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diff --git a/35520.txt b/35520.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..46138a3 --- /dev/null +++ b/35520.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6742 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Memories of a Musical Life, by William Mason + +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: Memories of a Musical Life + +Author: William Mason + +Release Date: March 7, 2011 [EBook #35520] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMORIES OF A MUSICAL LIFE *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: image of the book's cover] + +MEMORIES OF A + +MUSICAL LIFE + +[Illustration: WILLIAM MASON IN 1899] + + + + +Memories of a + +Musical Life + +by + +William Mason + +[Illustration: colophon] + +NEW YORK + +THE CENTURY CO. + +MCMII + +Copyright, 1900, 1901, by + +THE CENTURY CO. + + +_Published October, 1901._ + + +THE DEVINE PRESS. + + +TO +MY DAUGHTER +MINA MASON VAN SINDEREN +AT WHOSE REQUEST +THESE MEMORIES +HAVE BEEN WRITTEN + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + +EARLY DAYS IN NEW ENGLAND 3 + Lowell Mason's Career 7 + First Beethoven Symphony in America 8 + Musical Conventions 9 + Early Musical Training 10 + Webster and Clay 11 + First Public Appearance 18 + Leopold de Meyer 19 + "Father Heinrich" 22 + An Embarrassing Experience 25 + +STUDENT LIFE ABROAD 27 + Meeting with Meyerbeer 28 + Liszt's Feat of Memory 31 + First Meeting with Liszt 33 + Arrival at Leipsic 34 + Moscheles, Beethoven, and Chopin 36 + The Intimacy of Moscheles and Mendelssohn 37 + Schumann 38 + Schumann's "Symphony No. 1, B Flat" 39 + Schumann's Absent-mindedness 42 + Moritz Hauptmann 44 + A Visit to Wagner 48 + Wagner on Mendelssohn and Beethoven 51 + A Wagner Autograph 55 + Moscheles 57 + Joseph Joachim 62 + Schumann's "Concerto in A Minor" 63 + Carl Mayer 65 + Dreyschock 66 + Prince de Rohan's Dinner 71 + Chopin, Henselt, and Thalberg 75 + Anton Schindler, "Ami de Beethoven" 79 + Schindler and Schnyder von Wartensee 82 + First London Concert 84 + +WITH LISZT IN WEIMAR 86 + Accepted by Liszt 88 + The Altenburg 93 + How Liszt Taught 97 + "Play It Like This" 99 + Liszt in 1854 101 + His Fascination 102 + Liszt's Indignation 103 + Objects to my Eye-glasses 106 + A Musical Breakfast 108 + Liszt's Playing 110 + Liszt and Pixis 117 + Liszt Conducting 119 + Liszt's Symphonic Poems--Rehearsing "Tasso" 121 + Extracts from a Diary 122 + Opportunities 126 + Brahms in 1853 127 + Nervous before Liszt 128 + Dozing while Liszt Played 129 + "Lohengrin" for the First Time in Leipsic 132 + In Stuttgart--Hotel Marquand 135 + The Schumann "Feier" in Bonn, 1880 136 + Brahms's Pianoforte-playing 137 + A Historical Error Corrected 141 + More about Liszt's Wonderful Sight-reading 142 + Liszt's Moments of Contrition 144 + Peter Cornelius 145 + Some Famous Violinists 147 + Remenyi 151 + Some Distinguished Opera-singers 153 + Henriette Sontag 154 + Johanna Wagner 156 + Mme. de la Grange 157 + "Der Verein der Murls" 158 + The Wagner Cause in Weimar 159 + Raff in Weimar 161 + Dr. Adolf Bernhard Marx 165 + Berlioz in Weimar 168 + Entertaining Liszt's "Young Beethoven" 171 + Rubinstein's Opposition to Wagner 174 + +AT WORK IN AMERICA 183 + Touring the Country 184 + "Yankee Doodle" and "Old Hundred" 187 + Settling down to Teach 191 + Theodore Thomas at Twenty 195 + Thomas as Conductor 197 + Karl Klauser, Musical Director at Miss Porter's School 202 + Louis Moreau Gottschalk 205 + Propaganda for Schumann's Music 209 + Sigismond Thalberg 210 + Pedal and Pedal Signs--Why not Dispense with the Latter? 215 + Pedal Study for the Pianoforte 219 + Rubinstein and the Autograph-hunter 221 + Evolution in Musical Ideas--Beethoven Pianoforte Recitals 226 + Rubinstein's Favorite Seat at a Pianoforte Recital 227 + Bach's "Triple Concerto" and "Les Agrements" 229 + A Significant Autograph from Rubinstein 234 + Rubinstein, Paderewski, and "Yankee Doodle" 236 + Meetings with Von Bulow 238 + Edvard Grieg 241 + Rates of Tempo--The Present Time Compared with Fifty Years Ago 243 + Electrocuting Chopin 244 + Tempo Rubato 246 + Unusual Pupils--Transposing--Positive and Relative Pitch 247 + Appledore, Isles of Shoals 251 + +MUSIC IN AMERICA TO-DAY 259 + +APPENDIX 273 + +INDEX 297 + + + + + The author acknowledges the efficient collaboration of Mr. Gustav + Kobbe in preparing these Memories for publication, and also the + valuable assistance of his son-in-law, Mr. Howard van Sinderen. + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +William Mason in 1899 _Frontispiece_ + From a photograph by Gessford & Van Brunt. + + FACING PAGE + +William Mason as a Boy 12 + From a daguerreotype. + +William Mason at the Age of Eighteen 20 + From a daguerreotype. + +Autograph of I. Moscheles 32 + +Autograph of Robert Schumann 38 + +Autograph of Mme. Schumann 44 + +Autograph of Moritz Hauptmann 48 + +Autograph of Richard Wagner 56 + +Autograph of Joseph Joachim 64 + +Autograph of Anton Schindler 80 + +Liszt in Middle Life 88 + Drawn by George T. Tobin from a photograph of uncertain date. + +The Altenburg, Liszt's House at Weimar 96 + +Autograph of Vieuxtemps 144 + +Autograph of Ole Bull 150 + +Autograph of Henriette Sontag 164 + +Autograph of Hector Berlioz 168 + +Autograph of Ferdinand Laub 180 + +The Mason-Thomas Quartet 196 + +Theodore Thomas about Twenty-four Years Old 200 + From a photograph by Duchochois & Klauser. + +Autograph of Moreau Gottschalk 208 + +Autograph of Sigismond Thalberg 212 + +Autograph of Anton Rubinstein 232 + +Autograph of I. J. Paderewski 236 + +Autograph of Hans von Bulow 240 + +Autograph of Edvard Grieg 244 + +Interior of Studio in Steinway Building, New York 248 + +Autographs of the Kneisel Quartet 262 + +Lowell Mason 277 + From a daguerreotype. + + + + +MEMORIES + +OF A MUSICAL LIFE MEMORIES + +OF A MUSICAL LIFE + + + + +EARLY DAYS IN NEW ENGLAND + + +I am the third son of Lowell Mason of Medfield, Massachusetts, and of +Abigail Gregory of Westborough, Massachusetts, his wife, and I was born +in Boston on January 24, 1829. My father was in the seventh generation +from Robert Mason, who was born in England about the year 1590. In 1630 +Robert came to America, and was probably one of John Winthrop's company, +landing at Salem on the twelfth day of June of that year. Thomas Mason, +the elder son of Robert, went to Medfield to live in the second year of +the settlement of the town. His marriage with Margery Partridge, on +April 23, 1653, was the first marriage to be entered upon the town +records; and the homestead lands, which he acquired by grant from the +town, have ever since remained in possession of some member of the Mason +family. Thomas and two of his sons were killed by the Indians under +Monaco on February 21, 1676, when Medfield was burned. The line was +continued through Ebenezer, a third son, born at Medfield, September 12, +1669; Thomas, a son of Ebenezer, born at Medfield, April 23, 1699; +Barachias, son of Thomas, born at Medfield, June 10, 1723, who was +musical and who taught singing; and Johnson, son of Barachias, born at +Medfield, August 7, 1767. Johnson was the father of Lowell Mason, who +was born at Medfield, January 8, 1792. On January 8, 1892, the one +hundredth anniversary of my father's birth was celebrated at Medfield, +under the auspices of the Historical Society of that place. In the +address delivered by the president of the society, a period of his life +was touched upon concerning which but little had heretofore been +published. The address will be interesting to those who are interested +in him and in the work which he accomplished, and is printed, by +permission, in an appendix to these memories. + +The difference between Boston and New York as musical centers is largely +due to my father. He made Boston a self-developing musical city. New +York has received its musical culture from abroad. + +My father manifested a remarkable fondness for music at an early age. +His parents did not intend that he should take up music as a profession, +but his talent was not neglected. In 1812, before he was twenty, he +heard of an opening in a bank in Savannah, Georgia, and having secured +the position, he went there. After business hours he continued his +studies in music with an instructor named F. L. Abel, under whom he made +rapid progress. He soon attempted composition, his first efforts being +hymn-tunes and anthems. He arranged a collection consisting of a group +of selections from William Gardiner's "Sacred Melodies," to which he +added some of his own compositions. For this collection he vainly +endeavored to find a publisher in Philadelphia and Boston, until chance +brought to Savannah a Boston organ-builder, W. M. Goodrich, who had come +to set up an organ. He induced my father to go to Boston in person, with +the result that the work was submitted to Dr. G. K. Jackson, the +organist of the Handel and Haydn Society, and received his approval. It +was published in 1822, with the title, "The Boston Handel and Haydn +Society's Collection of Music," and was an instant success, finding its +way into singing-schools and church choirs throughout New England. Some +of my father's hymn-tunes have become famous. It has been said that his +missionary hymn, "From Greenland's Icy Mountains," has been sung in more +languages than any other sacred tune. Among the many popular tunes which +he composed are "Boylston," "Hebron," "Olivet," and "Bethany"; and one +of his collections of sacred melodies brought him in over a hundred +thousand dollars in royalties. + + + + +LOWELL MASON'S CAREER + + +The success of my father's first venture led him to leave Savannah and +settle in Boston. Then, as now, the Handel and Haydn Society was largely +recruited from church choirs, but in those days its concerts were few, +and these were almost entirely devoted to church music. Rarely was a +"work" offered to the public. Outside the realm of church music, the +society's repertory consisted of "The Messiah", "The Creation" (and more +frequently fragments from these), the "Dettingen Te Deum" by Handel, and +the "Intercession" by M. P. King, who has long since been forgotten. For +five years my father was president of the society, and served as musical +director, the special employment of a conductor not having been +authorized until 1847. + +Meanwhile he was constantly aiming at the introduction of popular +education in music. It was through his efforts--and strenuous efforts +they were--that music was introduced into the Boston public schools. To +bring this about he first taught classes of children free of charge, and +gave concerts to illustrate the practicability of his plans. When +finally musical education was made a part of the Boston public-school +system, the city council refused to make any appropriation for it, and +he served as instructor for a year gratuitously, beginning work in 1837 +in the Hawes Grammar School, South Boston. The experiment was a complete +success. Music was generally introduced into the public schools, and my +father was made superintendent of the department. The seeds he sowed +then are still bearing fruit. This was part of his labor which created +in Boston a self-developing musical activity. While Dr. Samuel G. Howe +was engaged in organizing the Perkins Institution for the Blind in 1832, +at his request my father devised a system of musical instruction for the +blind. + + + + +FIRST BEETHOVEN SYMPHONY IN AMERICA + + +About 1830 an English musician, Mr. George James Webb, settled in +Boston. He was a gentleman of high culture, thoroughly educated in +music, played the organ well, and was a good vocal teacher. His talents +and his personal charm were promptly recognized. My father became +intimate with him, and in 1833, with the cooperation of certain +influential gentlemen of Boston, they founded the Boston Academy of +Music, my father taking charge of the special department of church +music, while Mr. Webb devoted himself chiefly to secular music and +voice-culture. Instrumental concerts were also given at the academy, and +there, on February 10, 1841, occurred the first performance in America +of a Beethoven symphony, the Fifth, which was played by an orchestra of +twenty-three, under the direction of Henry Schmidt. + + + + +MUSICAL CONVENTIONS + + +My father originated the idea of assembling music-teachers in classes. +In 1838, when the experiment was not more than three years old, one +hundred and thirty-four teachers, representing ten States, assembled at +the academy. From these assemblages grew the musical conventions which +my father held throughout New England and in some of the other States. +Choir-singers and other musically inclined people from the towns lying +within the surrounding district would gather at a central point, and he +would hold a musical convention lasting for several days, drilling the +singers in church music, but also, where he found sufficient +advancement, in music of a higher order. The Worcester festivals may be +traced to these conventions. + + + + +EARLY MUSICAL TRAINING + + +I had shown my fondness for music at a very early age. When I was a +child, my father was the organist of the Bowdoin Street Congregational +Church in Boston, of which Lyman Beecher had been the pastor. When I was +seven years old, he placed me unexpectedly on the organ-bench at a +public service, and while the choir sang the tune of "Boylston", I +played the accompaniment. Up to this time I had had but little +instruction in pianoforte-playing. My mother used to sit by me and guide +me in the way of careful practising, and thus I had acquired +considerable facility for those days, though now I have a feeling of +compassion for any one who had to listen to me. + +I became useful to my father as an accompanist, and when he went to +musical conventions he took me along with him, and I would play the +piano accompaniments while he conducted. + + + + +WEBSTER AND CLAY + + +It was at about this time that my father took me with him on a trip to +Providence. In those days the entrance to the cars was from the side, +and we took seats nearly opposite the door. My father called my +attention to a very dignified and impressive-looking man in the front +corner of the car, saying: "William, the gentleman in the corner is +Daniel Webster. Go over and wish him good morning." I promptly obeyed, +and marching over to him, said, "Good morning, Daniel Webster." He asked +my name, and I replied, saying my father was "over there," and then he +exchanged greetings with my father. I was somewhat awed by his great +dignity, and remember very well his piercing eyes. + +About the year 1842 I went to Maysville, Kentucky, to stay with the +family of my uncle, Mr. E. F. Tucker. My health had not been good, and +the change of residence was thought to be judicious. My uncle was at the +head of some factory in Maysville, and one day, after I had been there +for some time, a gentleman called at the house to see him about business +connected with the factory. My aunt called me, and, presenting me to the +gentleman, requested me to show him the way to the factory. This +gentleman was Henry Clay. I remember his urbanity, and his friendly +conversation attracted me. This time it was not the eye which was +noticeable, but the mouth, which was unusually large. + +[Illustration: WILLIAM MASON AS A BOY + +FROM A DAGUERREOTYPE +] + + + + +FIRST PUBLIC APPEARANCE + + +Returning to Boston after a year, I was sent to Newport, Rhode Island, +to study under the Rev. T. T. Thayer, who was a Congregational clergyman +in that place. In a short time after my arrival I began playing the +organ at the services in his church, and continued this with regularity +until my return to Boston a few years later. At Boston I became the +organist at the Congregational church in Winter street, at which my +father was music-conductor. + +I played in public about the year 1846, in one of the concerts of the +Boston Academy of Music, given in the Odeon, which was then the +principal concert-hall in Boston. On this occasion I had the +accompaniment of a string quartet. This was my first regular appearance +in public. About this time, too, I began taking pianoforte lessons of +Mr. Henry Schmidt, to whom reference has been made as the conductor of +Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony" on the occasion of the first performance +of this work in Boston. Mr. Schmidt's instrument was the violin, but he +was also an excellent pianoforte teacher, and to his careful and skilful +instruction I owe very much. I remember that in those days I was more +fond of playing--if my habit of improvising in a loose or inaccurate way +can be so called--than of careful practising and close attention to +detail. When my lesson-hour arrived I used to trust much to luck, and +thus occasioned poor Mr. Schmidt a deal of trouble and vexation. He +begged and entreated me to be careful, and after a while a spirit of +contrition overcame me, and so, on a certain occasion, I really did +practise carefully and to my best ability during the interval between my +lessons. When Mr. Schmidt made his appearance, however, I became so +nervous and apprehensive lest my work should not show to advantage that +the very thing I dreaded took place, and I stumbled through my piece in +a distressing manner. I do not wonder that my teacher's patience was +tried, and he rebuked me with severity, saying that he believed I had +not practised at all since the previous lesson. I received this all very +meekly, but when he took his departure I pitched the music into a +corner, and did not practise until he made his appearance for the +following lesson. At this lesson, however, I played with great accuracy +and spirit, much to my gratification and somewhat to my surprise. Mr. +Schmidt warmly commended my work, and attributed it to the fact that I +had _now_ practised industriously and carefully. I had enough sense to +know that the successful result was owing to the practice I had +previously done, and which needed time to produce its results. This bit +of experience I commend to pianoforte students for careful +consideration, to show that acts are not always immediately followed by +desirable results. + +Mr. Schmidt taught me much concerning the production of tone in +pianoforte playing, and in particular led me to acquire a certain habit +of touch which I have never lost, and which has been the means of +greatly lessening the fatigue which would otherwise have been attendant +on the performance of pieces which require much strength and +long-continued endurance. I write somewhat at length concerning this +matter, feeling that a knowledge of my experience may be of substantial +use to pianoforte students. + +The habit referred to has especial relation to the playing of the +various rapid scale and arpeggio passages, involving closed or open hand +position which are so common in pianoforte compositions and which grow +out of the nature of the instrument. The touch is accomplished by +quickly but quietly drawing the finger-tips inward toward the palm of +the hand, or, in other words, slightly and partly closing the +finger-points as they touch the keys while playing. This action of the +fingers secures the cooperation of many more muscles of the finger, +wrist, hand, and forearm than could be accomplished by the merely +"up-and-down" finger-touch. It is difficult to describe in detail +without an instrument at hand for illustration. If correctly performed, +however, the tones produced are very clear and well defined, and of a +beautifully musical quality. The simile of "a string of pearls" of +precisely similar size and shape has often been used in describing their +fluency and clearness of outline. A too rapid withdrawal of the +finger-tips would result in a short and crisp staccato. While this +extreme staccato is also desirable and frequently used, it is not the +kind of effect here desired, namely, a clear, clean delivery of the +tones which in no wise disturb the legato effect. + +Of course it requires cultivation and skill to secure just the right +degree of finger-motion to preserve the legato and at the same time the +slight separation of each tone. Therefore the fingers must not be drawn +so quickly as to produce a separation or staccato effect, but in just +the right degree to avoid impairing the legato or binding effect. For +the sake of convenience in description I have named this touch the +"elastic finger-touch," and through its influence a clear and crisp +effect is attained. It is interesting to observe in this connection, a +fact which I learned only many years later, that Sebastian Bach's touch, +described in detail by J. N. Forkel in his work entitled "Ueber Johann +Sebastian Bachs Leben, Kunst und Kunstwerke," both as used by Bach +himself and as he taught it to his pupils, seems to be identical with +the touch I am here attempting to describe. Forkel expressly emphasizes +the "pulling-in" motion of the finger-tips. While it has relation solely +to finger-action as distinguished from the action of the wrist and arm, +it cannot be accomplished properly without bringing into action the +flexor and extensor muscles, principally of the forearm from wrist to +elbow. + +Through the medium of this touch pianissimo effects are possible which +no other mechanism can reach, for passages of the most extreme delicacy +and softness still retain the quality of vitality and clearness of +outline. + +During the season of 1846 I played the pianoforte part throughout the +series of six concerts of chamber-music given by the Harvard Musical +Association. I remember that Mr. Blessner played the violin and Mr. +Groenvelt the violoncello, but cannot recall the names of the players of +the second violin and viola. These concerts were given at the pianoforte +warerooms of Mr. Jonas Chickering, 334 Washington street, Boston. I +still have the programs. String quartets by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven +were played, also piano trios by Beethoven, Reissiger, and Mayseder. + + + + +LEOPOLD DE MEYER + + +The knowledge I gained from Mr. Schmidt was largely advanced and +supplemented by what I learned a year or two later, in 1847-48, from the +playing of the pianoforte virtuoso Leopold de Meyer, who came to the +United States about that time. + +It was from a careful study of the manner of his playing that I first +acquired the habit of fully devitalized upper-arm muscles in +pianoforte-playing. The loveliness and charming musical beauty of his +tones, the product of these conditions, greatly excited my admiration +and fascinated me. I never missed an opportunity of hearing him play, +and closely watched his movements, and particularly the motions of hand, +arm, and shoulder. I was incessantly at the pianoforte trying to produce +the same delightful tone quality by imitating his manner and style. + +[Illustration: WILLIAM MASON AT THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN + +FROM A DAGUERREOTYPE +] + +My continued perseverance was rewarded with success, for the result was +a habit of devitalized muscular action in such degree that I could +practically play all day without a feeling of fatigue. The constant +alternation between devitalization and reconstruction keeps the muscles +always fresh for their work and enables the player to rest while +playing. The force is so distributed that each and every muscle has +ample opportunity to rest while yet in a state of activity. Furthermore +the tones resulting from this touch are sonorous and full of energy and +life. An idea of my own which was persistently carried into act aided +materially in bringing about the desired result. This was to allow +the arms to hang limp by my side, either in a sitting or standing +posture, and then to shake them rigorously with the utmost possible +looseness and devitalization. This device was in after years recommended +to my pupils, and those who persistently followed it up and persevered +for a while gained great advantage from it, and eventually acquired a +state of habitual muscular elasticity and flexibility. + +I might easily have learned from any book of anatomy the names of the +muscles which are here referred to, but for the practical instruction of +pianoforte pupils this seemed to be of little consequence. However, +there are three muscles of the upper arm which may here be named: the +triceps, the brachialis anticus, and the biceps. Of these the +first-named is of the most importance to the pianist. + +Leopold de Meyer's New York concerts were given in the old Broadway +Tabernacle, some distance below Canal street, as I now remember. The +piano-lovers were not so numerous then as they are now, and it was +difficult to fill the hall, even with the help of deadheads. De Meyer's +agent, acting on the principle that "a crowd draws a crowd," hired a lot +of carriages to make their appearance a little before the concert-hour, +and to stand in front of the doors and then advance in turn, so that +passers-by might receive the impression of activity on the part of the +concert-goers. + + + + +"FATHER HEINRICH" + + +Somewhere about this time there lived in New York an elderly German +musician and composer who had somehow gained the cognomen of "Father +Heinrich." He composed quite a number of large works, both vocal and +instrumental, and also a number of pianoforte pieces. During a visit +which he made to Boston, his headquarters were at Chickering's +pianoforte warerooms, and on one occasion I was presented to him as a +youth of some musical promise. He immediately showed me one of his +pianoforte pieces in manuscript, and said: "Young man, I am going to +test your musical talent and intelligence and see if you appreciate in +any degree the importance of a proper observance of dynamics in musical +interpretation." He had placed the open