst over bounds at some unusual +indignity; and he played a practical joke on the king. Meeting an old +woman in the palace one day near the door of the royal sanctum, she +asked him where she could find the court-washerwoman. "There," said the +reckless Weber, pointing to the door of the king's cabinet. The +king, who hated old women, was in a transport of rage, and, on her +terror-stricken explanation of the intrusion, had no difficulty in +fixing the mischief in the right quarter. Weber was thrown into prison, +and had it not been for Prince Ludwig's intercession he would have +remained there for several years. While confined he managed to compose +one of his most beautiful songs, "Ein steter Kampf ist unser Leben." He +had not long been released when he was again imprisoned on account of +some of his father's wretched follies, that arrogant old gentleman being +utterly reckless how he involved others, so long as he carried out his +own selfish purposes and indulgence. His friend Danzi, director of the +royal opera at Stuttgart, proved his good genius in this instance; for +he wrangled with the king till his young friend was released. + +Weber's only consolations during this dismal life in Stuttgart were the +friendship of Danzi, and his love for a beautiful singer named Gretchen. +Danzi was a true mentor and a devoted friend. He was wont to say to +Karl: "To be a true artist, you must be a true man." But the lovely +Gretchen, however she may have consoled his somewhat arid life, was not +a beneficial influence, for she led him into many sad extravagances and +an unwholesome taste for playing the cavalier. + +In spite of his discouraging surroundings, Weber's creative power was +active during this period, and showed how, perhaps unconsciously to +himself, he was growing in power and depth of experience. He wrote the +cantata "Der erste Ton," a large number of songs, the first of his great +piano sonatas, several overtures and symphonies, and the opera "Sylvana" +("Das Waldmaedchen" rewritten and enlarged), which, both in its music +and libretto, seems to have been the precursor of his great works "Der +Freischutz" and "Euryanthe." At the first performance of "Sylvana" in +Frankfort, September 16, 1810, he met Miss Caroline Brandt, who sang +the principal character. She afterward became his wife, and her love and +devotion were the solace of his life. + +Weber spent most of the year 1810 in Darmstadt, where he again met +Vogler and Meyerbeer. Vogler's severe artistic instructions were of +great value to Weber in curbing his extravagance, and impressing on him +that restraint was one of the most valuable factors in art. What Vogler +thought of Weber we learn from a letter in which he writes: "Had I been +forced to leave the world before I found these two, Weber and Meyerbeer, +I should have died a miserable man." + + +III. + +It was about this time, while visiting Mannheim, that the idea of "Der +Freischutz" first entered his mind. His friend the poet Kind was with +him, and they were ransacking an old book, Apel's "Ghost Stories." +One of these dealt with the ancient legend of the hunter Bartusch, a +woodland myth ranking high in German folk-lore. They were both delighted +with the fantastic and striking story, full of the warm coloring of +Nature, and the balmy atmosphere of the forest and mountain. They +immediately arranged the framework of the libretto, afterward written by +Kind, and set to such weird and enchanting music by Weber. + +In 1811 Weber began to give concerts, for his reputation was becoming +known far and wide as a brilliant composer and virtuoso. For two years +he played a round of concerts in Munich, Leipsic, Gotha, Weimar, Berlin, +and other places. He was everywhere warmly welcomed. Lichten-stein, in +his "Memoir of Weber," writes of his Berlin reception: "Young artists +fell on their knees before him; others embraced him wherever they could +get at him. All crowded around him, till his head was crowned, not with +a chaplet of flowers, but a circlet of happy faces." The devotion of his +friends, his happy family relations, the success of his published works, +conspired to make Weber cheerful and joyous beyond his wont, for he was +naturally of a melancholy and serious turn, disposed to look at life +from its tragic side. + +In 1813 he was called to Prague to direct the music of the German opera +in that Bohemian capital. The Bohemians had always been a highly musical +race, and their chief city is associated in the minds of the students of +music as the place where many of the great operas were first presented +to the public. Mozart loved Prague, for he found in its people the +audiences who appreciated and honored him the most. Its traditions were +honored in their treatment of Weber, for his three years there were +among the happiest of his life. + +Our composer wrote his opera of "Der Freischuetz" in Dresden. It was +first produced in the opera-house of that classic city, but it was +not till 1821, when it was performed in Berlin, that its greatness was +recognized. Weber can best tell the story of its reception himself. In +his letter to his co-author, Kind, he writes: + +"The free-shooter has hit the mark. The second representation has +succeeded as well as the first; there was the same enthusiasm. All the +places in the house are taken for the third, which comes off to-morrow. +It is the greatest triumph one can have. You cannot imagine what a +lively interest your text inspires from beginning to end. How happy I +should have been if you had only been present to hear it for yourself! +Some of the scenes produced an effect which I was far from anticipating; +for example, that of the young girls. If I see you again at Dresden, I +will tell you all about it; for I cannot do it justice in writing. How +much I am indebted to you for your magnificent poem! I embrace you with +the sincerest emotion, returning to your muse the laurels I owe her. +God grant that you may be happy. Love him who loves you with infinite +respect. "Your Weber." + +"Der Freischuetz" was such a success as to place the composer in the +front ranks of the lyric stage. The striking originality, the fire, the +passion of his music, the ardent national feeling, and the freshness of +treatment, gave a genuine shock of delight and surprise to the German +world. + + +IV. + +The opera of "Preciosa," also a masterpiece, was given shortly after +with great _eclat_, though it failed to inspire the