pages of the manuscript on the +pianoforte desk, and I was glancing over them in close scrutiny. "I wish +to tell you before you begin to play that I have submitted this piece to +two or three of the best musicians in New York and they have failed to +bring out the intended effect in an important phrase." This remark put +me at once on my guard, and while he was talking I was closely +scrutinizing the manuscript to see if there was some dynamic or other +mark which would reveal his intention. About half-way down the second +page I discovered a series of sforzando marks, thus: > > > > > over +several notes in one of the inner parts, and immediately determined to +bring out these tones with all possible force. Further than this there +seemed to be no peculiarity; but as he had by this time finished his +remarks I began to play with special care. The piece was easy to read, +and so I made good progress, and on coming to the passage referred to I +put a tremendous emphasis on the tones marked sforzando, playing all of +the other voices by contrast quite softly. To my boyish satisfaction I +found I had hit the mark. The excitement and pleasure of Father Heinrich +was excessive and amusing. "Bravo! bravo!" he cried. "You have great +talent, and you have done what none of our musicians in New York have +accomplished!" + +I did not at the time understand how he could lay so much stress on the +affair, but in the light of a long experience as teacher of the +pianoforte I no longer wonder at his excitement. All music is full of +nuances and accents of greater or less intensity, to which pupils hardly +ever give any attention, although they are necessary in order to give +due expression to rhythm. They correspond to vocal accents in reading +aloud, or in declamation. + + + + +AN EMBARRASSING EXPERIENCE + + +It is difficult to realize the crudity of musical taste in the early +days. I remember that in 1840 my father conducted a convention in +Vermont--I think in Woodstock. We went by rail as far as we could, and +then traveled a number of hours by coach. We were received by the +dignitaries of the town, and conducted to the house in which we were to +stay. While we were shaking off the dust of travel, we heard the sounds +of drum and fife. Looking out of the window, we found that these +instruments headed a small procession which had come to escort us to the +church. The drum and the fife were the instrumental outfit of the town; +so, led by these, my father and I marched with the magnates of the place +to the church. I still remember how foolish I felt. + +In 1846 my father was preparing to hold a convention in Augusta, Maine. +Mr. Webb was to go with him, and I was sent to his house the evening +before they were to start to let him know about the arrangements. +Though I knew Mr. Webb very well, I had never had occasion to go to his +house. At this time I was seventeen years old. When I was shown into the +drawing-room, I saw Mr. and Mrs. Webb and their daughter, a girl then +not fourteen. I had not been in the house half an hour before I was +deeply in love with her. I found that she was going to Augusta, and I +decided at once that I would go, too. So the next day we all started +together. She and I grew to be good friends, but the idea of an +engagement between us was not to be thought of at that time, and while I +lived in Germany we were not permitted to correspond. For five years I +did not see her; but when I came back I hastened to her father's house. +The sequel I shall tell later. + + + + +STUDENT LIFE ABROAD + + +It having been decided that I should continue my musical studies in +Europe, I sailed from New York for Bremen on the side-wheel steamer +_Herrmann_ in May, 1849, accompanied by Mr. Frank Hill of Boston, who +had already attained some distinction as a pianist. My intention was to +go directly to Leipsic to study with Moscheles. One of our +fellow-passengers was Julius Schuberth, the music-publisher of Hamburg, +who had been in America on business. Arriving at Bremen, we learned that +the insurrection had not yet been suppressed, and that within two or +three days there had been bloodshed in the streets of Leipsic. For this +and other reasons I gladly accepted Mr. Schuberth's invitation to visit +him, first making a short trip to Paris with Hill. + + + + +MEETING WITH MEYERBEER + + +I arrived in Paris shortly after six o'clock in the morning, and went to +the Hotel de Paris, in the Rue de Richelieu. In those days, at that +early hour, Paris was as quiet as an American town at midnight. There +were three of us in the party. We secured two rooms, and my friends +remained up-stairs, while I returned to the porter's lodge below to have +my passport sent to the Bureau of Police to be vised. The porter went +out to attend to this, and I was left alone in the lodge. + +Shortly afterward a man entered, of medium height, well dressed, and +with a good deal of manner. He addressed me in French, but when I asked +him if he could speak English he began conversing fluently in that +language. He asked if I was from England and a stranger in Paris. When I +told him I was from America, he exclaimed, "Ah, that is farther off." +Then, noticing the passport, which was uncommonly large and was bound +like a book, he asked, "Is that an American passport? Please let me +have a look at it I'm curious to see it." Bound in with the passport +were a number of blank leaves to be used for the vises of various +consuls. "Young man," said my chance acquaintance, "you have leaves +enough there to travel about Europe for twenty years." Then he inquired +if I was traveling for pleasure or on business. + +"I have come over to study music." + +"Ah, composition?" + +"No; mainly piano, but also theory and composition." + +"And where?" + +"I expect to go to Leipsic to study with Moscheles, Hauptmann, and +Richter. Eventually I hope to go to Liszt." + +"Well, well, you've chosen good men. Moscheles knew Beethoven." + +Then, with a few friendly words, he left the lodge and entered the +hotel. Just as he was leaving the porter returned. + +"Who is the gentleman?" I asked, pointing after the disappearing form. + +"Meyerbeer, the composer." + +The porter then took me into the courtyard and pointed out the room +which Meyerbeer occupied, calling my attention to the fact that his +window and mine almost faced each other. + +"If you look out of your window about eleven o'clock," said the porter, +"you will see Mme. Garcia and Roger, the tenor, coming here to rehearse +their roles in the new opera with the composer." + +Meyerbeer was so affable at our chance meeting that I think I could +easily have followed it up and have seen more of him; but when a boy is +in Paris for the first time, he has many things to think of. Moreover, I +did not realize that at the end of the century, "Le Prophete," the work +which Meyerbeer was then rehearsing, would still be in the repertory of +every first-class opera-house. I knew that he was a distinguished +composer, but I did not for a moment imagine that his work would live so +long. As I now look back through the perspective of time, I realize the +opportunity I missed; but I thank the freak of fortune which threw in +his way, if only for a few moments, a young man who was too careless to +improve the chance acquaintance. + +From Paris I returned to Schuberth's in Hamburg. He was an active, +enterprising, pushing business man, with a large acquaintance in the +musical world, and the knowledge of how to put it to the best use. I +remained in Hamburg for some time. Boy-like, I had spent all my money in +Paris, and was now obliged to wait for a remittance from home. In +Hamburg I met Carl Mayer of Dresden, a fine pianist of the Hummel +school, and Mortier de Fontaine, who was very well known in his day as a +Beethoven-player--had, in fact, won considerable fame as the first +pianist to perform Beethoven's "Sonata, Op. 106" in public. That was his +label. + + + + +LISZT'S FEAT OF MEMORY + + +From Hamburg I went to Leipsic, but Schuberth did not lose sight of me. +Whenever he came there he looked me up, and was very kind in +introducing me to people whom it was well for me to meet. He knew Liszt +very well, and having taken a fancy to a composition of mine, "Les +Perles de Rosee," which was still in manuscript, he said: "Let me have +it for publication. Dedicate it to Liszt. I can easily get Liszt to +accept the dedication. I am going directly from here to Weimar, and will +see him about it. At the same time, I will prepare the way for your +reception later as a pupil." + +[Illustration: Autograph of I. Moscheles] + +Not long afterward I received a letter from Schuberth in which he told +me that when he handed the music to Liszt, the latter looked at the +manuscript, hummed it over, then sat down and played it from memory. +Then, going to his desk, he took a pen, and accepted the dedication by +writing his name at the top of the title-page. Encouraged by this, I +wrote a letter to Liszt, expressing my desire to become one of his +pupils, and asking what my chances were. Unfortunately, I misinterpreted +his reply, and received the impression that it amounted to a +refusal; but at the same time he gave me a cordial invitation to +attend the festival about to take place in Weimar in commemoration of +the hundredth anniversary of Goethe's birth. I still have this letter, +which is dated August 18, 1849. Had I understood then that Liszt was +ready to accept me as a pupil, I should have taken up my residence at +Weimar at once, instead of waiting until I learned my mistake, as I did +during a call which I made upon Liszt nearly four years later. + + + + +FIRST MEETING WITH LISZT + + +However, I went to Weimar with Mr. Hill to attend the Goethe festival, +arriving there early in the afternoon of the day before it began. + +The third day of the festival we called on Liszt, who was then living in +the Hotel zum Erbprinzen, and were received most cordially. Schlesinger, +the Paris publisher, was there with his little daughter, who was +precocious as a pianist and played several Chopin waltzes. Liszt was +very busy with his guests, so that our visit was limited, and nothing +was said about my coming to Weimar to study except that Liszt said he +never received pupils for regular lessons, but that those who lived in +Weimar (and there were only three or four in those days) had frequent +opportunities of hearing and meeting artists who visited him. Having +misinterpreted his letter, I accepted these remarks as a further +politely worded refusal to receive me. So I returned to Leipsic to +continue my studies there. + + + + +ARRIVAL AT LEIPSIC + + +I well remember the feeling of awe mingled with interest with which I +looked upon every German whom I met in the streets of Leipsic on my +first arrival in that famously musical city. I looked on even the +laboring-men, the peasants as well as those in higher positions, as +being Mozarts and Beethovens, and the idea gained such ascendancy that I +felt my own inferiority and metaphorically held down my head. This +feeling, however, was not of long duration, and changed in the course of +a month or two on account of what happened at a concert of the Euterpe +Society which I attended. The concerts of this musical society were +second only to those of the famous Gewandhaus, and their audiences were +made up largely of those who attended the concerts of the latter. At +this concert the program was classical and unimpeachable as to the +orchestral concerted pieces, but one of the numbers was a solo for +clarinet. At my age I was disposed to look down on this as an inferior +kind of music, and as decidedly unsuitable to an educated and musically +cultivated taste. Therefore, when, to my surprise, this turned out to be +the most popular piece of the evening and received the most vociferous +applause of the entire audience, I found my high opinion of the select +musical taste of the Germans sensibly decreased. + +Since then I have learned that there is a place for everything good in +its way; but the clarinet solo seemed out of place in the classical +atmosphere of a symphony concert. + + + + +MOSCHELES, BEETHOVEN, AND CHOPIN + + +Moscheles, with whom I studied in Leipsic, had been a pupil of Dionysius +Weber in Prague. At that time Beethoven was still a newcomer, and was +regarded with skepticism by the older men, whose ideas were formed and +who could not get over their first unfavorable impressions of him. +Beethoven was a profound man and had strong individuality. He was +eagerly accepted by the younger men, Moscheles among them; but Dionysius +Weber regarded him as a monstrosity, and would never allow Moscheles to +learn any of his music. Consequently, Moscheles practised Beethoven in +secret, and when he grew up he prided himself on being a +Beethoven-player, and wrote a life of Beethoven, which, however, is +largely based on Schindler's. + +At about the time I went to Leipsic the attitude of Moscheles toward +Chopin was very like what Dionysius Weber's had been toward Beethoven. +One of the daughters of Moscheles was very fond of playing Chopin, but +her father forbade it. Afterward she married and went to London, where +she played Chopin to her heart's content. It is curious how men who in +their younger days are pioneers become so conservative as they grow +older that they are like stone walls in the paths of progress. They +forget that in their youth they laughed at or criticized their elders +for the same pedantry of which they themselves afterward become guilty. + + + + +THE INTIMACY OF MOSCHELES AND MENDELSSOHN + + +Moscheles and Mendelssohn had been warm friends. Moscheles, in +particular, prided himself on the composer's friendship. No one to-day +can understand the influence which Mendelssohn had upon his +contemporaries, by whom his music and his personality were fairly +worshiped. Comparisons were made between him and Beethoven to the +latter's disadvantage. I remember an excellent musician saying to me, +"Beethoven does have consecutive fifths now and then, Mendelssohn +never." He did not realize that these apparent violations of technical +rules were part of Beethoven's ragged strength, while Mendelssohn's +scrupulous adherence to them was evidence of weakness. + +Mendelssohn's death was a great shock to Moscheles. Mendelssohn had +often visited him, and there was such profound musical sympathy between +them that they were able to improvise together on two pianos. They +understood each other so well that one of them would improvise a theme, +which the other would follow. After a while they would interchange their +roles, the second piano taking up the theme, the first piano +subordinating itself. This is not in itself an extraordinary feat, but +it illustrates the musical sympathy which existed between Mendelssohn +and Moscheles. + + + + +SCHUMANN + + +[Illustration: Autograph of Robert Schumann] + +For some years prior to 1844 Schumann lived in Leipsic. It was his habit +to compose intensely all day, and then to walk to a beer-cellar at +the upper end of the Grimmaische Strasse. There he would sit at a table +with one of his most trusted friends, an odd-looking but able musician +and piano-teacher named Wenzel. There were two or three other musicians +who frequented the place and were generally at the same table. Schumann +enjoyed being among friends, but disliked nothing more than the +restraint of social functions. No doubt there was a large consumption of +beer, after the fashion of the Germans on such occasions, but to a +musical student who could sit within hearing there was afforded a golden +opportunity of absorbing musical ideas. + + + + +SCHUMANN'S "SYMPHONY NO. 1, B FLAT" + + +When I went to Germany, Schumann was living in Dresden, but he made +frequent visits to Leipsic. I knew little or nothing of Schumann's +music, for Mendelssohn then dominated the musical world; but the first +orchestral composition of Schumann's that I ever heard placed him far +above Mendelssohn in my estimation. It was at the second concert I +attended at the Gewandhaus in Leipsic, and the work was the "First +Symphony." I was so wrought up by it that I hummed passages from it as I +walked home, and sat down at the piano when I got there, and played as +much of it as I could remember. I hardly slept that night for the +excitement of it. The first thing I did in the morning was to go to +Breitkopf & Haertel's and buy the score, the orchestral parts and piano +arrangements for four and two hands, and in these I fairly reveled. + +I grew so enthusiastic over the symphony that I sent the score and parts +to the Musical Fund Society of Boston, the only concert orchestra then +in that city, and conducted by Mr. Webb. They could make nothing of the +symphony, and it lay on the shelf for one or two years. Then they tried +it again, saw something in it, but somehow could not get the swing of +it, possibly on account of the syncopations. Before my return from +Europe in 1854, I think they finally played it. In speaking of it, Mr. +Webb said to my father: "Yes, it is interesting; but in our next concert +we play Haydn's 'Surprise Symphony,' and that will live long after this +symphony of Schumann's is forgotten." Many years afterward I reminded +Mr. Webb of this remark, whereupon he said, "William, is it possible +that I was so foolish?" + +Only a few years before I arrived at Leipsic, Schumann's genius was so +little appreciated that when he entered the store of Breitkopf & Haertel +with a new manuscript under his arm, the clerks would nudge one another +and laugh. One of them told me that they regarded him as a crank and a +failure because his pieces remained on the shelf and were in the way. + +I often saw Schumann in Leipsic, and I heard him conduct his cantata, +"The Pilgrimage of the Rose." His conducting was awkward, as he was +neither active nor of commanding presence. However, I liked his looks, +as he seemed good-natured, though perhaps not like a man with whom one +might easily become acquainted. This impression, however, may be due to +anecdotes which I had heard regarding his lack of sociability. + + + + +SCHUMANN'S ABSENT-MINDEDNESS + + +Up to the time of Mendelssohn's death his followers and the small body +of musicians who appreciated Schumann had rubbed pretty hard together. +Naturally, Moscheles and Schumann had not been intimate. But Moscheles +felt Mendelssohn's loss so keenly that he cast about for some one to +take his place, and finally decided to make overtures to Schumann by +inviting him to his house to supper. What occurred there was told to me +by a fellow-pupil. He said that while the company was gathering in the +drawing-room, Schumann sat in a corner apparently absorbed in thought, +without looking at any one or uttering a word. He did not impress my +friend as morose, but rather as a man whose thoughts were at the moment +in an entirely different sphere. Supper was announced, and the guests +being seated, it was discovered that there was a vacant place at the +table. Moscheles looked about for Schumann, but he was not there. The +host and several guests went back to the salon to look for him, and +found him sitting in his corner, still deep in thought. When aroused, he +said, "Oh, I hadn't noticed that you had gone out." Then he went in to +supper, but hardly said a word. What a contrast there was between his +personality and that of the ever-affable, polished Mendelssohn! There is +the same contrast between their music: Schumann's profound, and +appealing to us most when we wish to withdraw entirely within the very +sanctuary of our own emotions; Mendelssohn's smooth, finished, and +easily understood. + +Early in 1844 Schumann had moved to Dresden, and I called upon him in +that city and received a pleasant welcome, contrary to my expectation, +for I had heard much of his reticence. Judging by the brief entry in my +diary, nothing of importance was said. I could not see Mme. Schumann, +because she was giving a lesson. This was on April 13, 1850. I called +again later in the month, and Schumann gave me his musical autograph, a +canon for male voices; and the next day I received an autograph from +Clara Schumann. In 1880 I learned from Mme. Schumann that the canon +referred to had already been published at the time when I received it +from Schumann. (See Op. 65, No. 6.) + +Afterward, when I met Wagner I could not help contrasting his lively +manner and glowing enthusiasm with Schumann's reserve, which, however, +was by no means repellent. Indeed, if I had been the greatest living +musician, instead of a mere boy student, Wagner could not have received +me with more kindness, or have talked to me more delightfully during the +three memorable hours of my life which were spent with him. + + + + +MORITZ HAUPTMANN + + +[Illustration: Autograph of Mme. Schumann] + +My teacher in harmony and counterpoint was Moritz Hauptmann, a pupil of +Spohr, and an excellent composer of church music, his motets being +especially beautiful. He was the cantor and music director of the +Thomas-schule at Leipsic, a position which years before had been held by +Sebastian Bach. He was altogether a genial and attractive man, of gentle +manner and disposition, and I at once became much attached to him. He +was in delicate health and suffered constantly from dyspepsia, yet bore +all of his ills with patience and equanimity. I remember that he had a +passion for baked apples, one of the few things he could eat without ill +results, and on his stove, a regular old-fashioned German structure of +porcelain, nearly as high as the ceiling, there was always a row of +apples in process of slow baking. + +His autograph is one of the most curious in my book, and is an excellent +example of his technical knowledge. It is a _Spiegel-Canon_ +("looking-glass canon"). When held up to the mirror the reflection shows +the answer to the canon in the related key. + +Not long after beginning my studies under Hauptmann, I received from my +father a copy of his latest publication, being a collection of tunes, +mostly of his own composition, for choir and congregational use in the +church. He requested me to show this to Hauptmann and get his opinion, +if practicable. I felt a decided reluctance to do this, because I +thought my father's work was not worthy of the notice of such a profound +musician, so I delayed the carrying out of his request. After a few +weeks, however, I began receiving letters from my father upon the +subject, and realized that I could not postpone action any longer. So +one day, going to my lesson, I took the book with me. I kept it as well +out of sight as I could during the lesson, and then at the last moment, +when about to leave the room, I placed it on Hauptmann's table, telling +him in an apologetic way of my father's request and seeking to excuse +myself for troubling him. I said I was afraid he would find nothing in +the book to interest him. + +When the regular time for my lesson recurred I hesitated to present +myself again; but there was no way of avoiding the difficulty, so with a +tremendous exercise of will I faced the situation. What was my surprise +and relief when he greeted me with "Mr. Mason, I have examined your +father's book with much interest and pleasure, and his admirable +treatment of the voices is most musicianly and satisfactory. Please give +him my sincere regards, and thank him for his attention in sending me +the book." + +At the moment I could not understand how such a big contrapuntist could +express himself in such strong terms of approval; but I knew him to be +genuine, and so I straightened myself up and really began to be proud of +my father. Another and more important result was the recognition of my +own ignorance in imagining that a thing in order to be great must +necessarily be intricate and complicated. It dawned upon me that the +simplest things are sometimes the grandest and the most difficult of +attainment. + +I also took lessons in instrumentation from Ernst Friedrich Richter, a +pupil of Hauptmann. + + + + +A VISIT TO WAGNER. + + +My parents joined me in Leipsic in January, 1852, and in the spring of +that year we planned a tour which was to take us to Switzerland in June. + +In Leipsic I made the acquaintance of a man named Albert Wagner, meeting +him quite frequently at the restaurant where I took my meals. While I +was planning the tour, I chanced to mention it to him, and when he heard +that I was going to Zurich, he said: "My brother, Richard Wagner, lives +there. I will give you a letter of introduction to him." This was the +first intimation I had that Albert was a brother of the composer. I +suppose he had not thought it worth while to tell me. Richard was still +under a political cloud in Saxony, and was compelled to live in exile on +account of the part he had taken in the revolution of 1848; nor was +his reputation as a composer then so general that Albert would have +thought his kinship much to boast of. + +[Illustration: Autograph of Moritz Hauptmann] + +We reached Zurich on June 5, 1852, and, the next morning, armed with the +letter, I made my way to Wagner's chalet, which was situated on a hill +in the suburbs. It was then about ten o'clock in the morning. + +When I asked the maid who opened the door if Herr Wagner was at home and +to be seen, she answered, as I had feared she would, that he was busily +at work in his study, and could not be disturbed. I handed her my letter +of introduction, and asked her to give it to Herr Wagner, and to say to +him that I was expecting to remain in Zurich three or four days, and +would call again, hoping to be fortunate enough to find him disengaged. + +Just as I was turning to leave, I heard a voice at the head of the +stairs call out, "Wer ist da?" I told the maid to deliver my letter +immediately. As soon as Wagner had glanced through it, he exclaimed, +"Kommen Sie herauf! Kommen Sie herauf!" + +At that time Wagner was known, and that not widely, only as the composer +of "Rienzi," "The Flying Dutchman," "Tannhaeuser," and "Lohengrin." I had +heard only "The Flying Dutchman," but considered it a most beautiful +work, and was eager to meet the composer. + +Wagner's first words, as I met him on the landing at the head of the +stairs, were: "You've come just at the right time. I've been working +away at something, and I'm stuck. I'm in a state of nervous irritation, +and it is absolutely impossible for me to go on. So I'm glad you've +come." + +I remember perfectly my first impression of him. He looked to me much +more like an American than a German. After asking about his brother, he +began questioning me in a lively way about his friends in Leipsic, about +the concerts and opera there, and the works that had been given. He also +asked most kindly after my own affairs--what I was doing, with whom I +had studied, how long I intended to remain, what my plans were for the +future, and most particularly about musical matters in America. In some +way Beethoven was mentioned. After that the conversation became a +monologue with me as a listener, for Wagner began to talk so fluently +and enthusiastically about Beethoven that I was quite content to keep +silent and to avoid interrupting his eloquent oration. + + + + +WAGNER ON MENDELSSOHN AND BEETHOVEN + + +As he warmed up to the subject, he began to draw comparisons between +Beethoven and Mendelssohn. "Mendelssohn," he said, "was a gentleman of +refinement and high degree; a man of culture and polished manner; a +courtier who was always at home in evening dress. As was the man, so is +his music, full of elegance, grace, finish, and refinement, but carried +without variance to such a degree that at times one longs for brawn and +muscle. Yet it is music that is always exquisite, fairy-like, and fine +in character. In Beethoven we get the man of brawn and muscle. He was +too inspired to pay much attention to conventionalities. He went right +to the pith of what he had to say, and said it in a robust, decisive, +manly, yet tender way, brushing aside the methods and amenities of +conventionalism, and striking at once at the substance of what he wished +to express. Notwithstanding its robustness, his music is at times +inexpressibly tender; but it is a manly tenderness, and carries with it +an idea of underlying and sustaining strength. Some years ago, when I +was kapellmeister in Dresden, I had a remarkable experience, which +illustrates the invigorating and refreshing power of Beethoven's music. +It was at one of the series of afternoon concerts of classic music given +at the theater. The day was hot and muggy, and everybody seemed to be in +a state of lassitude and incapacity for mental or physical effort. On +glancing at the program, I noticed that by some chance all of the pieces +I had selected were in the minor mode--first, Mendelssohn's exquisite 'A +Minor Symphony,' music in dress-suit and white kid gloves, spotless and +_comme il faut_; then an overture by Cherubini; and finally Beethoven's +'Symphony No. 5, in C Minor.'" At this point Wagner rose from his chair, +and began walking about the room. "Everybody," he continued, "was +listless and languid, and the atmosphere seemed damp and spiritless. The +orchestra labored wearily through the symphony and overture, while the +audience became more and more apathetic. It seemed impossible to arouse +either players or listeners, and I thought seriously of dismissing both +after the overture. I was very reluctant to subject Beethoven's +wonderfully beautiful music to such a crucial test, but after a moment's +reflection I appreciated the fact that here was an opportunity for +proving the strength and virility of it, and I said to myself, 'I will +have courage, and stick to my program.'" + +Wagner stopped walking a moment, and looked about the room as if +searching for something. Then he rushed to a corner, and seizing a +walking-stick, raised it as if it were a baton. + +"Here is Beethoven," he exclaimed, "the working-man in his +shirt-sleeves, with his great herculean breast bared to the elements." + +He straightened himself up, and, giving the stick a swing, brought it +down with an abrupt "Ta-ta-ta-tum!"--the opening measure of Beethoven's +"C Minor Symphony": + +[Illustration: Musical notation] + +The whole scene was graphically portrayed. Then throwing himself into a +chair, he said: "The effect was electrical on orchestra and audience. +There was no more apathy. The air was cleared as by a passing +thunder-shower. There was the test." + +"When Wagner spoke of Mendelssohn, his tone of voice indicated the +gentle refinement of the courtier and his music. When he mentioned +Beethoven, his manner was animated and full of enthusiasm. + +Wagner's enthusiasm, his openness in taking me at once into his musical +confidence, fascinated me, and gave me an insight into the wonderful +vitality and energy of the man. He was planning a tramp through the +Tyrol, about a week later, with a professor from the Zurich University. +"Come along with us," he said. "Alle guten Dinge sind drei" ("All good +things are three"). However, I did not feel at liberty to leave my +parents to continue their trip alone, as I was acting as interpreter for +them. Of course Wagner was not then what he afterward became in the eyes +of the world. I now know what I missed. + + + + +A WAGNER AUTOGRAPH + + +But I did not leave Wagner's house without what many musicians, to whom +I have shown it, consider one of the most interesting musical autographs +ever penned. It is autographic from beginning to end, even to the lines +of the staff; for when I asked Wagner for his autograph, he drew them +himself on a sheet of blank paper, and then wrote what is evidently the +germ of the dragon motive in "The Ring of the Nibelung." It is dated +June 5, 1852, and it is particularly interesting that he should have +written this motive at that time. From his correspondence with Liszt, it +is clear that he had not yet finished the poem of the "Walkuere," and had +not yet begun the score of the cycle. He wrote the books of the "Ring" +backward, but in the composition of the cycle he began with the +"Rheingold," in the autumn of the year in which I met him. The dragon +motive occurs in the "Rheingold," but in quite a different form. He +began the "Walkuere" in June, 1854, two years later, completing it in +1856. In the meantime, in the autumn of 1854, he also began the music of +"Siegfried," and it is in the first act of this music drama, written +more than two years after I had met him, that we find the dragon motive +exactly as it is written in my autograph, except that it is transposed a +tone lower, and that the length of the notes is changed, though their +relative value is the same, dotted halves being substituted for +quarters. + +[Illustration: Autograph of Richard Wagner] + +The passage will be found on page 7 of Klindworth's piano-score of +"Siegfried." This, I believe, is the only place in the four divisions of +the "Ring" where the motive appears in this form. + +Added significance and value are given to the autograph by the lines +which Wagner wrote under it, and which are signed and dated: "Wenn Sie +so etwas aehnliches einmal von mir hoeren sollten, so denken Sie an mich!" +("If you ever hear anything of mine like this, then think of me.") Even +this was characteristic of the man. "Siegfried" was not heard until +nearly a quarter of a century after he had written a passage from it in +my autograph-book--_but it was heard_. + + + + +MOSCHELES + + +The playing of Moscheles was in a direct line of descent from Clementi +and Hummel, and just preceded the Thalberg school. Moscheles was fond of +quoting these authorities and of holding them up as excellent examples +for his pupils. He advocated a very quiet hand position, confining, as +far as possible, whatever motion was necessary to finger and hand +muscles; and by way of illustration he said that Clementi's hands were +so level in position and quiet in motion that he could easily keep a +crown-piece on the back of his hand while playing the most rapid scale +passages. + +I was not much surprised at this, for I knew it had been said of Henry +C. Timm of New York, an admirable pianist of the Hummel school, that he +could play a scale with a glass of wine on the back of his hand without +spilling a drop. I, boy-like, could not resist the temptation to repeat +what I had heard. There was a curious expression upon the face of our +good teacher, which gave the impression that he thought it a pretty tall +story, and my fellow-pupils put it down as a yarn prompted by desire on +my part to get ahead of Moscheles. Among these was Charles Wehle of +Prague, of whom I saw a good deal. Some years later, after I had left +Weimar for America, Wehle happened to visit Liszt. My name was +mentioned, and Wehle asked, "Did you ever hear his wonderful tale about +Timm, the New York player?" Then he repeated the anecdote, but changed +the glass of wine to a glass of water. Liszt shook his head +incredulously, and said, "Mason never said anything about a glass of +water all the time he was in Weimar." + +Moscheles was an excellent pianist and teacher, but he was already +growing old, and his playing of sforzando and strongly accented tones +was apt to be accompanied by an audible snort, which was far from +musical. However, as a Bach-player he was especially great, and it was a +delight to hear him. One evening, after my lesson, he began playing the +preludes and fugues from the "Well-tempered Clavier," and I was +enchanted with the finish, repose, and musicianship of his performance, +which was without fuss or show. I have never heard any one surpass him +in Bach. + +Paderewski's Bach-playing is much like that of my old teacher. Several +years ago, in company with Adolf Brodsky, the violinist, I attended one +of Paderewski's recitals given in this city. After listening to +compositions of Bach and Beethoven, Brodsky said: "He lays everything +from A to Z before you in the most conscientious way, and through +delicacy and sensitiveness of perception he attains a very close and +artistic adjustment of values." + +Thoroughly in accord with Brodsky, I vividly recall the similarity of +Paderewski's interpretation to that of Moscheles, both being +characterized by perfect repose in action, while at the same time not +lacking in intensity of expression. The modern adaptations and +alterations from Bach are not here referred to, but the music as +originally written by the composer. In Paderewski's conception and +performance, like that of Moscheles, each and all of the voices received +careful and reverent attention, and were brought out with due regard to +their relative, as well as to their individual, importance. Nuances were +never neglected, neither were they in excess. Thus the musical +requirements of polyphonic interpretation were artistically fulfilled. +Head and heart were united in skilful combination and loving response. + +While I was in Leipsic, Moscheles celebrated his silver wedding, and one +of the features of the occasion was odd and interesting. I forget +whether I had the story direct from him or from one of my +fellow-students. It is as follows: At the time Moscheles was paying +attention to the lady who afterward became his wife he had a rival who +was a farmer. What became of the farmer after Moscheles carried off the +prize history does not make clear. A friend of Moscheles, an artist of +ability, conceived the unique idea of commemorating the joyous +anniversary, and, putting it into act, he painted two portraits of Mrs. +Moscheles, one representing her as she appeared on that interesting +occasion, and the other giving his idea of how she would have looked +after twenty-five years of wedded life had she married the farmer. + + + + +JOSEPH JOACHIM + + +"Leipsic, Wednesday, September 19, 1849." Under this date I find in my +diary a note to the effect that Joachim the violinist made me a friendly +call at half-past ten o'clock. I had previously called on him to present +a letter of introduction which I had received in Hamburg from Mortier de +Fontaine. + +Joachim made a marked impression upon me as being genial and unassuming +in manner. He very cordially invited me to come to his room, saying, "We +will play sonatas for violin and pianoforte together." This afforded a +fine opportunity to a young piano-student, and, coming as it did without +solicitation or expectation, was all the more appreciated. Less than two +weeks later, on September 30, I heard him play the Mendelssohn violin +concerto at the first Gewandhaus concert of the season, and was +enchanted with his musical interpretation of the beautiful composition. +A little further on in the diary it is written that the second +Gewandhaus concert was given on October 7. The Schumann "Symphony in B +Flat Major, No. 1," was played, and "I never before experienced such a +thrill of enthusiasm." On Thursday, October 18, the third Gewandhaus +concert took place, the symphony being by Spohr, "No. 3, C Minor." An +item of special interest regarding this concert is that I heard here for +the first time the fine violoncellist Bernhard Cossmann, with whom, in +later years, I became intimately acquainted. He was then in the Weimar +orchestra and the Ferdinand Laub String Quartet, and was one of our +"Weimarische Dutzbrueder." + + + + +SCHUMANN'S "CONCERTO IN A MINOR" + + +This concerto I heard for the first time in Leipsic, on Saturday, +January 19, 1850. It was in one of the Euterpe Society's concerts, +exceedingly well played by Adolph Blassman of Dresden, and I vividly +remember the stunning effect it produced upon some of the best pupils of +the Conservatory who were present. I was nearly as much excited over +the composition as I had previously been at the performance of the +"Symphony in B Flat Major." + +A few weeks later the same concerto was played in a Gewandhaus concert +by Fraeulein Wilhelmine Clauss, a pupil of Mme. Schumann, who had studied +it under her supervision. The result was another good rendering, +although at the previous rehearsal there had been trouble with the +so-called syncopated passage where the 3/2 and 3/4 rhythms alternate, +and it was not until after many repeated attempts that success was +attained. + +On account of the long, uninterrupted continuance of this 3/2 rhythm its +character as a syncopation is entirely lost and it becomes simply an +augmentation of the preceding and following 3/4 rhythm, and all of the +best orchestral conductors I have seen always give out the beat +accordingly--that is, in a manner equivalent to simply doubling the rate +of speed in the 3/4 from that of the 3/2 movement. I do not see how the +performers, both in orchestra and piano, can be kept together in any +other way. + +[Illustration: Autograph of Joseph Joachim] + + + + +CARL MAYER + + +From Leipsic I went to Dresden in March, 1850, and stayed there a few +months with some American friends who were studying the pianoforte under +Carl Mayer, whose very beautiful and finished playing was more adapted +for the salon than for the concert-hall. Although I took no lessons of +him, I constantly enjoyed his society, frequently heard him play, and in +this way profited much from the association. + +I wished, however, to get to work in the more advanced and modern +methods, and so decided to go to Alexander Dreyschock in Prague. My +departure from Dresden was somewhat delayed because, upon going to the +Austrian consul's to get his vise, he refused to give it to me. This was +owing to the political disturbances which had taken place in Europe a +year or two before. Thereupon I wrote to Dreyschock for his assistance, +and being on friendly terms with the Austrian minister at Dresden, he +easily accomplished the desired result. + + + + +DREYSCHOCK + + +Alexander Dreyschock was one of the most distinguished +pianoforte-virtuosos of his time, and his specialty was his wonderful +octave-playing. Indeed, he acquired such fame in this particular that +the mention of "octave-playing" at once suggested the name of Dreyschock +to his contemporaries. He was also celebrated on account of his highly +trained left hand, so much so that Saphir, the famous Vienna critic, +paid tribute to the fact by writing a stanza which obtained wide +circulation, and which runs as follows: + + Welchen Titel der nicht hinke + Man dem Meister geben moechte, + Der zur Rechten macht die Linke?-- + Nennt ihn, "Doctor beider Rechte." + +An anecdote, related to me by one of his most intimate friends not long +after my arrival in Prague, is interesting in this connection, as well +as instructive to piano-students. Tomaschek, his teacher, was in the +habit of receiving a few friends on stated occasions for the purpose of +musical entertainment and conversation. One evening the rapid progress +in piano-technic was being discussed, and Tomaschek remarked that more +and more in this direction was demanded each day. A copy of Chopin's +"Etudes, Op. 10," open at "Etude No. 12, C Minor," happened to be lying +on the piano-desk. It will be remembered that the left-hand part of this +etude consists throughout of rapid passages in single notes, difficult +enough in the original to satisfy the ambition of most pianists. +Tomaschek, looking at this, remarked, "I should not wonder if, one of +these days, a pianist should appear who would play all of these +single-note left-hand passages in octaves." Dreyschock, overhearing the +remark, at once conceived an idea which he proceeded next day to carry +into execution. For a period of six successive weeks, at the rate of +twelve hours a day, he practised the etude in accordance with the +suggestion of Tomaschek. How he ever survived the effort is a mystery, +but, at any rate, when the next musical evening at Tomaschek's occurred +he was present, and, watching his opportunity for a favorable moment, +sat down to the pianoforte and played the etude in a brilliant and +triumphant manner, with the left-hand octaves, thus fulfilling the +prediction of Tomaschek. Upon a subsequent occasion he repeated this +feat at one of the Leipsic Gewandhaus concerts. Mendelssohn, as I am +told, was present, and was very demonstrative in the expression of his +delight and astonishment. I will add, for the benefit of those of my +readers, should there be any, who are inclined to try the experiment, +that certain adaptations are necessary in various parts of the etude in +order to get the required scope for the left-hand octaves. Thus, the +opening octave series, as well as other similar left-hand passages +throughout the etude, must, when necessary, be played an octave higher +than written. + +At the time of which I write (1849-1850) very little seems to have been +known of the important influence of the upper-arm muscles and their very +efficient agency, when properly employed, in the production of +tone-quality and volume by means of increased relaxation, elasticity, +and springiness in their movements. + +I received considerably over one hundred lessons from Dreyschock, and +with slow and rapid scale and arpeggio practice his instruction had +special reference to limber and flexible wrists, his distinguishing +feature being his wonderful octave-playing. Beyond the wrists, however, +the other arm muscles received practically little or no attention, and +the fact is that during my whole stay abroad none of my teachers or +their pupils, with many of whom I was intimately associated, seemed to +know anything about the importance of the upper-arm muscles, the +practical knowledge of which I had acquired through the playing of +Leopold de Meyer as described in the earlier part of this book. In the +Tomaschek method, as taught and practised by Dreyschock, the direction +to the pupil was simply to keep the wrists loose. To be sure, this could +not be altogether accomplished without some degree of arm-limberness, +but no specific directions were given for cultivating the latter. So far +as wrist-motion is concerned, Leschetitsky's manner of playing octaves +has much in common with the Tomaschek-Dreyschock method, if the former +may be judged from the playing of most of his pupils, who seem to pay +but little attention to the upper-arm muscles. This is quite natural +when it is remembered that Leschetitsky was in some sense an assistant +of Dreyschock when the latter was at the head of the piano department in +the Conservatory of Music at St. Petersburg. The Leschetitsky pupils, +however, have a manner of sinking the wrists below the keyboard which +was not in accordance with Dreyschock's manner of playing. It seems to +me that the latter's method of level wrists is more productive of a +full, sonorous, musical tone. + +I remained with Dreyschock for over a year, taking three lessons a week +and practising about five hours a day. I played also in private +musicales at the houses of the nobility and at the homes of some of the +wealthy Jews, two classes of society which were entirely distinct from +each other, never mingling in private life. I met and became well +acquainted with Jules Schulhoff, whose compositions for the pianoforte +were very effective, but more appropriate to the drawing-room than to +the concert-hall. + + + + +PRINCE DE ROHAN'S DINNER + + +It was customary in Prague to give once a year an orchestral concert of +high order, the pecuniary proceeds of which were for the benefit of the +poor, and on one of these occasions I played with orchestra a brilliant +composition of Dreyschock's entitled "Salut a Vienne." It was also the +custom, in concerts of this order, to use the name of some nobleman--the +higher the better--as patron. On this occasion the name used was that of +the Prince de Rohan, a French nobleman who, expatriated, had lived for +some time in Prague in a palace of the old Austrian Emperor Ferdinand, +who, shortly before the time of which I write, had abdicated in favor +of his nephew, the present emperor. A few days after the concert, while +I was practising in my modestly appointed room, there was a loud knock +at the door, and immediately there entered a servant of the prince in +gorgeous livery, who, advancing to the middle of the room and +straightening himself up, announced in stentorian tones, "His Highness +Prince Rohan invites you to dinner," at the same time handing me a large +envelop with a big seal on the back. Without waiting for a reply, he +made a low obeisance and left the room. + +It turned out that all the principal artists who had taken part in the +concert had been invited to the dinner, and on the appointed day one of +these, an opera-singer of distinction, came to my room and asked if he +might go with me. Never having been to a prince's house, and not knowing +what ceremony might be considered appropriate to such an occasion, he +conceived the idea of securing a chaperon. The incongruity of his +selecting a green American youth for this purpose greatly amused me, +but I said, "Come along; they won't hang us for anything we are likely +to do." Arriving at the palace five or ten minutes before the hour, the +porter at the outer gate refused us admission, saying we were too early. +This untoward reception somewhat unsettled us for the moment, but there +was nothing for us to do but to walk about until the appointed time. On +presenting ourselves again at the gate at precisely the right moment, we +were promptly admitted. After passing through the hands of several +servants, we were finally ushered into the presence of the prince. + +He was not an imposing man in appearance, neither was he as well dressed +as several of the four or five guests who arrived later, my companion +and I being the first-comers. The prince offered me his arm, and led me +through the picture-gallery adjoining the reception-room, pointing out +the portraits of his ancestors, whose names were mostly familiar to me +from French history. As all formality in his manner had passed away, I +found the occasion intensely interesting. + +Dinner being announced, we proceeded to the dining-room, and, when we +were seated, the prince said that he would greet us first with a glass +of Schloss Johannisberger Cabinet wine, which he had just received from +his friend Prince Metternich, the owner of that world-renowned vineyard. +As is well known, this Cabinet wine is never on the market, and can be +bought only at an administrator's sale, and then commands the highest +price. It is not unusual for tourists to pay a large price for this wine +on the spot, even then not getting the genuine thing, for the space +where the Cabinet wine grows is very small compared with the quantity of +wine which is credited to it. Several kinds of red and white wines were +served, and various kinds of German beer, as well as English and Scotch +ale. Finally, after seven or eight courses, a single glass of +champagne--no more--was poured out for each guest. Liquid refreshments, +however, did not end there, for we afterward adjourned to the library, +where we found a roaring wood fire in a vast stone chimney-place, where +cigars, liqueurs of many kinds, and finally coffee and tea with rum were +served. There was no music. + + + + +CHOPIN, HENSELT, AND THALBERG + + +I had always looked forward to taking lessons of Chopin at some period +during my sojourn in Europe, but this was not accomplished, on account +of his death, which took place in Paris on October 17, 1849. Neither did +I ever hear him play. One of Dreyschock's anecdotes about him is +interesting as well as instructive, for it conveys an idea of one of the +principal characteristics of his style. Dreyschock told me that, a few +years before, Chopin gave a recital of his own compositions in Paris, +which