deep enthusiasm +which greeted "Der Freischuetz." In 1823, "Euryanthe" was produced in +Berlin--a work on which Weber exhausted all the treasures of his musical +genius. Without the elements of popular success which made his first +great opera such an immediate favorite, it shows the most finished and +scholarly work which Weber ever attained. Its symmetry and completeness, +the elaboration of all the forms, the richness and variety of the +orchestration, bear witness to the long and thoughtful labor expended +on it. It gradually won its way to popular recognition, and has always +remained one of the favorite works of the German stage. + +The opera of "Oberon" was Weber's last great production. The celebrated +poet Wieland composed the poem underlying the libretto, from the +mediaeval romance of Huon of Bordeaux. The scenes are laid in fairy-land, +and it may be almost called a German "Midsummer-Night's Dream," +though the story differs widely from the charming phantasy of our own +Shakespeare. The opera of "Oberon" was written for Kemble, of the Covent +Garden theatre, in London, and was produced by Weber under circumstances +of failing health and great mental depression. The composer pressed +every energy to the utmost to meet his engagement, and it was feared by +his friends that he would not live to see it put on the stage. It did, +indeed, prove the song of the dying swan, for he only lived four months +after reaching London. "Oberon" was performed with immense success under +the direction of Sir George Smart, and the fading days of the author +were cheered by the acclamations of the English public; but the work +cost him his life. He died in London, June 5,1826. His last words were: +"God reward you for all your kindness to me.--Now let me sleep." + +Apart from his dramatic compositions, Weber is known for his many +beautiful overtures and symphonies for the orchestra, and his various +works for the piano, from sonatas to waltzes and minuets. Among his most +pleasing piano-works are the "Invitation to the Waltz," the "Perpetual +Rondo," and the "Polonaise in E major." Many of his songs rank among the +finest German lyrics. He would have been recognized as an able composer +had he not produced great operas; but the superior excellence of these +cast all his other compositions in the shade. + +Weber was fortunate in having gifted poets to write his dramas. As rich +as he was in melodic affluence, his creative faculty seems to have had +its tap-root in deep personal feelings and enthusiasms. One of the +most poetic and picturesque of composers, he needed a powerful exterior +suggestion to give his genius wings and fire. The Germany of his time +was alive with patriotic ardor, and the existence of the nation gathered +from its emergencies new strength and force. The heart of Weber beat +strong with the popular life. Romantic and serious in his taste, his +imagination fed on old German tradition and song, and drew from them its +richest food. The whole life of the Fatherland, with its glow of +love for home, its keen sympathies with the influences of Nature, its +fantastic play of thought, its tendency to embody the primitive forces +in weird myths, found in Weber an eloquent exponent; and we perceive in +his music all the color and vividness of these influences. + +Weber's love of Nature was singularly keen. The woods, the mountains, +the lakes, and the streams, spoke to his soul with voices full of +meaning. He excelled in making these voices speak and sing; and he may, +therefore, be entitled the father of the romantic and descriptive school +in German operatic music. With more breadth and robustness, he expressed +the national feelings of his people, even as Chopin did those of dying +Poland. Weber's motives are generally caught from the immemorial airs +which resound in every village and hamlet, and the fresh beat of the +German heart sends its thrill through almost every bar of his music. +Here is found the ultimate significance of his art-work, apart from the +mere musical beauty of his compositions. + + + + +MENDELSSOHN. + + +I. + +Few careers could present more startling contrasts than those of Mozart +and Mendelssohn, in many respects of similar genius, but utterly opposed +in the whole surroundings of their lives. Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy +was the grandson of the celebrated philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, and +the son of a rich Hamburg banker. His uncles were distinguished in +literary and social life. His friends from early childhood were eminent +scholars, poets, painters, and musicians, and his family moved in the +most refined and wealthy circles. He was nursed in the lap of luxury, +and never knew the cold and hunger of life. All the good fairies and +graces seemed to have smiled benignly on his birth, and to have showered +on him their richest gifts. Many successful wooers of the muse have +been, fortunately for themselves, the heirs of poverty, and became +successful only to yield themselves to fat and slothful ease. But, with +every incitement to an idle and contented life, Mendelssohn toiled like +a galley-slave, and saw in his wealth only the means of a more exclusive +consecration to his art. A passionate impulse to labor was the law of +his life. + +Many will recollect the brilliant novel "Charles Auchester," in which, +under the names of Seraphael, Aronach, Charles Auchester, Julia Bennett, +and Starwood Burney, are painted the characters of Mendelssohn, Zelter +his teacher, Joachim the violinist, Jenny Lind, and Sterndale Bennett +the English composer. The brilliant coloring does not disguise nor +flatter the lofty Christian purity, the splendid genius, and the great +personal charm of the composer, who shares in largest measure the homage +which the English public lays at the feet of Handel. + +As child and youth Mendelssohn, born at Hamburg, February 3, 1809, +displayed the same precocity of talent as was shown by Mozart. Sir +Julius Benedict relates his first meeting with him. He was walking in +Berlin with Von Weber, and the latter called his attention to a boy +about eleven years old, who, perceiving the author of "Der Freischuetz," +gave him a hearty greeting. "'Tis Felix Mendelssohn," said Weber, +introducing the marvelous boy. Benedict narrates his amazement to find +the extraordinary attainments of this beautiful youth, with curling +auburn hair, brilliant clear eyes, and lips smiling with innocence