he, Dreyschock, attended in company with Thalberg. They listened +with delight throughout the performance, but on reaching the street +Thalberg began shouting at the top of his voice. + +"What's the matter?" asked Dreyschock, in astonishment. + +"Oh," said Thalberg, "I've been listening to _piano_ all the evening, +and now, for the sake of contrast, I want a little _forte_." + +Dreyschock spoke of Chopin's extremely delicate and exquisite playing, +but said that he lacked the physical strength to produce forte effects +by contrast in accordance with his own ideas. This is illustrated by +another anecdote which I heard many years afterward from Korbay. A young +and robust pianist had been playing Chopin's "Polonaise Militaire" to +the composer, and had broken a string. When, in confusion, he began to +apologize, Chopin said to him, "Young man, if I had your strength and +played that polonaise as it should be played, there wouldn't be a sound +string left in the instrument by the time I got through." + +The distinguishing characteristic of Chopin's piano-playing was his +lovely musical and poetic tone, his warm and emotional coloring, and his +impassioned utterance. In those days one was not afraid to play with a +great deal of sentiment, although pianists who were capable of doing +this poetically were rare. In modern times it has become the fashion to +ridicule any tendency toward emotional playing and to extol the +intellectual side beyond its just proportion. It seems to me that there +should be a happy combination and a delicate and well-proportioned +adjustment between the temperamental and intellectual, with a slight +preponderance of the former. + +An anecdote of Adolf Henselt, also related to me by Dreyschock, is +entertaining as well as suggestive, especially to pianoforte-players, +who are constantly troubled with nervousness when playing before an +audience. Henselt, whose home was in St. Petersburg, was in the habit of +spending a few weeks every summer with a relative who lived in Dresden. +Dreyschock, passing through that city, called on him one morning, and +upon going up the staircase to his room, heard the most lovely tones of +the pianoforte imaginable. + +He was so fascinated that he sat down at the top of the landing and +listened for a long time. Henselt was playing repeatedly the same +composition, and his playing was also specially characterized by a warm +emotional touch and a delicious legato, causing the tones to melt, as it +were, one into the other, and this, too, without any confusion or lack +of clearness. Henselt was full of sentiment, but detested +"sentimentality." Finally, for lack of time, Dreyschock was obliged to +announce himself, although, as he said, he could have listened for +hours. He entered the room, and after the usual friendly greeting said, +"What were you playing just now as I came up the stairs?" Henselt +replied that he was composing a piece and was playing it over to +himself. Dreyschock expressed his admiration of the composition, and +begged Henselt to play it again. Henselt, after prolonged urging, sat +down to the pianoforte and began playing again, but, alas! his +performance was stiff, inaccurate, and even clumsy, and all of the +exquisite poetry and unconsciousness of his style completely +disappeared. Dreyschock said that it was quite impossible to describe +the difference; and this was simply the result of diffidence and +nervousness, which, as it appeared, were entirely out of the player's +power to control. Pianoforte-players frequently experience this state of +things. The only remedy is freedom from self-consciousness, which can +best be achieved by earnest and persistent mental concentration. + + + + +ANTON SCHINDLER, "AMI DE BEETHOVEN" + + +After finishing my studies with Dreyschock, I went to Frankfort, not to +study under any particular master, but in order to enjoy the opera and +the musical life there. Moreover, two or three of my old Boston friends +were temporarily settled there, pursuing their musical studies. + +Anton Schindler, one of the well-known musical characters of the day, +and who had been Beethoven's most intimate friend during the latter +years of the great composer's life, lived at Frankfort, and, being +members of the same club, the Buerger Verein, I often enjoyed the +pleasure of his society, and heard much concerning Beethoven. Schindler +had written a life of Beethoven, and was naturally very proud of his +close association with the great master. During his residence in Paris, +some years previous to the time of which I am writing, he caused to be +printed on his visiting-cards, "Anton Schindler, Ami de Beethoven." + +He worshiped his idol's memory, and was so familiar with his music that +the slightest mistake in interpretation or departure from Beethoven's +invention or design jarred upon his nerves--or possibly he made a +pretense of this. He held all four-hand pianoforte arrangements of works +designed and composed for orchestra as abominations. Extreme +sensitiveness is a role sometimes assumed by men in no wise remarkable, +in order to enhance their own importance in the eyes of others. +Schindler's attitude as to the undesirability of orchestral pianoforte +arrangements will meet with the approval of many, but he certainly +carried his sensitiveness in regard to the interpretation of Beethoven's +works to amusing extremes. + +[Illustration: Autograph of Anton Schindler] + +Every winter a subscription series of orchestral concerts was given in +Frankfort, each program of which included at least one symphony. The +concerts took place in a very old stone building called the "Museum," +and on the occasion here referred to the symphony was Beethoven's "No. +5, C Minor." It so happened that, owing to long-continued rains and +extreme humidity, the stone walls of the old hall were saturated with +dampness, in fact, were actually wet. This excess of moisture affected +the pitch of the wood wind-instruments to such a degree that the other +instruments had to be adjusted to accommodate them. Schindler, it was +noticed, left the hall at the close of the first movement. This seemed a +strange proceeding on the part of the "Ami de Beethoven," and when later +in the evening he was seen at the Buerger Verein and asked why he had +gone away so suddenly, he replied gruffly, "I don't care to hear +Beethoven's 'C Minor Symphony' played in the key of B minor." + + + + +SCHINDLER AND SCHNYDER VON WARTENSEE + + +Another story current in Frankfort at this time further illustrates +Schindler's peculiarity. Among the noted musicians living in Frankfort +was a theoretician, Swiss by birth, named Schnyder von Wartensee, who +was of considerable importance in his day. Schindler and Von Wartensee +had lived in Frankfort, but had never met each other, although common +friends had at various times made ineffectual efforts to bring them +together. They were both advanced in years, and, as it seemed, ought to +have been genial companions. Possibly the failure to arrange a meeting +had been due to Wartensee's being older than Schindler, and thus in a +position to expect the latter to call first, while Schindler, being "Ami +de Beethoven," felt it beneath his dignity to make the first move. +However, some time previous to my arrival another plan for an interview +was contrived, and as so many previous ones had failed the outcome of +this was watched with interest. + +By the exercise of considerable diplomatic tact Schindler was persuaded +to agree to call upon Wartensee and to fix a time for the visit. The +friends of the gentlemen had all been looking forward with much interest +to the result of this meeting, hoping thereby to hear a great many +musical reminiscences, and a committee was appointed to watch Schindler +and make sure that he kept the appointment. After a while the committee +returned to the Buerger Verein and reported that they had seen him almost +reach Wartensee's house, then pause for a moment, and suddenly turn and +hurry away. Later Schindler himself came in, and being questioned +concerning the interview, exclaimed, "Bah! as I got near the house I +heard them [Wartensee and his wife] playing a four-handed piano +arrangement of the 'Eroica.'" + + + + +FIRST LONDON CONCERT + + +In January, 1853, my stay in Frankfort was brought to an end by a letter +from Sir Julias Benedict, asking me to come to London to play at one of +the concerts of the Harmonic Union at Exeter Hall. I accepted the +engagement, and made my first appearance in London under Benedict's +conductorship, playing Weber's "Concertstueck." An account having been +published in a London paper of the very delightful celebration, in 1899, +of my seventieth birthday by my pupils, past and present, and by many of +my friends, I received an inquiry from a lady living in London, asking +whether I was the same William Mason whom she had heard in Exeter Hall +nearly half a century ago! + +I accepted only one other engagement to play in public, though I +remained near London for more than two months, just to look about. + +I was much impressed with the extent to which Mendelssohn's influence +prevailed in English matters musical. I met a great many excellent +musicians there, especially several fine organists; but a large +majority, both in their ideas and in their style of playing and +composition, were nothing but Mendelssohns in "half-tone," and to some +extent this is still true of England. + + + + +WITH LISZT IN WEIMAR + + +After my London visit I was obliged to return to Leipsic to transact +some business, and I decided to call on Liszt in Weimar en route. My +intention was to make another effort to be received by him as a pupil, +my idea being, if he declined, to go to Paris and study under some +French master. + +I reached Weimar on the 14th of April, 1853, and put up at the Hotel zum +Erbprinzen. At that time Liszt occupied a house on the Altenburg +belonging to the grand duke. The old grand duke, under whose patronage +Goethe had made Weimar famous, was still living. I think his idea was to +make Weimar as famous musically through Liszt as it had been in +literature in Goethe's time. + +Having secured my room at the Erbprinzen, I set out for the Altenburg. +The butler who opened the door mistook me for a wine-merchant whom he +had been expecting. I explained that I was not that person. "This is my +card," I said. "I have come here from London to see Liszt." He took the +card, and returned almost immediately with the request for me to enter +the dining-room. + +I found Liszt at the table with another man. They were drinking their +after-dinner coffee and cognac. The moment Liszt saw me he exclaimed, +"Nun, Mason, Sie lassen lange auf sich warten!" ("Well, Mason, you let +people wait for you a long time!") I suppose he saw my surprised look, +for he added, "Ich habe Sie schon vor vier Jahren erwartet" ("I have +been expecting you for four years"). Then it struck me that I had +probably wholly misinterpreted his first letter to me and what he said +when I called on him during the Goethe festival. But nothing was said +about my remaining, and though he was most affable, I began to doubt +whether I would accomplish the object of my visit. + + + + +ACCEPTED BY LISZT + + +When we rose from the table and went into the drawing-room, Liszt said: +"I have a new piano from Erard of Paris. Try it, and see how you like +it." He asked me to pardon him if he moved about the room, for he had to +get together some papers which it was necessary to take with him, as he +was going to the palace of the grand duke. "As the palace is on the way +to the hotel, we can walk as far as that together," he added. + +I felt intuitively that my opportunity had come. I sat down at the piano +with the idea that I would not endeavor to show Liszt how to play, but +would play as simply as if I were alone. I played "Amitie pour Amitie," +a little piece of my own which had just been published by Hofmeister of +Leipsic. + +[Illustration: LISZT IN MIDDLE LIFE] + +"That's one of your own?" asked Liszt when I had finished. "Well, it's a +charming little piece." Still nothing was said about my being accepted +as a pupil. But when we left the Altenburg, he said casually, "You +say you are going to Leipsic for a few days on business? While there you +had better select your piano and have it sent here. Meanwhile I will +tell Klindworth to look up rooms for you. Indeed, there is a vacant room +in the house in which he lives, which is pleasantly situated just +outside the limits of the ducal park." + +I can still recall the thrill of joy which passed through me when Liszt +spoke these words. They left no doubt in my mind. I was accepted as his +pupil. We walked down the hill toward the town, Liszt leaving me when we +arrived at the palace, telling me, however, that he would call later at +the hotel and introduce me to my fellow-pupils. About eight o'clock that +evening he came. + +After smoking a cigar and chatting with me for half an hour, Liszt +proposed going down to the cafe, saying, "The gentlemen are probably +there, as this is about their regular hour for supper." Proceeding to +the dining-room, we found Messrs. Raff, Pruckner, and Klindworth, to +whom I was presented in due form, and who received me in a very +friendly manner. + +I had no idea then, neither have I now, what Liszt's means were, but I +learned soon after my arrival at Weimar that he never took pay from his +pupils, neither would he bind himself to give regular lessons at stated +periods. He wished to avoid obligations as far as possible, and to feel +free to leave Weimar for short periods when so inclined--in other words, +to go and come as he liked. His idea was that the pupils whom he +accepted should all be far enough advanced to practise and prepare +themselves without routine instruction, and he expected them to be ready +whenever he gave them an opportunity to play. The musical opportunities +of Weimar were such as to afford ample encouragement to any +serious-minded young student. Many distinguished musicians, poets, and +literary men were constantly coming to visit Liszt. He was fond of +entertaining, and liked to have his pupils at hand so that they might +join him in entertaining and paying attention to his guests. He had +only three pupils at the time of which I write, namely, Karl Klindworth +from Hanover, Dionys Pruckner from Munich, and the American whose +musical memories are here presented. Joachim Raff, however, we regarded +as one of us, for although not at the time a pupil of Liszt, he had been +in former years, and was now constantly in association with the master, +acting frequently in the capacity of private secretary. Hans von Bulow +had left Weimar not long before my arrival, and was then on his first +regular concert-tour. Later he returned occasionally for short visits, +and I became well acquainted with him. We constituted, as it were, a +family, for while we had our own apartments in the city, we all enjoyed +the freedom of the two lower rooms in Liszt's home, and were at liberty +to come and go as we liked. Regularly on every Sunday at eleven o'clock, +with rare exceptions, the famous Weimar String Quartet played for an +hour and a half or so in these rooms, and Liszt frequently joined them +in concerted music, old and new. Occasionally one of the boys would +take the pianoforte part. The quartet-players were Laub, first violin; +Stoerr, second violin; Walbruehl, viola; and Cossmann, violoncello. Before +Laub's time Joachim had been concertmeister, but he left Weimar in 1853 +and went to Hanover, where he occupied a similar position. He +occasionally visited Weimar, however, and would then at times play with +the quartet. Henri Wieniawski, who spent some months in Weimar, would +occasionally take the first violin. My favorite as a quartet-player was +Ferdinand Laub, with whom I was intimately acquainted, and I find that +the greatest violinists of the present time hold him in high estimation, +many of them regarding him as the greatest of all quartet-players. We +were always quite at our ease in those lower rooms, but on ceremonial +occasions we were invited up-stairs to the drawing-room, where Liszt had +his favorite Erard. We were thus enjoying the best music, played by the +best artists. In addition to this there were the symphony concerts and +the opera, with occasional attendance at rehearsal. Liszt took it for +granted that his pupils would appreciate these remarkable advantages and +opportunities and their usefulness, and I think we did. + + + + +THE ALTENBURG + + +Liszt's private studio, where he wrote and composed, was at the back of +the main building in a lower wing, and may easily be distinguished in +the picture by the awnings over the windows. I was not in this room more +than half a dozen times during my stay in Weimar, and one of these I +remember as the occasion of Liszt's playing the Beethoven "Kreutzer +Sonata" with Remenyi, the Hungarian violinist, and giving him a lesson +in conception and style of performance. Remenyi was a violinist of fine +musical talent, but not a classicist, his style being after the fashion +of the class represented by Ole Bull. He was, as is well known, a +genuine Hungarian, thoroughly at home in the musical characteristics of +his native country. He was unconsciously disposed to color and mark the +music of all composers with Hungarian peculiarities, and this habit gave +rise to a story that sometimes he added to the concluding strain of the +theme in the slow movement of the "Kreutzer Sonata" the peculiar +Hungarian termination as a final ornament. This story probably +originated in a spirit of fun. It was, nevertheless, so characteristic +of Remenyi that it obtained wide circulation. + +[Illustration: Musical notation] + +The picture gives a very good view of the house as it appeared in +1853-54. In the nearest corner of the building were the two large rooms +on the ground floor to which reference has already been made, of which +we boys had the freedom at all times, and where strangers were +unceremoniously received. The Furstin Sayn-Wittgenstein had apartments, +I think, on the _bel etage_ with her daughter, the Prinzessin Marie. +Any one who was to be honored with an introduction to them was taken to +a reception-room up-stairs; adjoining this was the dining-room. This +print is from a water-color painted for me by my friend Mr. Thomas Allen +of Boston. It is copied from a photograph of the original,--a +water-color by Carl Hoffman,--which Mr. Hoffman painted expressly for +his friend Mr. James M. Tracy, a former pupil of Liszt, who is now a +professional pianist and teacher in Denver, Colorado, and to whom I am +indebted for permission to publish it here. Mr. Tracy writes me that it +has been published before, but without his permission. + +We boys saw little of the Wittgensteins, and I remember dining with them +only once. I sat next to the Princess Marie, who spoke English very +well, and it may have been due to her desire to exercise in the language +that I was honored with a seat next to her. Rubinstein met her when he +was at Weimar (I shall have more to tell of his visit later), and +composed a nocturne which he dedicated to her. When he came to this +country in 1873 he told me that he had met her again some years later at +the palace in Vienna, but that she had become haughty, and had not been +inclined to pay much attention to him. There are many Wittgensteins in +Russia. When I was in Wiesbaden in 1879-80 I saw half a dozen Russian +princes of that name. There was but one Rubinstein. + +Liszt had the pick of all the young musicians in Europe for his pupils, +and I attribute his acceptance of me somewhat to the fact that I came +all the way from America, something more of an undertaking in those days +than it is now. I became very well acquainted with those whom I have +mentioned, especially with Klindworth and Raff, and before many days we +were all "Dutzbrueder." + +[Illustration: THE ALTENBURG, LISZT'S HOUSE AT WEIMAR] + +The first evening Raff, whom I had previously never heard of, struck me +as being rather conceited; but when I grew to know him better, and +realized how talented he was, I was quite ready to make allowance for +his little touch of self-esteem. We became warm friends, dining together +every day at the table d'hote, and after dinner walking for an hour or +so in the park. Nineteen years later I went abroad again and visited +Raff at the Conservatory in Frankfort. He interrupted his lessons the +moment that he heard I was there, came running down-stairs, threw his +arms around my neck, and was so overjoyed at seeing me that I felt as if +we were boys once more at Weimar. Of the pupils and of the many +musicians who came to Weimar to visit Liszt at that time,--"die goldene +Zeit" (the Golden Age), as it is still called at Weimar,--I think +Klindworth and I are the only survivors. Klindworth is one of the most +distinguished teachers in Europe, and taught for many years at the +Conservatory in Moscow. He is now in Potsdam. + + + + +HOW LISZT TAUGHT + + +What I had heard in regard to Liszt's method of teaching proved to be +absolutely correct. He never taught in the ordinary sense of the word. +During the entire time that I was with him I did not see him give a +regular lesson in the pedagogical sense. He would notify us to come up +to the Altenburg. For instance, he would say to me, "Tell the boys to +come up to-night at half-past six or seven." We would go there, and he +would call on us to play. I remember very well the first time I played +to him after I had been accepted as a pupil. I began with the "Ballade" +of Chopin in A flat major; then I played a fugue by Handel in E minor. + +After I was well started he began to get excited. He made audible +suggestions, inciting me to put more enthusiasm into my playing, and +occasionally he would push me gently off the chair and sit down at the +piano and play a phrase or two himself by way of illustration. He +gradually got me worked up to such a pitch of enthusiasm that I put all +the grit that was in me into my playing. + +I found at this first lesson that he was very fond of strong accents in +order to mark off periods and phrases, and he talked so much about +strong accentuation that one might have supposed that he would abuse it, +but he never did. When he wrote to me later about my own piano method, +he expressed the strongest approval of the exercises on accentuation. + + + + +"PLAY IT LIKE THIS" + + +While I was playing to him for the first time, he said on one of the +occasions when he pushed me from the chair: "Don't play it that way. +Play it like this." Evidently I had been playing ahead in a steady, +uniform way. He sat down, and gave the same phrases with an accentuated, +elastic movement, which let in a flood of light upon me. From that one +experience I learned to bring out the same effect, where it was +appropriate, in almost every piece that I played. It eradicated much +that was mechanical, stilted, and unmusical in my playing, and developed +an elasticity of touch which has lasted all my life, and which I have +always tried to impart to my pupils. + +At this first lesson I must have played for two or three hours. For some +reason or other Raff was not present, but Klindworth and Pruckner were +there. They lounged on a sofa and smoked, and I remember wondering if +they appreciated the nice time they were having at my ordeal. However, +not many days afterward came my opportunity to light a cigar and lounge +about the room while Liszt put them through their paces. + +Two or three hours is not a long time for a professional musician to +practise, and I had often spent many more hours at the piano, but never +under such strong incitement. I was exceedingly tired afterward, and +actually felt stiff the next day, as if I had performed some very +arduous physical work. Liszt heard of this, and turned it into a joke, +telling people that at the time set for the next lesson I appeared at +the Altenburg with my hand in a sling, and said that I had strained my +wrist while hunting, and would be unable to play. I think this is _non e +ver e ben trovato_, as I have no recollection of it. + + + + +LISZT IN 1854 + + +The best impression of Liszt's appearance at that time is conveyed by +the picture which shows him approaching the Altenburg. His back is +turned; nevertheless, there is a certain something which shows the man +as he was better even than those portraits in which his features are +clearly reproduced. The picture gives his gait, his figure, and his +general appearance. There is his tall, lank form, his high hat set a +little to one side, and his arm a trifle akimbo. He had piercing eyes. +His hair was very dark, but not black. He wore it long, just as he did +in his older days. It came almost down to his shoulders, and was cut off +square at the bottom. He had it cut frequently, so as to keep it at +about the same length. That was a point about which he was very +particular. + + + + +HIS FASCINATION + + +As I remember his hands, his fingers were lean and thin, but they did +not impress me as being very long, and he did not have such a remarkable +stretch on the keyboard as one might imagine. He was always neatly +dressed, generally appearing in a long frock-coat, until he became the +Abbe Liszt, after which he wore the distinctive black gown. His general +manner and his face were most expressive of his feelings, and his +features lighted up when he spoke. His smile was simply charming. His +face was peculiar. One could hardly call it handsome, yet there was in +it a subtle something that was most attractive, and his whole manner had +a fascination which it is impossible to describe. + +I remember little incidents which are in themselves trivial, but which +illustrate some character-trait. One day Liszt was reading a letter in +which a musician was referred to as a certain Mr. So-and-so. He read +that phrase over two or three times, and then substituted his own name +for that of the musician mentioned, and repeated several times, "A +_certain_ Mr. Liszt, a _certain_ Mr. Liszt, a _certain_ Mr. Liszt," +adding: "I don't know that that would offend me. I don't know that I +should object to being called 'a _certain_ Mr. Liszt.'" As he said this +his face had an expression of curiosity, as though he were wondering +whether he really would be offended or not. But at the same time there +was in his face that look of kindness I saw there so often, and I really +believe he would not have felt injured by such a reference to himself. +There was nothing petty in his feelings. + + + + +LISZT'S INDIGNATION + + +On one occasion, however, I saw Liszt grow very much excited over what +he considered an imposition. One evening he said to us: "Boys, there is +a young man coming here to-morrow who says he can play Beethoven's +'Sonata in B Flat, Op. 106.' I want you all three to be here." We were +there at the appointed hour. The pianist proved to be a Hungarian, whose +name I have forgotten. + +He sat down and began to play in a conveniently slow tempo the bold +chords with which the sonata opens. He had not progressed more than half +a page when Liszt stopped him, and seating himself at the piano, played +in the correct tempo, which was much faster, to show him how the work +should be interpreted. "It's nonsense for you to go through this sonata +in that fashion," said Liszt, as he rose from the piano and left the +room. + +The pianist, of course, was very much disconcerted. Finally he said, as +if to console himself: "Well, he can't play it through like that, and +that's why he stopped after half a page." + +This sonata is the only one which the composer himself metronomized, and +his direction is M.M. [Illustration: quarter-note] = 138. A less rapid +tempo, [Illustration: quarter-note] = 100 or thereabouts, would seem to +be more nearly correct, but the pianist took it at a much slower rate +than even this. + +When the young man left I went out with him, partly because I felt sorry +for him, he had made such a fiasco, and partly because I wished to +impress upon him the fact that Liszt could play the whole movement in +the tempo in which he began it. As I was walking along with him, he +said, "I'm out of money; won't you lend me three louis d'or?" + +A day or two later I told Liszt by the merest chance that the hero of +the Op. 106 fiasco had tried to borrow money of me. "B-r-r-r! What?" +exclaimed Liszt. Then he jumped up, walked across the room, seized a +long pipe that hung from a nail on the wall, and brandishing it as if it +were a stick, stamped up and down the room in almost childish +indignation, exclaiming, "Drei louis d'or! Drei louis d'or!" The point +is, however, that Liszt regarded the man as an artistic impostor. He had +sent word to Liszt that he could play the great Beethoven sonata, not an +inconsiderable feat in those days. He had been received on that basis. +He had failed miserably. To this artistic imposition he had added the +effrontery of endeavoring to borrow money from some one whom he had met +under Liszt's roof. + + + + +OBJECTS TO MY EYE-GLASSES + + +I have mentioned that Liszt was careful in his dress. He was also +particular about the appearance of his pupils. I remember two instances +which show how particular he was in little matters. I have been +near-sighted all my life, and when I went to Weimar I wore eye-glasses, +much preferring them to spectacles. Eye-glasses were not much worn in +Germany at that time, and were considered about as affected as the mode +of wearing a monocle. The Germans wore spectacles. I had not been in +Weimar long when Liszt said to me: "Mason, I don't like to see you +wearing those glasses. I shall send my optician to fit your eyes with +spectacles." + +I hardly thought that he was serious, and so paid no attention to him. +But, sure enough, about a week later there was a knock at my door, and +the optician presented himself, saying he had come at the command of +Dr. Liszt to examine my eyes and fit a pair of spectacles to them. As I +was evidently to have no say in the matter, I submitted, and a few days +later I received two pairs, one in a green and one in a red case. I +thought them extremely unbecoming, but I was very particular to put them +on whenever I went to see Liszt. + +Not long afterward Liszt went to Paris, and when we called to see him +after his return, and he was talking about his experiences there, he +said casually: "By the way, Mason, I find that gentlemen in Paris are +wearing eye-glasses now. In fact, they are considered quite _comme il +faut_, so I have no objection to your wearing yours." As he did not ask +me to send him the spectacles, I kept them, and have them to this day. + +Klindworth, Pruckner, and I had played the Bach triple concerto in a +concert at the town hall, and had been requested to repeat it at an +evening concert at the ducal palace. An hour before the ducal carriage +arrived to take me to the concert, a servant came from the Altenburg +with a package which he said Liszt had requested him to be sure to +deliver to me. On opening it, I found two or three white ties. It was a +hint to me from Liszt that I most dress suitably to play at court. + +This incident shows the care that Liszt bestowed on little things +relating to the customs and amenities of social life. He evidently sent +the ties as a precautionary measure. Possibly he was not sure whether +Americans were civilized enough to wear white ties with evening dress, +and was afraid I might appear in a red-white-and-blue one. Seriously, +however, it was very kind of him to think of a little thing like this. + + + + +A MUSICAL BREAKFAST + + +Before I went to Weimar I had not been of a very sociable disposition. +At Weimar I had to be. Liszt liked to have us about him. He wished us to +meet great men. He would send us word when he expected visitors, and +sometimes he would bring them down to our lodgings to see us. In every +way he tried to make our surroundings as pleasant as possible. It would +have been strange if, under such circumstances, we had not derived some +benefit from our intercourse with our great master and his visitors. + +I shall always recall with amusement a breakfast which, at Liszt's +request, Klindworth and I gave to Joachim and Wieniawski, the +violinists, then, of course, very young men, and to several other +distinguished visitors. Liszt had been entertaining them for several +days. We knew that it was about time for him to bring them down to see +one of us. So I was not surprised when he turned to me one evening and +said, "Mason, I want you and Klindworth to give us a breakfast +to-morrow." I asked him what we should have. "Oh," he replied, "some +_Semmel_ [rolls], caviar, herring," etc. + +The next morning Liszt and his visitors came. I remember looking out of +my window and watching them cross the ducal park, over the long +foot-path which ended directly opposite the house where Klindworth and I +lived. It had been raining, and the path was slippery, so that their +footsteps were somewhat uncertain. + +The breakfast passed off all right. When he had finished, Liszt said, +"Now let us take a stroll in the garden." This garden was about four +times as large as the back yard of a New York house, and it was +unflagged and, of course, muddy from the rain of the previous night. +Never shall I forget the sight of Liszt, Joachim, Wieniawski, and our +other distinguished guests "strolling" through this garden, wading in +mud two inches deep. + + + + +LISZT'S PLAYING + + +Time and again at Weimar I heard Liszt play. There is absolutely no +doubt in my mind that he was the greatest pianist of the nineteenth +century. Liszt was what the Germans call an _Erscheinung_--an +epoch-making genius. Taussig is reported to have said of him: "Liszt +dwells alone upon a solitary mountain-top, and none of us can approach +him." Rubinstein said to Mr. William Steinway in the year 1873: "Put all +the rest of us together and we would not make one Liszt." This was +doubtless hyperbole, but nevertheless significant as expressing the +enthusiasm of pianists universally conceded to be of the highest rank. +There have been other great pianists, some of whom are now living, but I +must dissent from those writers who affirm that any of these can be +placed upon a level with Liszt. Those who make this assertion are too +young to have heard Liszt other than in his declining years, and it is +unjust to compare the playing of one who has long since passed his prime +with that of one who is still in it. In the year 1873 Rubinstein told +Theodore Thomas that it was fully worth while to make a trip to Europe +to hear Liszt play; but he added: "Make haste and go at once; he is +already beginning to break up, and his playing is not up to the +standard of former years, although his personality is as attractive as +ever." + +In March, 1895, Stavenhagen and Remenyi were dining at my house one +evening, and the former began to speak in enthusiastic terms of Liszt's +playing. Remenyi interrupted with emphasis: "You have never heard Liszt +play--that is, as Liszt used to play in his prime"; and he appealed to +me for corroboration, but, unhappily, I never met Liszt again after +leaving Weimar in July, 1854. + +The difference between Liszt's playing and that of others was the +difference between creative genius and interpretation. His genius +flashed through every pianistic phrase, it illuminated a composition to +its innermost recesses, and yet his wonderful effects, strange as it +must seem, were produced without the advantage of a genuinely musical +touch. + +I remember on one occasion Schulhoff came to Weimar and played in the +drawing-room of the Altenburg house. His playing and Liszt's were in +marked contrast. He has been mentioned in an earlier chapter as a +parlor pianist of high excellence. His compositions, exclusively in the +smaller forms, were in great favor and universally played by the ladies. + +Liszt played his own "Benediction de Dieu dans la Solitude," as pathetic +a piece, perhaps, as he ever composed, and of which he was very fond. +Afterward Schulhoff, with his exquisitely beautiful touch, produced a +quality of tone more beautiful than Liszt's; but about the latter's +performance there was intellectuality and the indescribable +impressiveness of genius, which made Schulhoff's playing, with all its +beauty, seem tame by contrast. + +I was not surprised to hear from Theodore Thomas what Rubinstein had +told him concerning Liszt's "breaking up," for as far back as the days +of "die goldene Zeit" it had seemed to me that there were certain +indications in his playing which warranted the belief that his +mechanical powers would begin to wane at a comparatively early period in +his career. There was too little pliancy, flexion, and relaxation in his +muscles; hence a lack of economy in the expenditure of his energies. + +He was aware of this, and said in effect on one occasion, as I learned +indirectly through either Klindworth or Pruckner: "You are to learn all +you can from my playing, relating to conception, style, phrasing, etc., +but do not imitate my touch, which, I am well aware, is not a good model +to follow. In early years I was not patient enough to 'make haste +slowly'--thoroughly to develop in an orderly, logical, and progressive +way. I was impatient for immediate results, and took short cuts, so to +speak, and jumped through sheer force of will to the goal of my +ambition. I wish now that I had progressed by logical steps instead of +by leaps. It is true that I have been successful, but I do not advise +you to follow my way, for you lack my personality." + +In saying this Liszt had no idea of magnifying himself; but it was +nevertheless genius which enabled him to accomplish certain results +which were out of the ordinary course, and in a way which others, being +differently constituted, could not follow. His advice to his pupils was +to be deliberate, and through care and close attention to important, +although seemingly insignificant, details to progress in an orderly way +toward a perfect style. + +Notwithstanding this caution, and falling into the usual tendency of +pupils to imitate the idiosyncrasies and mannerisms, even faults or weak +points, of the teacher, some of the boys, in their effort to attain +Lisztian effects, acquired a hard and unsympathetic touch, and thus +produced mere noise in the place of full and resonant tones. + +Before going to Weimar I had heard in various places in Germany that +Liszt spoiled all of those pupils who went to him without a previously +acquired knowledge of method and a habit of the correct use of the +muscles in producing musical effects. It was necessary for the pupil to +have an absolutely sure foundation to benefit by Liszt's instruction. If +he had that preparation Liszt could develop the best there was in him. + +There is danger of unduly magnifying the importance of a mere mechanical +technic. In Liszt's earlier days he inclined in this direction, and +wrote the "Etudes d'Execution Transcendante." I remember his saying to +his pupils one day, when these were the subject of our conversation, +that having completed them, his interest in that direction had ceased +and he wrote no more. Moreover, he added, "I expected that some day a +pianist would appear who would make this subject his specialty, and +would accomplish difficulties that were seemingly impossible to +perform." It has been said of Liszt that he worshiped this kind of +technic. I think the assertion does him injustice. A friend of mine who +visited him in Weimar about the year 1858 wrote that Liszt, speaking of +one of his pupils, said: "What I like about So-and-so is that he is not +a mere 'finger virtuoso': he does not worship the keyboard of the +pianoforte; it is not his patron saint, but simply the altar before +which he pays homage to the idea of the tone-composer." A perfect +technic is more than a wonderful power of prestidigitation, or facility +in the manipulation of an instrument. It implies qualities of mind and +heart which are essential to an all-round musical development and the +ability to give them adequate expression. + + + + +LISZT AND PIXIS + + +In his concertizing days Liszt always played without the music before +him, although this was not the usual custom of his time; and in this +connection I remember an anecdote told to me by Theimer, one of +Dreyschock's assistant teachers. Pixis was an old-fashioned player of +considerable reputation in his day, and was the composer of +chamber-music, besides pianoforte pieces. Among other works of his was a +duo for two pianofortes. While this composition was yet in manuscript it +was played in one of the concerts of Pixis with the assistance of Liszt. +Pixis, knowing Liszt's habit of playing from memory, requested him on +this occasion at least to have the music open before him on the +piano-desk, as he himself did not like to risk playing his part without +notes, and he felt it would produce an unfavorable impression on the +public if Liszt should play from memory while he, the composer, had to +rely on his copy. Liszt, as the story goes, made no promise one way or +the other. So when the time came the pianists walked on the stage, each +carrying his roll of music. Pixis carefully unrolled his and placed it +on the piano-desk. Liszt, however, sat down at the piano, and, just +before beginning to play, tossed his roll over behind the instrument and +proceeded to play his part by heart. Liszt was young at that time, +and--well--somewhat inconsiderate. Later on he very rarely played even +his own compositions without having the music before him, and during +most of the time I was there copies of his later publications were +always lying on the piano, and among them a copy of the "Benediction de +Dieu dans la Solitude," which Liszt had used so many times when playing +to his guests that it became associated with memories of Berlioz, +Rubinstein, Vieuxtemps, Wieniawski, Joachim, and our immediate circle, +Raff, Bulow, Cornelius, Klindworth, Pruckner, and others. When I left +Weimar I took this copy with me as a souvenir, and still have it; and I +treasure it all the more for the marks of usage which it bears. I also +have a very old copy of the Handel "E Minor Fugue," which was given to +me by Dreyschock and which I studied with him and afterward with Liszt. +Dreyschock had evidently used this same copy when he studied the fugue +under Tomaschek. It has penciled figures indicating the fingering, made +by both Dreyschock and Liszt. A few years ago I missed this valuable +relic for a while, and was much grieved by my loss. Fortunately it was +discovered in the ash-barrel at the back of the house. Shades of +Tomaschek, Dreyschock, and Liszt! + + + + +LISZT CONDUCTING + + +In his conducting Liszt was not unerring. I do not know how far he may +have progressed in later years, but when I was in Weimar he had very +little practice as a conductor, and was not one of the highest class. He +conducted, however, and with good results on certain important +occasions, such as, for instance, when "Lohengrin" was produced. + +On account of his strong advocacy of Wagner and modern music generally, +he had many enemies, as was to be expected of a man of his prominence. +If perchance a mishap occurred during his conducting there were always +petty critics on hand to take advantage of the opportunity and to +magnify the fault. + +One of these occasions happened at the musical festival at Karlsruhe in +October, 1853, while he was conducting Beethoven's "Ninth Symphony." In +a passage where the bassoon enters on an off beat the player made a +mistake and came in on the even beat. This error, not the conductor's +fault, occasioned such confusion that Liszt was obliged to stop the +orchestra and begin over again, and the little fellows made the most of +this royal opportunity to pitch into him. + + + + +LISZT'S SYMPHONIC POEMS--REHEARSING "TASSO" + + +When Liszt first began his career as an orchestral composer two parties +were formed, one of which predicted success, the other disaster. The +latter asserted that he was too much of a pianist and began too late in +life for success in this direction. Even in Weimar, in his own +household, so to speak, opinions were divided. I remember one of my +fellow-pupils saying that he did not think it was his forte. Raff had +pretty much the same opinion, and I inclined to agree with them. Liszt +was in earnest, however, and availed himself of every means of +preparation for the work. Frequently upon his request the best +orchestral players came to the Altenburg, and he asked them about their +instruments, their nature, and whether certain passages were idiomatic +to them. About the time I came to Weimar to study with him he had nearly +finished "Tasso," and before giving it the last touches he had a +rehearsal of it, which we attended. We went to the theater, and he took +the orchestra into a room which would just about hold it. Imagine the +din in that room! The effect was far from musical, but to Liszt it was +the key to the polyphonic effects which he wished to produce. + + + + +EXTRACTS FROM A DIARY + + +As an illustration of some of the advantages of a residence at Weimar +almost _en famille_ with Liszt during "die goldene Zeit," a few extracts +from my diary are presented, showing how closely events followed one +upon another: + +"Sunday, April 24, 1853. At the Altenburg this forenoon at eleven +o'clock. Liszt played with Laub and Cossmann two trios by Cesar Franck." + +This is peculiarly interesting in view of the fact that the composer, +who died about ten years ago, is just beginning to receive due +appreciation. In Paris at the present time there is almost a Cesar +Franck cult, but it is quite natural that Liszt, with his quick and +far-seeing appreciation, should have taken especial delight in playing +his music forty-seven years ago. Liszt was very fond of it. + +"May 1. Quartet at the Altenburg at eleven o'clock, after which +Wieniawski played with Liszt the violin and pianoforte 'Sonata in A' by +Beethoven." + +"May 3. Liszt called at my rooms last evening in company with Laub and +Wieniawski. Liszt played several pieces, among them my 'Amitie pour +Amitie.'" + +"May 6. The boys were all at the Hotel Erbprinz this evening. Liszt came +in and added to the liveliness of the occasion." + +"May 7. At Liszt's, this evening, Klindworth, Laub, and Cossmann played +a piano trio by Spohr, after which Liszt played his recently composed +sonata and one of his concertos. In the afternoon I had played during my +lesson with Liszt the 'C Sharp Minor Sonata' of Beethoven and the 'E +Minor Fugue' by Handel." + +"May 17. Lesson from Liszt this evening. Played Scherzo and Finale from +Beethoven's 'C Sharp Minor Sonata.'" + +"May 20, Friday. Attended a court concert this evening which Liszt +conducted. Joachim played a violin solo by Ernst." + +"May 22. Went to the Altenburg at eleven o'clock this forenoon. There +were about fifteen persons present--quite an unusual thing. Among other +things, a string quartet of Beethoven was played, Joachim taking the +first violin." + +"May 23. Attended an orchestral rehearsal at which an overture and a +violin concerto by Joachim were performed, the latter played by +Joachim." + +"May 27. Joachim Raff's birthday. Klindworth and I presented ourselves +to him early in the day and stopped his composing, insisting on having a +holiday. Our celebration of this event included a ride to Tiefurt and +attendance at a garden concert." + +"May 29, Sunday. At Liszt's this forenoon as usual. No quartet to-day. +Wieniawski played first a violin solo by Ernst, and afterward with Liszt +the letter's duo on Hungarian airs." + +"May 30. Attended a ball of the Erholung Gesellschaft this evening. At +our supper-table were Liszt, Raff, Wieniawski, Pruckner, and Klindworth. +Got home at four o'clock in the morning." + +"June 4. Dined with Liszt at the Erbprinz. Liszt called at my rooms +later in the afternoon, bringing with him Dr. Marx and lady from Berlin, +also Raff and Winterberger. Liszt played three Chopin nocturnes and a +scherzo of his own. In the evening we were all invited to the Altenburg. +He played 'Harmonies du Soir, No. 2,' and his own sonata. He was at his +best and played divinely." + +"June 9. Had a lesson from Liszt this evening. I played Chopin's 'E +Minor Concerto.'" + +"June 10. Went to Liszt's this evening to a bock-beer soiree. The beer +was a present to Liszt from Pruckner's father, who has a large brewery +in Munich." + +"Sunday, June 12. Usual quartet forenoon at the Altenburg. 