and +candor. Five minutes after young Mendelssohn had astonished his English +friend by his admirable performance of several of his own compositions, +he forgot Weber, quartets, and counterpoint, to leap over the garden +hedges and climb the trees like a squirrel. When scarcely twenty years +old he had composed his octet, three quartets for the piano and strings, +two sonatas, two symphonies, his first violin quartet, various operas, +many songs, and the immortal overture of "A Midsummer-Night's Dream." + +Mendelssohn received an admirable education, was an excellent classicist +and linguist, and during a short residence at Dusseldorf showed such +talent for painting as to excite much wonder. Before he was twenty he +was the friend of Goethe and Herder, who delighted in a genius so +rich and symmetrical. Some of Goethe's letters are full of charming +expressions of praise and affection, for the aged Jupiter of German +literature found in the promise of this young Apollo something of the +many-sided power which made himself so remarkable. + + +II. + +The Mendelssohn family had moved to Berlin when Felix was only three +years old, and the Berliners always claimed him as their own. Strange +to say, the city of his birth did not recognize his talent for many +years. At the age of twenty he went to England, and the high breeding, +personal beauty, and charming manner of the young musician gave him +the _entree_ into the most fastidious and exclusive circles. His first +symphony and the "Midsummer-Night's Dream" overture stamped his power +with the verdict of a warm enthusiasm; for London, though cold and +conservative, is prompt to recognize a superior order of merit. + +His travels through Scotland inspired Mendelssohn with sentiments +of great admiration. The scenery filled his mind with the highest +suggestions of beauty and grandeur. He afterward tells us that "he +preferred the cold sky and the pines of the north to charming scenes in +the midst of landscapes bathed in the glowing rays of the sun and azure +light." The vague Ossianic figures that raised their gigantic heads in +the fog-wreaths of clouded mountain-tops and lonely lochs had a peculiar +fascination for him, and acted like wine on his imagination. The +"Hebrides" overture was the fruit of this tour, one of the most powerful +and characteristic of his minor compositions. His sister Fanny (Mrs. +Hensel) asked him to describe the gray scenery of the north, and +he replied in music by improvising his impressions. This theme was +afterward worked out in the elaborate overture. + +We will not follow him in his various travels through France and Italy. +Suffice it to say that his keen and passionate mind absorbed everything +in art which could feed the divine hunger, for he was ever discontented, +and had his mind fixed on an absolute and determined ideal. During this +time of travel he became intimate with the sculptor Thorwaldsen, and +the painters Leopold Robert and Horace Vernet. This period produced +"Walpurgis Night," the first of the "Songs without Words," the great +symphony in A major, and the "Melusine" overture. He is now about to +enter on the epoch which puts to the fullest test the varied resources +of his genius. To Moscheles he writes, in answer to his old teacher's +warm praise: "Your praise is better than three orders of nobility." For +several years we see him busy in multifarious ways, composing, leading +musical festivals, concert-giving, directing opera-houses, and +yet finding time to keep up a busy correspondence with the most +distinguished men in Europe; for Mendelssohn seemed to find in +letter-writing a rest for his overtaxed brain. + +In 1835 he completed his great oratorio of "St. Paul," for Leipsic. The +next year he received the title of Doctor of Philosophy and the Fine +Arts; and in 1837 he married the charming Cecile Jean-renaud, who made +his domestic life so gentle and harmonious. It has been thought strange +that Mendelssohn should have made so little mention of his lovely wife +in his letters, so prone as he was to speak of affairs of his daily +life. Be this as it may, his correspondence with Moscheles, Devrient, +and others, as well as the general testimony of his friends, shows us +unmistakably that his home-life was blessed in an exceptional degree +with intellectual sympathy, and the tenderest, most thoughtful love. + +In 1841 Mendelssohn became Kapellmeister of the Prussian court. He now +wrote the "Athalie" music, the "Midsummer-Night's Dream," and a large +number of lesser pieces, including the "Songs without Words," and piano +sonatas, as well as much church music. The greatest work of this +period was the "Hymn of Praise," a symphonic cantata for the Leipsic +anniversary of the invention of printing, regarded by many as his finest +composition. + +Mendelssohn always loved England, and made frequent visits across the +Channel; for he felt that among the English he was fully appreciated, +both as man and composer. + +His oratorio of "Elijah" was composed for the English public, and +produced at the great Birmingham festival in 1846, under his own +direction, with magnificent success. It was given a second time in +April, 1847, with his final refinements and revisions; and the event was +regarded in England as one of the greatest since the days of Handel, to +whom, as well as to Haydn and Beethoven, Mendelssohn showed himself +a worthy rival in the field of oratorio composition. Of this visit to +England Lampadius, his friend and biographer, writes: "Her Majesty, +who as well as her husband was a great friend of art, and herself a +distinguished musician, received the distinguished German in her own +sitting-room, Prince Albert being the only one present besides herself. +As he entered she asked his pardon for the somewhat disorderly state +of the room, and began to rearrange the articles with her own hands, +Mendelssohn himself gallantly offering his assistance. Some parrots +whose cages hung in the room she herself carried into the next room, in +which Mendelssohn helped her also. She then requested her guest to play +something, and afterward sang some songs of his which she had sung at +a court concert soon after the attack on her person. She was not wholly +pleased, however, with her own performance, and said pleasantly to +Mendelssohn: 'I can do better--ask Lablache if I cannot; but I am afraid +of you!'" + +This anecdote was related by Mendelssohn himself to show the +graciousness of the English queen. It was at this time that Prince +Albert sent to Mendelssohn the book of the oratorio "Elijah" with +which he used to follow the performance, with the following autographic +inscription: + +"To the noble artist, who, surrounded by the Baal worship of corrupted +art, has been able by his genius and science to preserve faithfully like +another Elijah the worship of true art, and once more to accustom our +ear, lost in the whirl of an empty play of sounds, to the pure notes of +expressive composition and legitimate harmony--to the great master, who +makes us conscious of the unity of his conception through the whole maze +of his creation, from the soft whispering to the mighty raging of +the elements: Written in token of grateful remembrance by Albert. +"Buckingham Palace, April 24, 1847." + +An occurrence at the Birmingham festival throws a clear light +on Mendelssohn's presence of mind, and on his faculty of instant +concentration. On the last day, among other things, one of Handel's +anthems was given. The concert was already going on, when it was +discovered that the short recitative which precedes the "Coronation +Hymn," and which the public had in the printed text, was lacking in the +voice parts. The directors were perplexed. Mendelssohn, who was sitting +in an ante-room of the hall, heard of it, and said, "Wait, I will help +you." He sat down directly at a table, and composed the music for the +recitative and the orchestral accompaniment in about half an hour. It +was at once transcribed, and given without any rehearsal, and went very +finely. + +On returning to Leipsic he determined to pass the summer in Vevay, +Switzerland, on account of his failing health, which had begun to alarm +himself and his friends. His letters from Switzerland at this period +show how the shadow of rapidly approaching death already threw a deep +gloom over his habitually cheerful nature. He returned to Leipsic, and +resumed hard work. His operetta entitled "Return from among Strangers" +was his last production, with the exception of some lively songs and a +few piano pieces of the "Lieder ohne Worte," or "Songs without Words," +series. Mendelssohn was seized with an apoplectic attack on October +9,1847. Second and third seizures quickly followed, and he died November +4th, aged thirty-eight years. + +All Germany and Europe sorrowed over the loss of this great musician, +and his funeral was attended by many of the most distinguished persons +from all parts of the land, for the loss was felt to be something like a +national calamity. + + +III. + +Mendelssohn was one of the most intelligent and scholarly composers of +the century. Learned in various branches of knowledge, and personally +a man of unusual accomplishments, his career was full of manly energy, +enlightened enthusiasm, and severe devotion to the highest forms of the +art of music. Not only his great oratorios, "St. Paul" and "Elijah," but +his music for the piano, including the "Songs without Words," sonatas, +and many occasional pieces, have won him a high place among his musical +brethren. As an orchestral composer, his overtures are filled with +strikingly original thoughts and elevated conceptions, expressed with +much delicacy of instrumental coloring. He was brought but little in +contact with the French and Italian schools, and there is found in his +works a severity of art-form which shows how closely he sympathized with +Bach and Handel in his musical tendencies. He died while at the very +zenith of his powers, and we may well believe that a longer life would +have developed much richer beauty in his compositions. Short as his +career was, however, he left a great number of magnificent works, which +entitle him to a place among the Titans of music. + + + + +RICHARD WAGNER. + + +I. + +It is curious to note how often art-controversy has become edged with +a bitterness rivaling even the gall and venom of religious dispute. +Scholars have not yet forgotten the fiery war of words which raged +between Richard Bentley and his opponents concerning the authenticity +of the "Epistles of Phalaris," nor how literary Germany was divided into +two hostile camps by Wolf's attack on the personality of Homer. It is +no less fresh in the minds of critics how that modern Jupiter, Lessing, +waged a long and bitter battle with the Titans of the French +classical drama, and finally crushed them with the thunderbolt of the +"Dramaturgie;" nor what acrimony sharpened the discussion between +the rival theorists in music, Gluck and Piccini, at Paris. All of the +intensity of these art-campaigns, and many of the conditions of +the last, enter into the contest between Richard Wagner and the +_Italianissimi_ of the present day. + +The exact points at issue were for a long time so befogged by the smoke +of the battle that many of the large class who are musically interested, +but never had an opportunity to study the question, will find an +advantage in a clear and comprehensive sketch of the facts and +principles involved. Until recently, there were still many people who +thought of Wagner as a youthful and eccentric enthusiast, all afire with +misdirected genius, a mere carpet-knight on the sublime battle-field +of art, a beginner just sowing his wild-oats in works like "Lohengrin," +"Tristan and Iseult," or the "Rheingold." It is a revelation full of +suggestive value for these to realize that he is a musical thinker, ripe +with sixty years of labor and experience; that he represents the rarest +and choicest fruits of modern culture, not only as musician, but as poet +and philosopher; that he is one of the few examples in the history of +the art where massive scholarship and the power of subtile analysis +have been united, in a preeminent degree, with great creative genius. +Preliminary to a study of what Wagner and his disciples entitle the +"Artwork of the Future," let us take a swift survey of music as a medium +of expression for the beautiful, and some of the forms which it has +assumed. + +This Ariel of the fine arts sends its messages to the human soul by +virtue of a fourfold capacity: Firstly, the imitation of the voices +of Nature, such as the winds, the waves, and the cries of animals; +secondly, its potential delight as melody, modulation, rhythm, +harmony--in other words, its simple worth as a "thing of beauty," +without regard to cause or consequence; thirdly, its force of boundless +suggestion; fourthly, that affinity