'Quartet, Op. +161,' of Schubert's was played, also one of Beethoven's quartets." + +The last entry may not seem to be particularly important, but it may be +as well not to end the quotations from a musical diary with a reference +to a bock-beer soiree. + + + + +OPPORTUNITIES + + +The period covered by these extracts was chosen at random, and they give +a fair idea of the many musical opportunities which were constantly +recurring throughout the entire year. + +Ferdinand Laub, the leader of the quartet, was about twenty-one years of +age, and already a violinist of the first rank. + +Wieniawski and Joachim, young men of the age of twenty-two and nineteen +years respectively, were among the most welcome visitors to Weimar. +Joachim, already celebrated as a quartet-player, was regarded by some as +the greatest living violinist. The playing of Wieniawski appealed to me +more than that of any other violinist of the time, and I remember it now +with intense pleasure. + + + + +BRAHMS IN 1853 + + +On one evening early in June, 1853, Liszt sent us word to come up to the +Altenburg next morning, as he expected a visit from a young man who was +said to have great talent as a pianist and composer, and whose name was +Johannes Brahms. He was to come accompanied by Eduard Remenyi. + +The next morning, on going to the Altenburg with Klindworth, we found +Brahms and Remenyi already in the reception-room with Raff and Pruckner. +After greeting the newcomers, of whom Remenyi was known to us by +reputation, I strolled over to a table on which were lying some +manuscripts of music. They were several of Brahms's yet unpublished +compositions, and I began turning over the leaves of the uppermost in +the pile. It was the piano solo "Op. 4, Scherzo, E Flat Minor," and, as +I remember, the writing was so illegible that I thought to myself that +if I had occasion to study it I should be obliged first to make a copy +of it. Finally Liszt came down, and after some general conversation he +turned to Brahms and said: "We are interested to hear some of your +compositions whenever you are ready and feel inclined to play them." + + + + +NERVOUS BEFORE LISZT + + +Brahms, who was evidently very nervous, protested that it was quite +impossible for him to play while in such a disconcerted state, and, +notwithstanding the earnest solicitations of both Liszt and Remenyi, +could not be persuaded to approach the piano. Liszt, seeing that no +progress was being made, went over to the table, and taking up the first +piece at hand, the illegible scherzo, and saying, "Well, I shall have to +play," placed the manuscript on the piano-desk. + +We had often witnessed his wonderful feats in sight-reading, and +regarded him as infallible in that particular, but, notwithstanding our +confidence in his ability, both Raff and I had a lurking dread of the +possibility that something might happen which would be disastrous to our +unquestioning faith. So, when he put the scherzo on the piano-desk, I +trembled for the result. But he read it off in such a marvelous way--at +the same time carrying on a running accompaniment of audible criticism +of the music--that Brahms was amazed and delighted. Raff thought, and so +expressed himself, that certain parts of this scherzo suggested the +Chopin "Scherzo in B Flat Minor," but it seemed to me that the likeness +was too slight to deserve serious consideration. Brahms said that he had +never seen or heard any of Chopin's compositions. Liszt also played a +part of Brahms's "C Major Sonata, Op. 1." + + + + +DOZING WHILE LISZT PLAYED + + +A little later some one asked Liszt to play his own sonata, a work which +was quite recent at that time, and of which he was very fond. Without +hesitation, he sat down and began playing. As he progressed he came to a +very expressive part of the sonata, which he always imbued with extreme +pathos, and in which he looked for the especial interest and sympathy of +his listeners. Casting a glance at Brahms, he found that the latter was +dozing in his chair. Liszt continued playing to the end of the sonata, +then rose and left the room. I was in such a position that Brahms was +hidden from my view, but I was aware that something unusual had taken +place, and I think it was Remenyi who afterward told me what it was. It +is very strange that among the various accounts of this Liszt-Brahms +first interview--and there are several--there is not one which gives an +accurate description of what took place on that occasion; indeed, they +are all far out of the way. The events as here related are perfectly +clear in my own mind, but not wishing to trust implicitly to my memory +alone, I wrote to my friend Klindworth,--the only living witness of the +incident except myself, as I suppose,--and requested him to give an +account of it as he remembered it. He corroborated my description in +every particular, except that he made no specific reference to the +drowsiness of Brahms, and except, also, that, according to my +recollection, Brahms left Weimar on the afternoon of the day on which +the meeting took place; Klindworth writes that it was on the morning of +the following day--a discrepancy of very little moment. + +Brahms and Remenyi were on a concert tour at the time of which I write, +and were dependent on such pianos as they could find in the different +towns in which they appeared. This was unfortunate, and sometimes +brought them into extreme dilemma. On one occasion the only piano at +their disposal was just a half-tone at variance with the violin. There +was no pianoforte-tuner at hand, and although the violin might have been +adapted to the piano temporarily, Remenyi would have had serious +objections to such a proceeding. Brahms therefore adapted himself to the +situation, transposed the piano part to the pitch of the violin, and +played the whole composition, Beethoven's "Kreutzer Sonata," from +memory. Joachim, attracted by this feat, gave Brahms a letter of +introduction to Schumann. Shortly after the untoward Weimar incident +Brahms paid a visit to Schumann, then living in Dusseldorf. The +acquaintanceship resulting therefrom led to the famous article of +Schumann entitled "Neue Bahnen," published shortly afterward (October +23, 1853) in the Leipsic "Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik," which started +Brahms on his musical career. It is doubtful if up to that time any +article had made such a sensation throughout musical Germany. I remember +how utterly the Liszt circle in Weimar were astounded. This letter was +at first, doubtless, an obstacle in the way of Brahms, but as it +resulted in stirring up great rivalry between two opposing parties it +eventually contributed much to his final success. + + + + +"LOHENGRIN" FOR THE FIRST TIME IN LEIPSIC + + +Liszt never questioned Wagner's sincerity. He considered "Lohengrin" +Wagner's greatest work up to the time at which it was composed. It was +dedicated to Liszt, and, as Raff told me, the good man could not +conceive that Wagner would dedicate anything but his best and greatest +to his friend and champion, such was Liszt's faith in the struggling +composer whose cause he had made his own.[1] + +On the occasion of the first performance of a Wagner opera in any +neighboring town, a delegation from Weimar was apt to be on hand for the +purpose of making propaganda; and this was the case on Saturday, January +7, 1854, when the opera of "Lohengrin" was given in Leipsic for the +first time. + +We boys were demonstrative claqueurs, and almost always succeeded in +making a sensation, especially in a town like Leipsic, where we had +acquaintances among the Conservatory students and could get them to help +us. + +The general public and a large majority of the musicians were not at +all favorably disposed toward Wagner's music in those days, and in this +connection a remark of Joachim Raff made to me in 1879-80, on the +occasion of my second visit to Germany, was significant. Raff had been +in earlier years, perhaps, the most ardent of all pioneers in the Wagner +cause. A quarter of a century had elapsed since I had seen Raff, and +naturally one of my first questions was, "Raff, how is the Wagner +cause?" "Oh," said he, "the public have gone 'way over to the other +extreme. You know how hard it was to force Wagner upon them twenty-five +years ago, and now they go just as much too far the other way and are +unreasonable in their excessive homage." "Well," I replied, "I suppose +the matter will find its level and be adjusted as time passes on." + +After the performance of "Lohengrin," which, by the way, was successful, +the whole Liszt party, by invitation, went to supper at the house of the +concertmeister, Ferdinand David. Quite a number of other guests were +present. Among them I remember with pleasure my Boston friends and +fellow-townsmen Charles C. Perkins and J. C. D. Parker, who were +temporarily located in Leipsic, pursuing their musical studies. + +Brahms also was present, and during the evening he played the Andante +from his "F Minor Sonata, Op. 5." + + + + +IN STUTTGART--HOTEL MARQUAND + + +NOT long after my visit to Raff in 1879-80 I went on a pleasure trip to +Stuttgart, and on account of old associations stopped at the Hotel +Marquand. One of the objects of my visit was to meet again my old Weimar +fellow-pupil Dionys Pruckner, at that time eminent among the staff of +pianoforte teachers in the famous Stuttgart Conservatory of Music. +Alighting at the hotel, I was impressed with the marks of consideration +shown to me by the hotel porter. He was so very attentive that I was +somewhat puzzled. The explanation was apparent the next day when he +respectfully inquired if I was the kapellmeister of New York! He had +read the name and address on one of my trunks and jumped at conclusions. +I told him that I was not that individual, and explained that in New +York no such office existed, although the title might be with propriety +applied to the conductor of the Philharmonic Society. However, the idea +found a lodgment in his head, quite to my advantage, as evidenced by the +many attentions he paid to me throughout my stay. + + + + +THE SCHUMANN "FEIER" IN BONN, 1880 + + +Over a quarter of a century elapsed after my first meeting with Brahms +before I saw him again, and then the meeting occurred at Bonn on the +Rhine, on May 3, 1880. He was there, in company with Joachim and other +artists, to take part in the ceremonies attendant on the unveiling of +the Schumann _Denkmal_. + +There were also musical performances, and at a morning recital of +chamber-music the program consisted solely of Schumann's works, vocal +and instrumental, with the addition of the Brahms "Violin Concerto," +played by Joachim. The concluding number was Schumann's "Piano Quartet +in E Flat Major, Op. 47," Brahms playing the piano part, and Joachim, +Heckmann, and Bellman playing respectively violin, viola, and +violoncello. + + + + +BRAHMS'S PIANOFORTE-PLAYING + + +The pianoforte-playing of Brahms was far from being finished or even +musical. His tone was dry and devoid of sentiment, his interpretation +inadequate, lacking style and contour. It was the playing of a composer, +and not that of a virtuoso. He paid little if any attention to the marks +of expression as indicated by Schumann in the copy. This was especially +and painfully apparent in the opening measures of the first movement. +This introductory passage is marked, "Sostenuto assai," followed by the +main movement marked, "Allegro ma non troppo." Instead of accommodating +himself to the quiet and subdued nature of the introduction, the +pianist quite ignored Schumann's esthetic directions, and began with a +vigorous attack, which was sustained throughout the movement. The +continued force and harshness of his tone quite overpowered the stringed +instruments. As an ensemble the performance was not a success. + +On going home to dinner, and learning that Brahms was stopping at the +hotel, I gave my card to the porter, with instructions to deliver it to +Brahms as soon as he came in. When about half-way through the table +d'hote the porter entered and said that Brahms was in the outer hall, +waiting to see me. He was very cordial. At the moment I had quite +forgotten that I had met him at David's house in Leipsic, so I said: +"The last time I met you was in Weimar on that very hot day in June, +1853; do you remember it?" + +"Very well indeed, and I am glad to see you again. Just now my time is +very much engaged, but we are going up the river on a picnic this +afternoon--Joachim and others; will you come along? We are going to a +summer restaurant on the Rhine, where they have excellent beer, and it +will be _ganz gemuetlich_." + +I regretted extremely that I had to forego the pleasure of this +excursion, and fully realized the opportunity I was losing; but my +party--there were four of us, my wife and I and two children--had +previously arranged our plans, and in order to make connections we were +obliged to go on to Cologne that day. + +Here was a companion-piece to the disappointment occasioned by my having +to forego the pleasure and profit of a foot-tramp through the Tyrol with +Richard Wagner, as already related in these "Memories." But so the Fates +ordained. + +Partly on account of the untoward Weimar incident, and partly for the +sake of his own individuality, I took a peculiar interest in Brahms. His +work is wonderfully condensed, his constructive power masterly. By his +scholarly development of themes through augmentation, diminution, +inversion, imitation, and other devices, he seems to be introducing new +thematic material, while the fact is, as will be seen on close +investigation, that he is presenting the original theme in varied form +and shape, and gradually unfolding and expanding its possibilities to +the uttermost. In other words, his treatment is exhaustive and complete. +In his later piano compositions this is readily apparent, and as these +pieces are short, and at the same time complete in form, they furnish +excellent opportunities to the student for analytical studies. In all +that relates to the intellectual faculty Brahms is indisputably a +master. I find this to be the consensus of opinion among intelligent +musicians. But there are differences of opinion as regards his emotional +susceptibilities, and it is just this fact that prevents many from fully +accepting him. The emotional and intellectual should be in equipoise in +order to attain the highest results, but in the music of Brahms the +latter seems to predominate. In sympathetic and affectionate treatment, +so far as relates to his piano composition, he does not compare with +Chopin. + + + + +A HISTORICAL ERROR CORRECTED + + +I have read in a recent number of a musical magazine the following +sentence: "We have seen with what ardor the first compositions of this +serious young man [Brahms] were greeted by Schumann and Liszt." + +I have already mentioned the fact that all of the published accounts of +the first meeting of Liszt and Brahms were far from accurate, and in +fact convey an impression directly opposite to the truth; and the +foregoing statement, according to my belief, is just as far from being +in accordance with the facts. I am quite sure that Liszt was not +enthusiastic about Brahms at the time of the first interview in Weimar +heretofore described, and the letter received from my friend Karl +Klindworth, in Berlin, sustains me in this belief. Liszt was of too +kindly a disposition to treasure up animosity against Brahms on account +of the mishap on that occasion; but the fact that Brahms was put forward +by the anti-Wagnerites as their champion may possibly have influenced +him somewhat. A coolness also sprang up between Joachim and Liszt, +although during my stay in Weimar the violinist had been welcomed so +frequently at the Altenburg. During the entire career of Brahms he and +Joachim were close friends. + + + + +MORE ABOUT LISZT'S WONDERFUL SIGHT-READING + + +Liszt's playing of the Brahms scherzo was a remarkable feat, but he was +constantly doing almost incredible things in the way of reading at +sight. Another instance of his skill in this direction occurs to me and +is well worthy of mention. + +Raff had composed a sonata for violin and pianoforte in which there were +ever-varying changes in measure and rhythm; measures of 7/8, 7/4, 5/4, +alternated with common and triple time, and seemed to mix together +promiscuously and without regard to order. Notwithstanding this apparent +disorder, there was an undercurrent, so to speak, of the ordinary 3/4 or +4/4 time, and to the player who could penetrate the rhythmic mask the +difficulty of performance quickly vanished. Raff had arranged with Laub +and Pruckner that they should practise the sonata together, and then, on +a favorable occasion, play it in Liszt's presence. So on one of the +musical mornings at the Altenburg these gentlemen began to play the +sonata. Pruckner, of sensitive and nervous organization, found the +changes of measure too confusing, especially when played before company, +and broke down at the first page. Another and yet a third attempt was +made, but with the like result. Liszt, whose interest was aroused, +exclaimed: "I wonder if I can play that!" Then, taking his place at the +instrument, he played it through at sight in rapid tempo and without the +slightest hesitation. He had intuitively divined the regularity of +movement which lay beneath the surface. + + + + +LISZT'S MOMENTS OF CONTRITION + + +Deep beneath the surface there was in Liszt's organization a religions +trend which manifested itself openly now and then, and there were +occasions upon which his contrition displayed itself to an inordinate +degree. Joachim Raff, long his intimate friend and associate, told me +that these periods were sometimes of considerable duration, and while +they lasted he would seek solitude, and going frequently to church, +would throw himself upon the flagstones before a _Muttergottesbild_, and +remain for hours, as Raff expressed it, so deeply absorbed as to be +utterly unconscious of events occurring in his presence. + +[Illustration: AUTOGRAPH OF VIEUXTEMPS] + +Rubinstein also told me that on one occasion he had been a witness of +such an act on the part of Liszt. One afternoon at dusk they were +walking together in the cathedral at Cologne, and quite suddenly +Rubinstein missed Liszt, who had disappeared in a mysterious way. He +searched for quite a while through the many secluded nooks and corners +of the immense building, and finally found Liszt kneeling before a +_prie-dieu_, so deeply engrossed that Rubinstein had not the heart to +disturb him, and so left the building alone. + + + + +PETER CORNELIUS + + +Sometime, I think late, in 1853 Peter Cornelius, nephew of the +celebrated painter of that name, and composer of the comic opera "The +Barber of Bagdad," came to Weimar and was added to the Altenburg circle. +He was well known and highly esteemed by musicians, and as he was always +cheery and bubbling over with musical enthusiasm, I at once became very +fond of him as a friend, and later on paid due homage to his decided +talent as a composer. As an illustration of how easy it is to underrate +the abilities of a new acquaintance the following incident is both +interesting and instructive. In October, 1853, or thereabouts, quite a +large musical festival took place in Karlsruhe, which was under the +general direction of Liszt, who also conducted the orchestra. It goes +without saying that under the management of Liszt a number of selections +from the Wagner operas were played, and one of these happened to be the +bridal chorus from "Lohengrin." Wagner at that time was an entirely new +experience to Cornelius, and after the concert, while speaking to Liszt +of the beauty of Wagner's music, he instanced this bright and pretty +melody, emphasizing its beauty as though it were the special object of +his admiration. We boys, while we recognized the beauty of the bridal +march and its fitness for the place in which it occurs, were apt to +coddle ourselves upon our superior knowledge of Wagner, and would have +saved our enthusiasm for the more completed and distinctly Wagnerian +characteristics. The enthusiasm of Cornelius for the purely melodic +phrases of Wagner, which were in no wise characteristic of his genius, +rather led us to look down upon the musical perceptions of Cornelius--or +perhaps I should speak only for myself and give these as my personal +impressions; but it was not long before his great talent was duly +recognized and acknowledged, at least by musicians. Cornelius was a +charming fellow, and I enjoyed his society because he was so +enthusiastically and intensely musical. + + + + +SOME FAMOUS VIOLINISTS + + +I have already mentioned in these papers my meeting with Joachim in +Leipsic in the year 1849. He was then about eighteen years of age and +already famous as a violinist. He was of medium height, had broad, open +features, and a heavy shock of dark hair somewhat like that of +Rubinstein. I had a letter of introduction to him, which I presented a +short time after my arrival in Leipsic, and received immediately a +return call from him. He was kind and affable, and easy to become +acquainted with, but owing to diffidence on my part I did not improve +the opportunity as I should have done, a circumstance which I now much +regret. He played the Mendelssohn concerto in one of the Gewandhaus +concerts within a month of my arrival at Leipsic, and I heard him then +for the first time, and was much impressed by his beautiful performance. +Subsequently, when in Weimar, I had the pleasure of meeting him on many +occasions, for he was in the habit of going there not infrequently, and +would sometimes take part in the Altenburg private musicales, as well as +in the public concerts at the theater. + +During the year 1845-46 I heard and became well acquainted with three +famous violinists, Vieuxtemps, Ole Bull, and Sivori, who came to Boston +and played many times both in public and in private. They were all great +players, each having his special individuality. Vieuxtemps and Ole Bull +I met several times in later years, and became familiar with their +playing. Vieuxtemps came to Weimar and played both in private and in +public. His playing was wonderfully precise and accurate, every tone +receiving due attention, and his phrasing was delightful. Scale and +arpeggio passages were absolutely clean and without a flaw. He was +certainly a player of exquisite taste, and he still preserved his +characteristics when I heard him years later, in 1853 at Weimar, and in +1873 at New York. Ole Bull came to Boston a year or so after Vieuxtemps. +He was a born violinist, and developed after his own fashion and nature, +in the manner of a genius. Vieuxtemps was the result of scientific +training and close adherence to well-founded principles. Ole Bull, on +the other hand, was a law unto himself, and burst out into full blossom +without showing the various degrees of growth. He did not realize the +importance of close attention to detail while in the course of +development. + +Sivori was of the gentle, poetic, and graceful class of players. Beauty +and grace rather than self-assertion characterized his style. Ernst, +whom I heard in Homburg in the year 1852, was a player of great +intensity of feeling, and was regarded as the most fervent violinist of +his time. Joachim's style impressed me as classical and rather reserved, +and while I enjoyed and admired it, there was present no feeling of +enthusiasm. Wilhelmj, with his broad and noble style, was certainly most +impressive. Henri Wieniawski had a musical organization of great +intensity, and this, combined with his perfect technic, made his playing +irresistible. Ferdinand Laub, for some reason not so well known to the +general public as he should be, is generally conceded by the most +distinguished violinists to have been the greatest of all +quartet-players. Laub was concertmeister during the whole period of my +stay in Weimar, and was an intimate friend of mine. It will be +remembered that at that time Bernhard Cossmann was the violoncellist of +the Weimar string quartet. I owe many delightful moments of musical +enjoyment to his exquisitely poetical and refined playing. The last time +I met him was at his own house in Frankfort. His wife and children +were present, and being thus quite _en famille_, we played together, for +the sake of old times, the piano and violoncello sonata of Beethoven in +A major. + +[Illustration: AUTOGRAPH OF OLE BULL] + +There are many others whom I am prevented by lack of space from +mentioning; but I must not omit the name of my friend Adolf Brodsky, a +violinist of the first rank, and a man of great nobility of character. +His playing is broad, intelligent, and thoroughly musical, whether as +soloist or as first violin in chamber quartet music. Sometimes I have +heard him in the privacy of my own home, where, feeling entire freedom +from restraint, he has thrown himself intensely into his music, to my +thorough and complete musical satisfaction. + + + + +REMENYI + + +I have already had something to say of Eduard Remenyi, the Hungarian +violinist who accompanied Brahms to Weimar in 1853. He was a talented +man, and was esteemed by Liszt as being, in his way, a good violinist. +He remained at Weimar after Brahms left there, and I became intimately +acquainted with him. He was very entertaining, and so full of fun that +he would have made a tiptop Irishman. He was at home in the Gipsy music +of his own country, and this was the main characteristic of his playing. +He had also a fad for playing Schubert melodies on the violin with the +most attenuated pianissimo effects, and occasionally his hearers would +listen intently after the tone had ceased, imagining that they still +heard a trace of it. + +Not long before leaving Weimar I had some fun with him by asking if he +had ever heard "any bona-fide American spoken." He replied that he did +not know there was such a language. "Well," said I, "listen to this for +a specimen: 'Ching-a-ling-a-dardee, Chebung cum Susan.'" I did not meet +him again until 1878, twenty-four years after leaving Weimar. I was +going up-stairs to my studio in the Steinway building when some one +told me that Remenyi had arrived and was rehearsing for his concerts in +one of the rooms above. So, going up, I followed the sounds of the +violin, gave a quick knock, opened the door, and went in. Remenyi looked +at me for a moment, rushed forward and seized my hand, and as he wrung +it cried out: "Ching-a-ling-a-dardee, Chebung cum Susan!" He had +remembered it all those years. + + + + +SOME DISTINGUISHED OPERA-SINGERS + + +My concert-playing and teaching have naturally made me more interested +in instrumental than in vocal music. Moreover, the principal celebrities +who came to visit Liszt during my sojourn at Weimar were composers and +instrumentalists. For that reason I met but few distinguished +opera-singers during my stay abroad. However, I heard the best of them +in opera or concert. + +In Boston, about the year 1846-47, the Havana Italian Opera gave a +season at the Howard Athenaeum of that city, and created considerable +interest. They gave, I think for the first time in this country, Verdi's +"Ernani," which was received with great favor. The principal soprano was +Mme. Fortunata Tedesco, who was afterward at the Grand Opera in Paris +from 1851 to 1857. The tenor was Signore Perelli, who had an +exceptionally fine voice. Both of these singers had well-trained voices +and were well supported by chorus and orchestra. As this was my first +experience in opera, it produced a deep and lasting impression. + +The opera season in Leipsic in the year 1852, beginning about the 1st of +February and continuing up to the 1st of May, was notable, for it +afforded the opportunity of hearing in quick succession three singers of +world-wide reputation: Henriette Sontag, Johanna Wagner, and De la +Grange. + + + + +HENRIETTE SONTAG + + +[Illustration: Autograph of Henriette Sontag] + +The singer of whom I have the liveliest impression is Henriette Sontag, +whom I heard in Leipsic on her first appearance after she had been +twenty years in retirement. The interest I took in the occasion was much +increased by the fact that I had a seat next to Moscheles, who was very +communicative, and gave me an interesting history of his long +acquaintance with Sontag, whom he had heard at her last appearance, I +think, before her retirement. He was naturally on the _qui vive_, and +impatiently waited for the opera to begin. Like many of her other old +admirers who were in the theater, he was full of expectancy mingled with +dread of possible failure. She appeared as _Maria_ in Donizetti's "Fille +du Regiment" In this part the voice of the singer is heard before she +appears on the stage, and as