for union with the more definite +and exact forms of the imagination (poetry), by which the intellectual +context of the latter is raised to a far higher power of grace, beauty, +passion, sweetness, without losing individuality of outline--like, +indeed, the hazy aureole which painters set on the brow of the man +Jesus, to fix the seal of the ultimate Divinity. Though several or all +of these may be united in the same composition, each musical work may +be characterized in the main as descriptive, sensuous, suggestive, or +dramatic, according as either element contributes most largely to its +purpose. Simple melody or harmony appeals mostly to the sensuous love +of sweet sounds. The symphony does this in an enlarged and complicated +sense, but is still more marked by the marvelous suggestive energy +with which it unlocks all the secret raptures of fancy, floods the +border-lands of thought with a glory not to be found on sea or land, +and paints ravishing pictures, that come and go like dreams, with colors +drawn from the "twelve-tinted tone-spectrum." + +Shelley describes this peculiar influence of music in his "Prometheus +Unbound," with exquisite beauty and truth: + + "My soul is an enchanted boat, + Which, like a sleeping swan, doth float + Upon the silver waves of thy sweet singing; + And thine doth like an angel sit + Beside the helm conducting it, + While all the waves with melody are ringing. + It seems to float ever, forever, + Upon that many-winding river, + Between mountains, woods, abysses, + A paradise of wildernesses." + +As the symphony best expresses the suggestive potency in music, the +operatic form incarnates its capacity of definite thought, and the +expression of that thought. The term "lyric," as applied to the genuine +operatic conception, is a misnomer. Under the accepted operatic form, +however, it has relative truth, as the main musical purpose of opera +seems, hitherto, to have been less to furnish expression for exalted +emotions and thoughts, or exquisite sentiments, than to grant the vocal +_virtuoso_ opportunity to display phenomenal qualities of voice and +execution. But all opera, however it may stray from the fundamental +idea, suggests this dramatic element in music, just as mere lyricism +in the poetic art is the blossom from which is unfolded the full-blown +perfection of the word-drama, the highest form of all poetry. + + +II. + +That music, by and of itself, cannot express the intellectual element in +the beautiful dream-images of art with precision, is a palpable truth. +Yet, by its imperial dominion over the sphere of emotion and sentiment, +the connection of the latter with complicated mental phenomena is +made to bring into the domain of tone vague and shifting fancies and +pictures. How much further music can be made to assimilate to the other +arts in directness of mental suggestion, by wedding to it the noblest +forms of poetry, and making each the complement of the other, is the +knotty problem which underlies the great art-controversy about which +this article concerns itself. On the one side we have the claim that +music is the all-sufficient law unto itself; that its appeal to +sympathy is through the intrinsic sweetness of harmony and tune, and the +intellect must be satisfied with what it may accidentally glean in +this harvest-field; that, in the rapture experienced in the sensuous +apperception of its beauty, lies the highest phase of art-sensibility. +Therefore, concludes the syllogism, it matters nothing as to the +character of the libretto or poem to whose words the music is arranged, +so long as the dramatic framework suffices as a support for the flowery +festoons of song, which drape its ugliness and beguile attention by the +fascinations of bloom and grace. On the other hand, the apostles of the +new musical philosophy insist that art is something more than a vehicle +for the mere sense of the beautiful, an exquisite provocation wherewith +to startle the sense of a selfish, epicurean pleasure; that its highest +function--to follow the idea of the Greek Plato, and the greatest of his +modern disciples, Schopenhauer--is to serve as the incarnation of the +true and the good; and, even as Goethe makes the Earth-Spirit sing in +"Faust"-- + + "'Tis thus over at the loom of Time I ply, + And weave for God the garment thou seest him by"-- + +so the highest art is that which best embodies the immortal thought of +the universe as reflected in the mirror of man's consciousness; that +music, as speaking the most spiritual language of any of the art-family, +is burdened with the most pressing responsibility as the interpreter +between the finite and the infinite; that all its forms must be measured +by the earnestness and success with which they teach and suggest what is +best in aspiration and truest in thought; that music, when wedded to the +highest form of poetry (the drama), produces the consummate art-result, +and sacrifices to some extent its power of suggestion, only to acquire +a greater glory and influence, that of investing definite intellectual +images with spiritual raiment, through which they shine on the supreme +altitudes of ideal thought; that to make this marriage perfect as an +art-form and fruitful in result, the two partners must come as equals, +neither one the drudge of the other; that in this organic fusion +music and poetry contribute, each its best, to emancipate art from its +thralldom to that which is merely trivial, commonplace, and accidental, +and make it a revelation of all that is most exalted in thought, +sentiment, and purpose. Such is the aesthetic theory of Richard Wagner's +art-work. + + +III. + +It is suggestive to note that the earliest recognized function of music, +before it had learned to enslave itself to mere sensuous enjoyment, was +similar in spirit to that which its latest reformer demands for it in +the art of the future. The glory of its birth then shone on its brow. It +was the handmaid and minister of the religious instinct. The imagination +became afire with the mystery of life and Nature, and burst into the +flames and frenzies of rhythm. Poetry was born, but instantly sought the +wings of music for a higher flight than the mere word would permit. Even +the great epics of the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" were originally sung or +chanted by the Ilomerido, and the same essential union seems to have +been in some measure demanded afterward in the Greek drama, which, at +its best, was always inspired with the religious sentiment. There +is every reason to believe that the chorus of the drama ofAEschylus, +Sophocles, and Euripides uttered their comments on the action of the +play with such a prolongation and variety of pitch in the rhythmic +intervals as to constitute a sustained and melodic recitative. Music at +this time was an essential part of the drama. When the creative genius +of Greece had set toward its ebb, they were divorced, and music was only +set to lyric forms. Such remained the status of the art till, in the +Italian Renaissance, modern opera was born in the reunion of music and +the drama. Like the other arts, it assumed at the outset to be a mere +revival of antique traditions. The great poets of Italy had then passed +way, and it was left for music to fill the void. + +The muse, Polyhymnia, soon emerged from the stage of childish +stammering. Guittone di Arezzo taught her to fix her thoughts in +indelible signs, and two centuries of training culminated in the +inspired composers, Orlando di Lasso and Pales-trina. Of the gradual +degradation of the operatic art as its forms became more elaborate and +fixed; of the arbitrary transfer of absolute musical forms like the +aria, duet, finale, etc., into the action of the opera without regard to +poetic propriety; of the growing tendency to treat the human voice like +any other instrument, merely to show its resources as an organ; of +the final utter bondage of the poet to the musician, till opera became +little more than a congeries of musico-gymnastic forms, wherein the +vocal soloists could display their art, it needs not to speak at length, +for some of these vices have not yet disappeared. In the language of +Dante's guide through the Inferno, at one stage of their wanderings, +when the sights were peculiarly mournful and desolate-- + + + "Non raggioniam da lor, ma guarda e passa." + + +The loss of all poetic verity and earnestness in opera furnished the +great composer Gluck with the motive of the bitter and protracted +contest which he waged with varying success throughout Europe, though +principally in Paris. Gluck boldly affirmed, and carried out the +principle in his compositions, that the task of dramatic music was to +accompany the different phases of emotion in the text, and give them +their highest effect of spiritual intensity. The singer must be the +mouthpiece of the poet, and must take extreme care in giving the full +poetical burden of the song. Thus, the declamatory music became of +great importance, and Gluck's recitative reached an unequaled degree of +perfection. + +The critics of Gluck's time hurled at him the same charges which are +familiar to us now as coming from the mouths and pens of the enemies of +Wagner's music. Yet Gluck, however conscious of the ideal unity between +music and poetry, never thought of bringing this about by a sacrifice +of any of the forms of his own peculiar art. His influence, however, was +very great, and the traditions of the great _maestro's_ art have +been kept alive in the works of his no less great disciples, Mehul, +Cherubini, Spontini, and Meyerbeer. + +Two other attempts to ingraft new and vital power on the rigid and +trivial sentimentality of the Italian forms of opera were those of +Rossini and Weber. The former was gifted with the greatest affluence +of pure melodiousness ever given to a composer. But even his sparkling +originality and freshness did little more than reproduce the old forms +under a more attractive guise. Weber, on the other hand, stood in the +van of a movement which had its fountain-head in the strong romantic and +national feeling, pervading the whole of society and literature. There +was a general revival of mediaeval and popular poetry, with its balmy +odor of the woods, and fields, and streams. Weber's melody was the +direct offspring of the tunefulness of the German _Volkslied_, and so +it expressed, with wonderful freshness and beauty, all the range +of passion and sentiment within the limits of this pure and simple +language. But the boundaries were far too narrow to build upon them the +ultimate union of music and poetry, which should express the perfect +harmony of the two arts. While it is true that all of the great German +composers protested, by their works, against the spirit and character +of the Italian school of music, Wagner claims that the first abrupt and +strongly-defined departure toward a radical reform in art is found in +Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with chorus. Speaking of this remarkable leap +from instrumental to vocal music in a professedly symphonic composition, +Wagner, in his "Essay on Beethoven," says: "We declare that the work of +art, which was formed and quickened entirely by that deed, must present +the most perfect artistic form, i.e., that form in which, as for the +drama, so also and especially for music, every conventionality would +be abolished." Beethoven is asserted to have founded the new musical +school, when he admitted, by his recourse to the vocal cantata in the +greatest of his symphonic works, that he no longer recognized absolute +music as sufficient unto itself. + +In Bach and Handel, the great masters of fugue and counterpoint; in +Rossini, Mozart, and Weber, the consummate creators of melody--then, +according to this view, we only recognize thinkers in the realm of pure +music. In Beethoven, the greatest of them all, was laid the basis of the +new epoch of tone-poetry. In the immortal songs of Schubert, Schumann, +Mendelssohn, Liszt, and Franz, and the symphonies of the first four, +the vitality of the reformatory idea is richly illustrated. In the +music-drama of Wagner, it is claimed by his disciples, is found the full +flower and development of the art-work. + +William Richard Wagner, the formal projector of the great changes whose +details are yet to be sketched, was born at Leipsic in 1813. As a child +he displayed no very marked artistic tastes, though his ear and memory +for music were quite remarkable. When admitted to the Kreuzschule of +Dresden, the young student, however, distinguished himself by his very +great talent for literary composition and the classical languages. To +this early culture, perhaps, we are indebted for the great poetic power +which has enabled him to compose the remarkable libretti which have +furnished the basis of his music. His first creative attempt was a +blood-thirsty drama, where