soon as Moscheles heard Sontag's voice +trilling behind the scenes, he exclaimed with delight, "It is Sontag! +Nobody I have heard since she left the stage could do that! She is the +same Henriette!" + +Some of the roles in which I heard her were _Amina_ in "Sonnambula," +_Martha_ in the opera of that name, _Susan_ in "The Marriage of Figaro," +and _Rosina_ in "The Barber of Seville." I enjoyed the lovely feminine +quality of her voice and manner. There was something peculiarly charming +and womanly about her. She sang with unfailing ease and grace, her voice +being so flexible that it sounded like the trilling of birds. The most +difficult roulades and cadences were given with absolute accuracy and +rhythm. It was simply fascinating. + + + + +JOHANNA WAGNER + + +During the month of March of the same year, Johanna Wagner, niece of +Richard Wagner, sang in several operas. Among those in which I heard her +were Bellini's "Romeo and Juliet," as _Romeo_; "Fidelio," as _Leonora_ +or _Fidelio_; and "Iphigenia in Aulis," by Gluck, as _Iphigenia_. Here +indeed she was a contrast to Sontag, and in these parts she seemed to me +quite unapproachable. Her voice was large and full, and her acting most +dramatic. Like all the German singers whom I heard, she lacked the +nicety of detail, the clear and beautiful phrasing, characteristic of +the Italians I had heard in Boston. But when I grew to know the German +method, I began to admire it, not so much for the actual singing itself +as for the combination of qualities that entered into it--the artistic +earnestness, the acting, and the musicianship. + + + + +MME. DE LA GRANGE + + +It was my experience that the Germans themselves greatly admired singing +of the Italian school, for when, following Sontag and Wagner, Mme. de la +Grange came the next month and sang an engagement in Leipsic (April and +May, 1852), the management doubled the prices, and, notwithstanding +this, the house was crowded every time she sang. She was in her prime, +and one of the finest singers I ever heard. Her style was brilliant and +dazzling, but never lacking in repose. Her high tones were clear and +musical, without any trace of shrillness, and in the most rapid passages +the tones were never slurred or confused, but distinct and in perfect +rhythmic order. The roles in which she most appealed to me were as +_Queen of the Night_ in "The Magic Flute," by Mozart, and _Rosina_ in +"The Barber of Seville," by Rossini. But she also sang both parts of +_Isabella_ and _Alice_ in Meyerbeer's "Robert the Devil" in the most +admirable manner. + + + + +"DER VEREIN DER MURLS" + + +Liszt was the head and front of the Wagner movement; but except when +visitors came to Weimar and were inveigled into an argument by Raff, who +was an ardent disciple of the new school, there was but little +discussion of the Wagner question. Pruckner started a little society, +the object being to oppose the Philistines, or old fogies, and uphold +modern ideas. Liszt was the head and was called the Padishah (chief), +and the pupils and others, Raff, Bulow, Klindworth, Pruckner, Cornelius, +Laub, Cossmann, etc., were "Murls." In a letter to Klindworth, then in +London, Liszt writes of Rubinstein: "That is a clever fellow, the most +notable musician, pianist, and composer who has appeared to me among the +modern lights--with the exception of the Murls. Murlship alone is +lacking to him still." On the manuscript of Liszt's "Sonate" he himself +wrote, "Fur die Murlbibliothek." + + + + +THE WAGNER CAUSE IN WEIMAR + + +My admiration for Wagner did not go to the extreme of Liszt's and of my +fellow-pupils'. Liszt rarely expressed his opinion of Wagner, because he +took it for granted that everybody knew it, and he was not a +controversialist. I know that he considered those people who refused to +follow Wagner as old fogies, and my colleagues used to twit me for not +being as enthusiastic as they were. Certain passages in his operas have +always given me great musical enjoyment and delight, but here and there +are crudities which, as it seemed to me, were unpardonable in a great +composer. Under these circumstances I could not pose as a genuine Murl, +although this fact did not disturb the genial and fraternal relations +which existed between my colleagues and me; and on occasion also I was +equal to the best of them in exercising the specialty of a genuine Murl +claqueur. + +I think that Wagner will always rank among the greatest composers, but +will not always remain as preeminent as he is now in the popular +estimation. Some of his compositions are wonderfully intricate, although +musical, but at times his faults appear and disturb the balance of +things in such a way that the music loses the effect of spontaneity and +becomes forced. + +In the Weimar days the general objection of the "old fogies" was that +his music lacked melody. Doubtless by melody they meant the little tunes +of the anti-Wagner period; but the fact is that Wagner has contributed +his share to increasing the scope of melody and enlarging its +boundaries. It may be that he has gone too far in this direction and has +completely obliterated all limitations, thus approaching dangerously +near confusion. It was said that he had no melody, but his scores are +full of it. There are sometimes so many melodies in combination, each +exercising its individuality and proceeding independently, that the +"tune effect" is obscured and lost in the crowd of accompanying tunes. +But to me Wagner's melody seems restless. It comes on suddenly and +progresses without periods of repose. There is almost constant motion, +which produces a feeling of unrest. A sentence must have its commas, +semi-colons, and periods, and punctuation is as necessary in music as it +is in letters. + +I have never quite understood just what it is in Wagner's music that so +fascinates many people whom I know to be unmusical. + + + + +RAFF IN WEIMAR + + +Of my Weimar comrades, Joachim Raff, it is hardly necessary to say, +became the most distinguished. My first impression of him was not wholly +favorable. He was hard to become acquainted with and not disposed to +meet one half-way. He was fond of argument, and if one side was taken +he was very apt to take the other. He liked nothing better than to get +one to commit himself to a proposition and then to attack him with all +his resources, which were many. Upon better acquaintance, however, one +found a kind heart and faithful friend whose constancy was to be relied +on. He was very poor, and there were times when he seemed hardly able to +keep body and soul together. Once he was arrested for debt. The room in +which he was confined, however, was more comfortable, if anything, than +his own. He had a piano, a table, music-paper, and pen and ink sent +there. How this was accomplished I do not know, but I think Liszt must +have had a hand in it. Raff enjoyed himself composing and playing, and +we saw to it that he had good fare. The episode made little impression +on him: so long as he could compose he was happy. However, the matter +was compromised, and in a short time he returned to his own lodgings. He +was a hard worker and composed incessantly, with only a brief interval +for dinner and a little exercise. We habitually sat together, and +afterward usually took a short walk. I enjoyed his conversation +exceedingly and derived much profit from it. + +At about five o'clock in the afternoon, looking out of my window, I +would frequently see Raff coming over the path leading through the park, +with a bundle of manuscript under his arm. He liked to come and play to +me what he had composed. His playing was not artistic, because he paid +little attention to it, and he did not attempt to elaborate or finish +his style. + +He composed very rapidly, and many of his compositions do not amount to +much. He could not get decent remuneration for good music, and he had to +live; therefore he wrote many pieces that were of the jingling sort, +because his publishers paid well for them. Sometimes, however, he turned +out a composition which was really worthy, and among his works are +symphonies, sonatas, trios, and chamber-music which gained him +reputation. His symphony "Im Walde" is well known in the musical world, +and his "Cavatina" for violin, although not a piece of importance, is +one of the most popular and effective violin solos and exists in various +arrangements. At times he was much dejected, and there was a dash of +bitterness in his disposition. I think he felt that, being obliged to +turn out music for a living, he would never attain the rank to which his +talents entitled him. + +In promoting the cause of Wagner, Raff did considerable work for which +Liszt got the credit. I think that at one time Raff acted as Liszt's +private secretary; but he had decided ideas of his own, and knew how to +express them. Being generally in close accord with Liszt, and having a +ready pen, he rendered great assistance in promulgating the doctrines of +the new school by means of essays, brochures, and newspaper articles. Of +course much that he wrote was based upon suggestions made by Liszt. Raff +was a tower of strength in himself, while at the same time acting as +Liszt's mouthpiece in the Wagner propaganda. + + + + +DR. ADOLF BERNHARD MARX + + +When Dr. Adolf B. Marx of Berlin was in Weimar in June, 1853, it was by +invitation of Liszt for the purpose of bringing out a new oratorio which +he had just composed. As usual on such occasions, we gave him a warm +reception, and Liszt arranged a midday dinner at the Hotel zum +Erbprinzen, at which some eight or ten guests were present. In the +afternoon we all attended a rehearsal of the oratorio, which lasted from +four o'clock until eleven o'clock P.M. According to my present +recollections, the work did not have a brilliant success. I was reminded +of this event by the receipt of the following letter in March, 1901, +from an old friend, Mr. Adolph Stange, who happened to be present on the +occasion: + + +SUWALKI, POLAND, RUSSIA, + +24 January, 1901. + + DEAR DR. MASON: When you wrote your "Memories of a Musical Life," + July-October, 1900, of Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, you + probably did not have any presentiment that there is in a distant + country, far from you, somebody who only by one day younger than + yourself (born January 25, 1829) will be reading with the greatest + interest your excellent and truthful description of different + musical celebrities and authorities. Being myself for many years a + pupil of Gerke and of Henselt in St. Petersburg, I had been with + many of the eminent men you name personally acquainted; with + Moscheles and Rubinstein I had more often and more intimate + relations, and my delight was naturally great in reading your true + and graphic account of some of my former musical friends. It is + indeed with a feeling of admiration and gratitude that I am now + addressing these lines to its author. Your interesting description + of your stay at Weimar in 1853 gave me special pleasure, as in that + same year, in May, June, and July, I had also been with Liszt in + Weimar, and I remember you, dear Dr. Mason, perfectly, as well as + Klindworth, Pruckner, the two Wieniawskis, Winterberger, Raff, and + others; they are all living in my memory. That period of my youth + is full of the most beautiful and noble impressions. + + Your account of that incomparable meister we both, I dare say, + equally admire, awakened in me Liszt's greatness as artist, and + still more, if I may say so, the greatness of his nature and + character, so richly endowed with so many generous and noble + instincts; and I recall with delight to my mind our pleasant walks + in the Schlossgarten, where we visited Klindworth in his modest + apartments; the supper at the Hotel zum Erbprinzen, where Liszt + wished to get acquainted with the card-game "preference," which I + had to show him; our visits to the Schloss, in the ground floor of + which we listened to Liszt's divine playing and afterward got + invited to dine up-stairs with the Princess Wittgenstein and her + charming daughter. I believe you had already left Weimar when + Professor Adolf Marx came from Berlin to visit Liszt and brought + with him the score of his new oratorio. Marx wished to say a few + words about its performance to Liszt before the first rehearsal, + but was much disappointed, as he told me, not to find an + appropriate moment to speak with the meister, whose attention was + constantly taken up by his pupils. On the day of the rehearsal, + Marx, who was sitting next to me, again expressed his regret at not + having found an opportunity to talk the matter over with Liszt. + Shortly after the rehearsal had commenced I felt several times + Marx's elbows, which, giving way to his enthusiasm, came in close + and sensible contact with mine. At last he exclaimed: "Liszt + guesses my most secret thoughts and intentions in my own + composition!" ... + + Let me, dear Dr. Mason, assure you what real and intense enjoyment + I experienced by the perusal of your "Musical Memories," and beg + to thank you from all my heart for giving me the possibility of + recalling once over again those dear and ever-present reminiscences + of a bygone but ever-delightful time in my life. It is seldom one + can read in a biography a description like yours, which expresses + in a few words, with so much reality, truthfulness, and + impartiality, the characteristics of a whole series of well-known + artists. Finally, you will ask: "Stranger, who art thou?" I will + not, like _Lohengrin_, make a mystery of it, but answer your + question: I wanted to become what you are now! After my return from + Weimar, however, where I had been for a time Liszt's pupil, I + entered into Russian state service, remaining, nevertheless, during + my whole life, though a dilettante, a great and fervent admirer of + that art, and a real artist in my heart. I sign, with veneration to + your person, Dr. Mason, and have the honor to remain, + +Yours very truly, + +ADOLPH STANGE. + + + + +BERLIOZ IN WEIMAR + + +[Illustration: Autograph of Hector Berlioz] + +Hector Berlioz came to Weimar occasionally, and I remember particularly +one of his visits, which took place in May, 1854. He was famous as +an orchestral conductor, and I saw him in this capacity in a concert the +program of which consisted exclusively of his own compositions. These +were especially attractive on account of their magnificent orchestral +coloring. In this regard he was certainly wonderful, and produced many +gorgeous effects. His masterly skill and intelligence in the treatment +and development of his themes were also everywhere apparent. Every +detail received careful attention, and the result was admirable. + +Not long afterward he gave a similar concert in the Leipsic Gewandhaus +Hall, on which occasion the Weimar contingent was of course present. +There was no need of our services as claqueurs, however, for the hall +was crowded and the audience demonstrative. + +Schubert was spontaneous and inspired, and thus stands in contrast to +Berlioz. Melody gushed from Schubert at such a rate, and musical ideas +crowded upon each other so rapidly, that he did not take time to work up +his compositions. There are a few which he elaborated with care, but +they are the exceptions, and emphasize the general spontaneity of his +work. If he had constructive power,--and certain passages in his work +show that he had,--he nevertheless failed to make adequate use of it. +His music is charming and delightful on account of its melodious +freshness and naivete. It appeals directly to the heart. The only +drawback is his servile adherence to conventionalities, such, for +instance, as the old method of invariably repeating every section of a +movement. + +Beethoven stands as the model of constructive power and emotional +expression in happy equipoise. Both the head and the heart are +satisfactorily employed, and in his orchestral treatment they find full +expression. This is true of all of his concerted works; but his weak +point is manifested in his pianoforte compositions, especially in the +sonatas, which are not idiomatic of the instrument for which they were +written. It is not intended to find fault with the music _per se_. It is +simply to say that his ideas are all orchestrally conceived, and as +they are not in the nature of the pianoforte, that instrument is +inadequate to their true expression. The sonatas are not pianistic, +idiomatic--_klaviermaessig_. Had he written them for orchestra, we would +have had thirty-two symphonies. + +Chopin's compositions are the very essence and consummation of the +piano, and he is, therefore, the pianoforte composer _par excellence_. +On the other hand, his orchestral work is weak and incompetent, as, for +example, the accompaniment to his concertos and some other pieces. + +Schumann is at home in both directions. He is polyphonic in orchestral +treatment, and at the same time thoroughly pianistic. Without suggesting +comparisons, his music is _musical_ and complete. Beethoven's is heroic. + + + + +ENTERTAINING LISZT'S "YOUNG BEETHOVEN" + + +Liszt sometimes left Weimar for a few days in order to be present at or +to conduct music festivals. On one of these occasions, early in June, +1854, I remained alone at home on account of slight illness. As +Klindworth had gone to London for concert-playing and +pianoforte-teaching, I had moved into a suite of rooms in the Hotel zum +Erbprinzen. As a matter of interest to pianists I here note the fact +that these identical rooms had been occupied by Hummel several years +previously. + +On the afternoon of the day on which Liszt left with his cortege the +head waiter came to me, saying that a young man who had just arrived was +in the cafe inquiring for Liszt and seemed disappointed on learning of +his absence. "I told him," said the waiter, "that you were the only one +of the family here. Will you see him?" I assented, and in a few moments +he ushered in a young man about twenty-four years of age, of strong +features and with a great shock of dark hair, who introduced himself as +Anton Rubinstein. I explained to him that Liszt had gone away for three +or four days to conduct a festival, that I could not say precisely when +he would return; but in the meantime, if I could make him feel at home, +I should be very glad. + +After some conversation he asked me to play. I remember very well how he +looked sitting on the sofa, and the position of the piano in the room. I +played, but he did not. I had a suspicion that he was inveigling me into +playing without any intention of allowing me to take his measure. He sat +there like a gruff Russian bear; or perhaps my imagination helped to +produce this impression. + +Rubinstein was already quite well known as a child prodigy, but of +course not nearly so famous as he afterward became. I do not recollect +paying him very much attention during Liszt's absence, but, then, he did +not allow me--he was rambling about all the time; nor did I hear him +play before Liszt came back. When Liszt returned, Rubinstein was +immediately invited to take up his residence on the Altenburg. I +remember that there, one afternoon, he played many of his own +compositions. His playing was full of rush and fire, and characterized +by strong emotional temperament. He had a big technic and reveled in +dash and fire. Those who heard Mark Hambourg here during the winter of +1899-1900 can form a very good idea of Rubinstein's personal appearance +at the time of which I write, and also his very pronounced style of +playing. His early touch lacked the mellow and tender beauty of tone +which distinguished it in later years. + + + + +RUBINSTEIN'S OPPOSITION TO WAGNER + + +Rubinstein's well-known dislike of Wagner, it seems to me, was +temperamental in a large degree, and it was quite natural that he was +not in agreement with him. Doubtless Chopin would not have approved of +Wagner's music, whatever he might have thought of his method. The +melodies of Chopin and Rubinstein are full of sentiment and well +defined, and their compositions run in entirely opposite channels from +those of Wagner, whose music is a vast sensuous upheaval, which +proceeds uninterruptedly from the beginning of an act to the end. + +All musicians have a good deal of self-esteem. Rubinstein had his own +way of composing, which corresponded to his musical temperament. He had +to write everything just as it suited his musical ear, and he could not +conceive of any one else having as fine a musical ear as he. At all +events, he never stopped long enough to find out if any one else had. +Few musicians do. Liszt was fond of Rubinstein, and used to call him the +"young Beethoven," on account of a certain fancied resemblance he bore +to the great composer. He also recognized Rubinstein's great ability as +a pianist, although I think that as a player he rated Tausig much +higher. Many years after I left Weimar a relative of mine met Liszt in +Rome. She had a short time previous to this heard Rubinstein in concert, +and was in a state of great enthusiasm about his playing, and so +expressed herself to Liszt. His sole comment was, "Have you ever heard +Tausig?" The inference was that those who had heard Rubinstein and not +Tausig had missed hearing the greater of the two. I think Liszt regarded +Tausig as the best of all his pupils. + +As I have said once before in these pages, I never saw Liszt after +leaving Weimar in July, 1854. I occasionally received letters from +him--several of them quite long and exceedingly entertaining. One of +these (the original in French) is reproduced here because it is +characteristic of his pleasantry and good humor: + + MY DEAR MASON: Although I do not know at what stage of your + brilliant artistic peregrinations these lines will reach you, I + feel assured that you are not ignorant that I am very, very + sincerely and affectionately obliged to you for keeping me in kind + remembrance, a fact to which the musical journals which you have + sent me bear good witness. The "Musical Gazette" of New York has in + particular given me genuine satisfaction, not alone on account of + the agreeable and flattering things concerning me personally which + it contains, but furthermore because this journal seems to me to + inculcate an excellent and superior direction of opinion in your + country. As you know, my dear Mason, I have no other self-interest + than to serve the good cause of art so far as is possible, and + wherever I find men who are making conscientious efforts in the + same direction, I rejoice and am strengthened by the good example + which they give me. Be so good as to present to your brother, the + head editor of the "Musical Review", as I suppose, my very sincere + thanks and compliments. If he would like to receive some + communication from Weimar upon matters of interest which occur in + the musical world of Germany, I will willingly have them sent to + him through the medium of Mr. Pohl, who, by the way, does not live + any longer at Dresden, where the numbers of the "Musical Gazette" + were addressed by mistake, but at Weimar in the Kaufstrasse. His + wife, one of the best harpists that I know, stands among the + virtuosos of our "Chapelle", and is an important factor in the + representation of the opera, as also in concerts. + + Apropos of concerts, in a few days I will send you the program of a + series of symphonic performances, which ought to have been + established here several years ago, and to which I consider it an + honor and a duty to give definite encouragement from the year 1855. + + I expect Berlioz toward the end of January. We shall then hear his + trilogy "L'Enfance du Christ", of which you already know "La Fuite + en Egypte". To this he has added two other short oratorios, "Le + Songe d'Herode" and "L'Arrivee a Sais". + + The dramatic symphony "Faust" (in four parts, with solos and + choruses) will also be given in full during his stay here. + + In regard to visits from artists who have been personally agreeable + to me during the last month, I would name Clara Schumann and + Litolff. + + In Brendel's journal, "Neue Zeitschrift", you will find an article + signed with my name, on Mme. Schumann, whom I have again heard with + that sympathy and absolute admiration which her talent compels. + + As for Litolff, I confess that he has made a very vivid impression + on me. His fourth concerto symphony (manuscript) is a very + remarkable composition, and he played it in so masterly a manner, + with such verve, with such boldness and certainty, that I derived + intense pleasure from it. + + If there was a little of the quadruped in the amazing execution of + Dreyschock (and this comparison should not vex him; is not the lion + classed among quadrupeds as well as the poodle?), in that of + Litolff, there is certainly something _winged_; moreover, he has + all the superiority over Dreyschock that a biped having ideas, + imagination, and sensibility has over another biped which imagines + itself possessed of all this wealth--often very embarrassing! + + Do you continue your familiar intercourse with the Old Cognac in + the New World, my dear Mason? Let me again commend _measure_ to + you, an essential quality for musicians. In truth, I am not too + well qualified to extol the _quantity_ of this _quality_, for, if I + remember rightly, I have often employed tempo rubato when I was + giving my concerts (work which I would not begin again for anything + in the world), and even quite recently I have written a long + symphony in three parts, called "Faust" (without text or vocal + parts), in which the _horrible_ measures 7/8, 7/4, 5/4 alternate + with common time and 3/4. By virtue of which I conclude that you + should be satisfied with 7/8 of a little bottle of old cognac in + the evening, and never exceed five quarts! + + Raff, in his first volume of "Wagner Frage", has thoroughly + realized something like _five quarts_ of doctrinal sufficiency, but + that is an unadvisable example to copy in a critical matter, and + above all in the matter of cognac and other spirits! + + My dear Mason, excuse these bad jokes, justified only by my good + intentions; that you may bear yourself valiantly, physically and + morally, is the most cordial wish of + + Your very friendly affectionate + F. LISZT. + + + WEIMAR, December 14, 1854. + + You did not know Rubinstein in Weimar?