forty-two characters are killed, and the few +survivors are haunted by the ghosts. Young Wagner soon devoted himself +to the study of music, and, in 1833, became a pupil of Theodor Weinlig, +a distinguished teacher of harmony and counterpoint. His four years of +study at this time were also years of activity in creative experiment, +as he composed four operas. + +His first opera of note was "Rienzi," with which he went to Paris +in 1837. In spite of Meyerbeer's efforts in its favor, this work was +rejected, and laid aside for some years. Wagner supported himself by +musical criticism and other literary work, and soon was in a position +to offer another opera, "Der fliegende Hollander," to the authorities of +the Grand Opera-House. Again the directors refused the work, but were so +charmed with the beauty of the libretto that they bought it to be +reset to music. Until the year 1842, life was a trying struggle for the +indomitable young musician. "Rienzi" was then produced at Dresden, so +much to the delight of the King of Saxony that the composer was made +royal Kapellmeister and leader of the orchestra. The production of +"Der fliegende Hollander" quickly followed; next came "Tanhaeuser" +and "Lohengrin," to be swiftly succeeded by the "Meistersinger von +Nuernberg." This period of our _maestro's_ musical activity also +commenced to witness the development of his theories on the philosophy +of his art, and some of his most remarkable critical writings were then +given to the world. + +Political troubles obliged Wagner to spend seven years of exile in +Zurich; thence he went to London, where he remained till 1861 as +conductor of the London Philharmonic Society. In 1861 the exile +returned to his native country, and spent several years in Germany and +Russia--there having arisen quite a _furore_ for his music in the latter +country. The enthusiasm awakened in the breast of King Louis of Bavaria +by "Der fliegende Hollaender" resulted in a summons to Wagner to settle +at Munich, and with the glories of the Royal Opera-House in that +city his name has since been principally connected. The culminating +art-splendor of his life, however, was the production of his stupendous +tetralogy, the "Ring der Nibelungen," at the great opera-house at +Baireuth, in the summer of the year 1876. + + +IV. + +The first element to be noted in Wagner's operatic forms is the +energetic protest against the artificial and conventional in music. The +utter want of dramatic symmetry and fitness in the operas we have been +accustomed to hear could only be overlooked by the force of habit, and +the tendency to submerge all else in the mere enjoyment of the music. +The utter variance of music and poetry was to Wagner the stumbling-block +which, first of all, must be removed. So he crushed at one stroke all +the hard, arid forms which existed in the lyrical drama as it had been +known. His opera, then, is no longer a congeries of separate musical +numbers, like duets, arias, chorals, and finales, set in a flimsy web +of formless recitative, without reference to dramatic economy. His great +purpose is lofty dramatic truth, and to this end he sacrifices the whole +framework of accepted musical forms, with the exception of the chorus, +and this he remodels. The musical energy is concentrated in the dialogue +as the main factor of the dramatic problem, and fashioned entirely +according to the requirements of the action. The continuous flow of +beautiful melody takes the place alike of the dry recitative and the set +musical forms which characterize the accepted school of opera. As +the dramatic _motif_ demands, this "continuous melody" rises into the +highest ecstasies of the lyrical fervor, or ebbs into a chant-like +swell of subdued feeling, like the ocean after the rush of the storm. +If Wagner has destroyed musical forms, he has also added a positive +element. In place of the aria we have the _logos_. This is the musical +expression of the principal passion underlying the action of the drama. +Whenever, in the course of the development of the story, this passion +comes into ascendency, the rich strains of the _logos_ are heard anew, +stilling all other sounds. Gounod has, in part, applied this principle +in "Faust." All opera-goers will remember the intense dramatic effect +arising from the recurrence of the same exquisite lyric outburst from +the lips of Marguerite. + +The peculiar character of Wagner's word-drama next arouses critical +interest and attention. The composer is his own poet, and his creative +genius shines no less here than in the world of tone. The musical energy +flows entirely from the dramatic conditions, like the electrical current +from the cups of the battery; and the rhythmical structure of the +_melos_ (tune) is simply the transfiguration of the poetical basis. The +poetry, then, is all-important in the music-drama. Wagner has rejected +the forms of blank verse and rhyme as utterly unsuited to the lofty +purposes of music, and has gone to the metrical principle of all the +Teutonic and Slavonic poetry. This rhythmic element of alliteration, +or _staffrhyme_, we find magnificently illustrated in the Scandinavian +Eddas, and even in our own Anglo-Saxon fragments of the days of Caedmon +and Alcuin. By the use of this new form, verse and melody glide together +in one exquisite rhythm, in which it seems impossible to separate the +one from the other. The strong accents of the alliterating syllables +supply the music with firmness, while the low-toned syllables give +opportunity for the most varied _nuances_ of declamation. + +The first radical development of Wagner's theories we see in "The Flying +Dutchman." In "Tanhhaeser" and "Lohengrin" they find full sway. The utter +revolt of his mind from the trivial and commonplace sentimentalities of +Italian opera led him to believe that the most heroic and lofty motives +alone should furnish the dramatic foundation of opera. For a while he +oscillated between history and legend, as best adapted to furnish his +material. In his selection of the dream-land of myth and legend, we +may detect another example of the profound and _exigeant_ art-instincts +which have ruled the whole of Wagner's life. There could be no question +as to the utter incongruity of any dramatic picture of ordinary events, +or ordinary personages, finding expression in musical utterance. Genuine +and profound art must always be consistent with itself, and what we +recognize as general truth. Even characters set in the comparatively +near hack-ground of history are too closely related to our own familiar +surroundings of thought and mood to be regarded as artistically natural +in the use of music as the organ of the every-day life of emotion and +sentiment. But with the dim and heroic shapes that haunt the border-land +of the supernatural, which we call legend, the case is far different. +This is the drama of the demigods, living in a different atmosphere from +our own, however akin to ours may be their passions and purposes. For +these we are no longer compelled to regard the medium of music as a +forced and untruthful expression, for do they not dwell in the magic +lands of the imagination? All sense of dramatic inconsistency instantly +vanishes, and the conditions of artistic illusion are perfect. + + "'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view, + And clothes the mountains with their azure hue." + +Thus all of Wagner's works, from "Der fliegende Hollander" to the "Ring +der Nibelungen," have been located in the world of myth, in obedience +to a profound art-principle. The opera of "Tristan and Iseult," first +performed in 1865, announced Wagner's absolute emancipation, both in +the construction of music and poetry, from the time-honored and +time-corrupted canons, and, aside from the last great work, it may be +received as the most perfect representation of his school. + +The third main feature in the Wagner music is the wonderful use of the +orchestra as a factor in the solution of the art-problem. This is no +longer a mere accompaniment to the singer, but translates the passion +of the play into a grand symphony, running parallel and commingling with +the vocal music. Wagner, as a great master of orchestration, has had +few equals since Beethoven; and he uses his power with marked effect to +heighten the dramatic intensity of the action, and at the same time +to convey certain meanings which can only find vent in the vague and +indistinct forms of pure music. The romantic conception of the mediaeval +love, the shudderings and raptures of Christian revelation, have certain +phases that absolute music alone can express. The orchestra, then, +becomes as much an integral part of the music-drama, in its actual +current movement, as the chorus or the leading performers. Placed on the +stage, yet out of sight, its strains might almost be fancied the sound +of the sympathetic communion of good and evil spirits, with whose +presence mystics formerly claimed man was constantly surrounded. +Wagner's use of the orchestra may be illustrated from the opera of +"Lohengrin." + +The ideal background, from which the emotions of the human actors in the +drama are reflected with supernatural light, is the conception of the +"Holy Graal," the mystic symbol of the Christian faith, and its descent +from the skies, guarded by hosts of seraphim. This is the subject of the +orchestral prelude, and never have the sweetnesses and terrors of the +Christian ecstasy been more potently expressed. The prelude opens with +long-drawn chords of the violins, in the highest octaves, in the most +exquisite _pianissimo_. The inner eye of the spirit discerns in this the +suggestion of shapeless white clouds, hardly discernible from the aerial +blue of the sky. Suddenly the strings seem to sound from the farthest +distance, in continued _pianissimo_, and the melody, the Graal-motive, +takes shape. Gradually, to the fancy, a group of angels seem to reveal +themselves, slowly descending from the heavenly heights, and bearing +in their midst the _Sangreal_. The modulations throb through the air, +augmenting in richness and sweetness, till the _fortissimo_ of the full +orchestra reveals the sacred mystery. With this climax of spiritual +ecstasy the harmonious waves gradually recede and ebb away in dying +sweetness, as the angels return to their heavenly abode. This orchestral +movement recurs in the opera, according to the laws of dramatic fitness, +and its melody is heard also in the _logos_ of Lohengrin, the knight of +the Graal, to express certain phases of his action. The immense power +which music is thus made to have in dramatic effect can easily be +fancied. + +A fourth prominent characteristic of the Wagner music-drama is that, to +develop its full splendor, there must be a cooperation of all the arts, +painting, sculpture, and architecture, as well as poetry and music. +Therefore, in realizing its effects, much importance rests in the +visible beauties of action, as they may be expressed by the painting +of scenery and the grouping of human figures. Well may such a grand +conception be called the "Art-work of the Future." + +Wagner for a long time despaired of the visible execution of his +ideas. At last the celebrated pianist Tausig suggested an appeal to the +admirers of the new music throughout the world for means to carry +out the composer's great idea, viz., to perform the "Nibelungen" at a +theatre to be erected for the purpose, and by a select company, in the +manner of a national festival, and before an audience entirely removed +from the atmosphere of vulgar theatrical shows. After many delays +Wagner's hopes were attained, and in the summer of 1876 a gathering of +the principal celebrities of Europe was present to criticise the fully +perfected fruit of the composer's theories and genius. This festival +was so recent, and its events have been the subject of such elaborate +comment, that further description will be out of place here. + +As a great musical poet, rather epic than dramatic in his powers, +there can be no question as to Wagner's rank. The performance of the +"Nibelungenring," covering "Rheingold," "Die Walkueren," "Siegfried," and +"Goetterdaemmerung," was one of the epochs of musical Germany. However +deficient Wagner's skill in writing for the human voice, the power and +symmetry of his conceptions, and his genius in embodying them in +massive operatic forms, are such as to storm even the prejudices of his +opponents. The poet-musician rightfully claims that in his music-drama +is found that wedding of two of the noblest of the arts, pregnantly +suggested by Shakespeare: + + "If Music and sweet Poetry both agree, + As they must needs, the sister and the brother; + One God is God of both, as poets feign." + +THE END. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Great German Composers, by George T. 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