[2] He spent some time here, + and was conspicuously different from the opaque mass of self-styled + _composer-pianists_ who do not even know what it is to play the + piano, still less with what fuel it is necessary to heat one's self + in order to compose, so that with what they lack in talent for + composition they fancy themselves pianists, and vice versa. + + Rubinstein will publish forthwith about fifty + compositions--concertos, trios, symphonies, songs, light pieces, + etc., which deserve notice. + + Laub has left Weimar. Ed. Singer takes his place in our orchestra. + The latter gives much pleasure here, and is pleased himself also. + + Cornelius, Pohl, Raff, Pruckner, Schreiber, and all the new school + of the new Weimar send you their friendliest greetings, to which I + add a hearty _shake-hand_. + + F. L. + +Other letters received from Liszt are perhaps not very important, but +with one exception never having been published before, they are printed +in the Appendix. + +[Illustration: Autograph of Ferdinand Laub] + +Pupils of Liszt and Thalberg and their pupils in search of an +entertaining diversion may amuse themselves by tracing their +musical pedigree back to Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven, and thus lay claim +to very distinguished ancestry, as shown in the following table: + + Liszt, Franz, born Oct. 22, 1811. + Czerny, Carl, born Feb. 21, 1791. + Beethoven, Ludwig van, born Dec. 16, 1770. + Neefe, Christian G., born Feb. 5, 1748. + Hiller, Johann A., born Dec. 25, 1728. + Homilius, G. A., born Feb. 2, 1714. + Bach, Johann Sebastian, born March 21, 1685. + Thalberg, Sigismond, born Jan. 7, 1812. + Hummel, J. N., born Nov. 14, 1778. + Mozart, Wolfgang A., born Jan. 27, 1756. + +If there be any whose pride is not sufficiently nourished by this +display, they may go still further and show, by authentic records, a +descent through Bach from Josquin Desprez, the most eminent +contrapuntist of the Netherlands school, who lived about 1450-1521. + +During the winter of 1879-80, which I spent at Wiesbaden on account of +ill health, I received a very cordial invitation to visit Liszt at +Weimar some time in July, and made plans to do so, which were +frustrated, however, through unforeseen circumstances. Bulow, when on +his first visit here, in 1875, told me that the old charm had entirely +passed away. The "Golden Time" was among the things that were. + +The last message I had from Liszt was brought to me by Mr. Louis +Geilfuss of Steinway & Sons, who met Liszt in one of the streets of +Bayreuth only a few days before his death, which occurred somewhat +unexpectedly on July 31, 1886. + + + + +AT WORK IN AMERICA + + +When I returned from Europe in 1854 my parents had moved from Boston, +and were living at Orange, New Jersey. + +On landing in New York, I hurried to Boston, and went immediately to the +house of Mr. Webb. This had been my constant purpose ever since the time +I left America in 1849. In due course Miss Webb and I became engaged, +and were married on March 12, 1857. + +My first enterprise after returning from Germany was a concert tour. +This I believe to have been the first exclusively pianoforte recital +tour ever undertaken in this country. Gottschalk, who was here at that +time, had traveled about giving concerts, but he was never without a +singer or associate of some kind. + +In 1863 I had attended a recital given in Frankfort, Germany, by +Ferdinand Hiller, the program of which consisted exclusively of his own +compositions, concluding with a free improvisation on themes suggested +by the audience. My recitals were fashioned after this, only I played +very few of my own pieces. The programs were somewhat similar to those +of the present time, ranging from Beethoven and Chopin to Liszt. At that +time Bach's name, according to my recollection, was never seen on a +pianoforte-recital program. A large number of these compositions, such +as Liszt's "Twelfth Rhapsody" and Chopin's "Fantasie Impromptu," were +played for the first time in this country at these concerts. + + + + +TOURING THE COUNTRY + + +My friend Oliver Dyer managed the tour. My brothers Daniel and Lowell +were at this time booksellers and publishers in New York, under the +firm-name of Mason Brothers, and Mr. Dyer was connected with them in +business. He was a man of action, and possessed good literary ability. +He had lived for a time in Washington as reporter of speeches made in +Congress, and later on he was connected with Robert Bonner on the +"Ledger". + +He arranged a pamphlet in which he set forth and doubtless embellished +the facts connected with my sojourn in Germany and the favor with which +my playing had been received. When, in the course of our tour, we +arrived at a town where a lecture was to be given,--not an uncommon +occurrence,--he would take down the lecture stenographically and write +notices of it for the local papers. The editors appreciated this favor, +and were so kindly disposed toward us that they would print any advance +notices he chose to write about me. In what he wrote of me, however, I +was not willing to have him go to extremes, though he would frequently +slip something into the paper without my knowledge, leaving me to find +fault with him the next day. + +All along the route it was difficult to persuade people that an +entertainment of pianoforte-playing exclusively could be made +interesting. They had never heard of such a thing, and insisted that +there ought to be some singing for the sake of variety. We stopped in +Albany, Troy, Utica, and many other places on the way to Chicago, where +I gave two concerts, one of which took place on New Year's eve. After +the concert I attended a large reception given in a private residence. I +remember being struck by the fact, as it seemed to me, that there were +so many young ladies at this reception, and I asked the hostess if there +were no married ladies in Chicago. "Why, Mr. Mason," she replied, "there +are only two or three unmarried ladies in the room." At that period +Chicago was full of young men who had come from the Eastern States, +principally New England. After staying in Chicago for two or three years +and getting well started in business they would get married, many of +them going to their native places for their brides. This accounted for +the youthful appearance of the assemblage, and illustrates in part the +very rapid growth of Chicago. + +Up to the time we arrived in Chicago we had rainy weather constantly, +and partly on this account we were out of pocket. Dyer was for going +back to New York by the quickest route. I said: "No; I am going back +through the same towns, and shall give concerts in every one of them. If +the people liked my playing well enough they will come again and bring +their neighbors. If they did not like it, I shall soon find it out." As +it turned out, I had much larger audiences all the way home. + + + + +"YANKEE DOODLE" AND "OLD HUNDRED" + + +Copying the custom of Ferdinand Hiller, I used to close my concerts by +an improvisation upon themes suggested by the audience. All sorts of +themes were put into the hat--from Mozart, Beethoven, "Jordan is a hard +road to travel," "We won't go home till morning," and many negro +melodies. I had a faculty of developing a subject in such a way as to +hold my audience. + +One night somebody sent up the request that I should play simultaneously +"Old Hundred" with one hand and "Yankee Doodle" with the other. This I +did, merely to show that even two such dis-similar melodies could be +played together in a musical way. There was a good deal of applause, but +also considerable hissing from the religions element, so I made a speech +explaining that I meant no disrespect to "Old Hundred" by placing it in +such close connection with "Yankee Doodle," and that the melody which +had to a certain extent been adopted as a national air was on that +account worthy of being played with any hymn. + +Fifteen years later, in 1870, George F. Root, who had assisted my father +in his musical convention work in the East, but who had settled in +Chicago and was doing the same kind of pioneer work in the West, was +holding a summer musical convention in South Bend, Indiana. He wished to +introduce piano as well as vocal teaching, and invited me to take +charge of the piano classes. It was a fearfully hot summer, and during +the month I was in South Bend the temperature was continuously close to +100 deg.. Toward the close of the season concerts were given, and it was so +hot that in lieu of a dress-coat I wore a linen duster, cut off at the +waist. + +At the last concert I received a request from two or three people to +play "Yankee Doodle" with one hand and "Old Hundred" with the other. +Possibly they had heard me do so in 1855. Remembering my experience +then, I made a few remarks, in which I told them that some little +feeling had been created fifteen years before by my doing the same +thing, but that--and here I got a little mixed--in playing "Yankee +Doodle" with "Old Hundred" I did not intend any disrespect to "Yankee +Doodle." At this the audience began to laugh. Schuyler Colfax, who was +then Vice-President of the United States, was on the stage behind me, +and I could hear him chuckling. I thought to myself, "Well, I have made +some funny mistake, though I don't know what it is, so I won't go back +and try to correct it." + +Afterward Mr. Colfax, who was a noted speaker, told me that whenever he +made a _lapsus linguae_, if it amused the audience he never attempted to +correct it. + +On my return from this concert tour to New York, I established the +series of chamber-music concerts which, begun as an experiment, +continued thirteen years. I also settled down as a teacher. While I had +returned from Weimar with the full intention of continuing my career as +a piano-virtuoso, and while my concert tour had been promising enough, I +found that the public demanded a constant repetition of pieces to which +it happened to take a liking, and I knew that I should soon weary of +playing the same things over and over again. Moreover, I felt that from +my father I had inherited a certain capacity for giving instruction, and +that the chamber-music concerts and engagements with the Philharmonic +and at other concerts in New York and elsewhere would serve to keep up +my practice as a virtuoso. + + + + +SETTLING DOWN TO TEACH + + +In 1855 I accepted as pupils some four or five young ladies who were +being educated at a fashionable boarding-school in New York. One of +these girls was very bright and intelligent but without special musical +talent. She was extremely averse to application in study, and the +problem for me was to invent some way by which mental concentration +could be compelled, for from the moment she sat down to the piano to +practise she was constantly looking at the clock to see if her +practice-hour was up. After a little study I found that in playing a +scale up one octave and back, without intermission, in 9/8 time, there +are necessarily nine repetitions of the scale before the initial tone +falls again on the first part of the measure. Thus, + +[Illustration: musical notation] + +and so on until another accent falls upon the initial C. Such an +exercise is called a rhythmus, and the repetitions compel mental +concentration just as surely as the addition of a column of figures +does. I found that if the compass was extended four octaves, thus, from + +[Illustration: musical notation] + +the nine repetitions of the scale would require from three to four +minutes if played at a moderate rate of speed. I saw at once that a +state of mental concentration could not be avoided by the pupil, and +that in this exercise lay a basic principle. I gave the exercise to my +pupil. The result was that when the next lesson-hour came around and I +asked her how she found the new exercise, she exclaimed: "How do I like +it? Why, you have played a pretty trick on me! It took me nearly an hour +to accomplish it; but I like it. Why did you not give it to me before!" +"Because," I said, "I invented it simply in order to compel your +attention to your work." Following up the principle of grouping the +tones, I applied the rhythmic process not only to all sorts of scale +passages, but included in the treatment arpeggios, broken chords, +octaves, and in fact all passages idiomatic of the pianoforte. The work +of amplification was readily accomplished, and the result was a complete +method in which for the first time, so far as I am aware, scientific +rhythmic treatment was elaborated. This "Accentual Treatment of +Exercises," as I called the system, was first published in the Mason & +Hoadley Method, New York, 1867. The importance of accentual treatment is +now recognized in every modern method. + +The idea of starting a series of matinees of chamber-music occurred to +me. I wished especially to introduce to the public the "Grand Trio in B +Major, Op. 8," by Johannes Brahms, and to play other concerted works, +both classical and modern, for this kind of work interested me more than +mere piano-playing. So I asked Carl Bergmann, who was the most noted +orchestral conductor of those days, and thus well acquainted with +musicians, to get together a good string quartet. This he accomplished +in a day or two, and made me acquainted with Theodore Thomas, first +violin; Joseph Mosenthal, second violin; and George Matzka, viola, +Bergmann himself being the violoncellist. We very soon began rehearsing, +and our first concert, or rather matinee, took place in Dodworth's Hall, +opposite Eleventh street, and one door above Grace Church in Broadway. +The program was as follows: + + Tuesday, November 27, 1855 + + 1. Quartet in D Minor, Strings _Schubert_ + + 2. Romance from Tannhaeuser, + "Abendstern" _Wagner_ + + 3. Pianoforte Solo, Fantasie Impromptu, + Op. 66 (first time) _Chopin_ + Deux Preludes, D flat and G, + Op. 24 _Heller_ + + 4. Variations Concertante for + Violoncello and Piano, Op. 17 _Mendelssohn_ + + 5. "Feldwaerts flog ein Voeglein" _Nicolai_ + + 6. Grand Trio in B Major, Op. 8, + Piano, Violin, and Cello (first + time) _Brahms_ + +It will be observed that we started out with a novelty, Brahms's Trio, +which was played then for the first time in America. I repeated it in +Boston a few weeks later with the assistance of some members of the +Mendelssohn Quintet Club. It received appreciation on both occasions and +was listened to attentively, but without enthusiasm. The newspapers +spoke well of it in general, but there were some who regarded it as +constrained and unnatural. The vocal pieces were inserted in deference +to the prevailing idea of the period that no musical entertainment could +be enjoyed by the public without some singing. We quickly got over that +notion, and thenceforth, with rare exceptions, our programs were +confined to instrumental music. + +It was my purpose in organizing these concerts to make a point of +producing chamber-work, which had never before been heard here, +especially those of Schumann and other modern writers. + + + + +THEODORE THOMAS AT TWENTY + + +The organization as originally formed would probably have remained +intact during all the years the concerts lasted had it not become +apparent almost from the start that Theodore Thomas had in him the +genius of conductorship. He possessed by nature a thoroughly musical +organization and was a born conductor and leader. + +Before we had been long together it became apparent that there was more +or less friction between Thomas and Bergmann, who, being the conductor +of the Germania and afterward of the Philharmonic orchestras, also a +player of long experience and the organizer of the quartet, naturally +assumed the leadership in the beginning. The result was that Bergmann +withdrew after the first year, and Bergner, a fine violoncellist and +active member of the Philharmonic Society, took his place. The +organization was then called the Mason and Thomas Quartet, and so styled +it won a wide reputation throughout the country. I should say in passing +that Bergmann was an excellent though not a great conductor. + +[Illustration: THE MASON-THOMAS QUARTET + +MATZKA, MOZENTHAL, BERGNER, THOMAS, MASON] + +From the time that Thomas took the leadership free and untrammeled, +the quartet improved rapidly. His dominating influence was felt and +acknowledged by us all. Moreover, he rapidly developed a talent for +making programs by putting pieces into the right order of sequence, thus +avoiding incongruities. He brought this art to perfection in the +arrangement of his symphony concert programs. + +Our viola, Matzka, was also an excellent musician, and for many years +the first viola of the Philharmonic orchestra. Mosenthal, who played +second violin, achieved a wide reputation as composer and conductor, in +which latter capacity he did splendid work for the Mendelssohn Glee +Club. He was also one of the best teachers of piano and violin in New +York. + + + + +THOMAS AS CONDUCTOR + + +Thomas's fame as a conductor has entirely overshadowed his earlier +reputation as a violinist. He had a large tone, the tone of a player of +the highest rank. He lacked the perfect finish of a great violinist, +but he played in a large, quiet, and reposeful manner. This seemed to +pass from his violin-playing into his conducting, in which there is the +same sense of largeness and dignity, coupled, however, with the artistic +finish which he lacked as a violinist. He is a very great conductor, the +greatest we have ever had here, not only in the Beethoven symphonies and +other classical music, but in Liszt, Wagner, and the extreme moderns. +Why should he not conduct Wagner as well as anybody else, or better? +Everything is large about Wagner, and everything is large about Thomas. +His rates of tempo are in accord with those of the most celebrated +conductors whom I heard fifty years ago. In modern times the tendency +has been toward an increased rate of speed, and this detracts in large +measure from the impressiveness of the works, especially those of +Mozart, Beethoven, Von Weber, and others. + +That the skilful orchestral conductor does not rely solely upon the ear +but sometimes receives assistance from the eye in his work is +illustrated by an experience of Theodore Thomas which he related while +dining at my house some two years since. On one occasion, when a benefit +concert was tendered to him, the orchestra was increased to jubilee +dimensions, and I think there were sixteen violoncello-players, with +other instruments in due proportion. During the final rehearsal Mr. +Thomas became aware of some imperfections, probably of phrasing, and +traced the error to the violoncellists, but could not at first detect +the individual whose fault it was. On closer scrutiny he observed that +one of them was bowing in the wrong way, and thus obscuring the +phrasing. + +The newspapers, in reviewing the concert, mentioned this incident as +illustrating the wonderfully sensitive ear of the conductor, whereas on +this occasion, at least, the eye was the detective agent. + +It is possible, however, for a trained ear to detect errors in mere +manipulation, and I am reminded by one of my former pupils that, having +taken advantage, during one of his lessons, of my momentary absence in +an adjoining room, to play a passage according to his own ideas of +proper technic, he was astonished to hear me call out to him that he had +used the wrong finger in striking one of the keys. + +That Thomas had entire confidence in himself was shown in the outset of +his career. One evening, as he came home tired out from his work, and +after dinner had settled himself in a comfortable place for a good rest, +a message came to him from the Academy of Music, about two blocks away +from his house in East Twelfth street. An opera season was in progress +there. The orchestra was in its place, and the audience seated, when +word was received that Anschuetz, the conductor, was ill. The management +had not provided against that contingency, and was in a position of much +embarrassment. Would Thomas come to the rescue? He had never +conducted opera, and the work for the evening's performance was an opera +with which he was unfamiliar. Here was a life's opportunity, and Thomas +was equal to the occasion. He thought for a moment, then said, "I will." +He rose quickly, got himself into his dress-suit, hurried to the Academy +of Music, and conducted the opera as if it were a common experience. He +was not a man to say, "Give me time until next week." He was always +ready for every opportunity. + +[Illustration: THEODORE THOMAS + +ABOUT TWENTY-FOUR YEARS OLD] + +On Christmas day, 1900, a friend presented me with a calendar for the +year 1901. It has a leaf for each day of the year. The calendar +evidently required much labor in preparation, and necessitated +correspondence with many friends at home as well as abroad, and many are +the cordial responses that were received. The result is a daily pleasure +and surprise. The leaf for February 11, 1901, the day of my present +writing, has reference to the third concert of chamber-music, eighth +season of Mason and Thomas, which took place on Tuesday evening, +February 10, 1862: + + + Tuesday, February 10, 1862 + + The third soiree of Mason and Thomas had the following program: + + Quartet, C Major, No. 2 _Cherubini_ + Piano Trio, D Major, Op. 70, No. 1 _Beethoven_ + Quartet, A Major, Op. 41, No. 3 _Schumann_ + + A program as interesting and fresh to-day as thirty-eight years + ago. The weather was very cold,--below zero,--and during the largo + of the trio the gas gave out. We continued playing for some time, + but finally had to stop. The "Geister" [the composition here + referred to is called by the Germans the "Geister Trio"] did not + assist us! Do you remember the fact? + + Es ist schon lange her. + + THEODORE THOMAS. + + + + +KARL KLAUSER, MUSICAL DIRECTOR AT MISS PORTER'S SCHOOL + + +Through Mosenthal our quartet became acquainted with Mr. Karl Klauser, +who was an active and enthusiastic musician of thorough education, and +who has accomplished a great deal of useful work both as a compiler and +teacher of classic and modern compositions. Mr. Klauser is a native of +St. Petersburg, born of German parents; he came to New York in 1850, and +was engaged as musical director in Miss Porter's famous school for young +ladies in 1855, a post which he filled with credit and ability for many +years. He was enthusiastically fond of chamber-music, and frequently +attended the rehearsals of our quartet; and it was through him that we +were induced to give recitals in Farmington six months after our +beginning in New York. On Thursday, June 26, 1856, our program was as +follows: + + String Quartet in E flat, No. 4 _Mozart_ + Trio, Piano, Violin, and Violoncello, G Minor, Op. 15, No. 2 _Rubinstein_ + Variations from Quartet No. 5 _Beethoven_ + Also solos for pianoforte and for violoncello. + +On the following day another recital was given, with an entire change of +program. + +At that time one of the undergraduates of the school was a young girl +who is now the wife of a distinguished lawyer of New York, and is +herself prominent in good works. Not long ago I received from her the +following very agreeable letter about the early Farmington days: + + MY DEAR DR. MASON: I am glad to hear that you are to share your + pleasant "Memories" with your friends. I hope, in looking back to + the happy times when you were young, you will not forget your + annual visits to dear old Farmington; for if you do not remember + them in words, many old admirers will wonder how you could fail to + make much of occasions so precious to them. + + As one of Miss Porter's girls, who can now live over again the + coming to town of William Mason, Theodore Thomas, J. Mosenthal, G. + Matzka, F. Bergner, and the long-looked-for chamber-concerts, I + feel sure that in all of your generous giving of a God-given + genius, you never gave more real pleasure than you gave those + school-girls and teachers hungry for a taste of life outside the + school, and for good music, the best of all company. You were then + to them what you only hoped to be after years of hard work,--great + men in your profession,--and they could not have dressed with more + care or been more excited if they had been going to listen with + royalty to the greatest of the old masters. + + Among the choicest of my pictures of Farmington days is that of the + girls in white and dainty pinks and greens and blues, with flowers + to wear and flowers to throw to you, almost dancing down that + beautiful street on a summer day to "the concert," and in the + foreground a quaint dark figure whom all the girls remember on + festive occasions as bearing the burden of her choice with a New + England sense of propriety at war with her keen sympathy with all + that is natural in young people, and with the pride in her + good-looking family which made her blind to their youthful follies. + That was long ago when we were giddy girls, but the verdict of our + heads and hearts was a true one. + + Sure that your memories, dear Dr. Mason, must be bright in the + sunlight of so many warm friendships, I am listening to the music + of long ago. + + March 31, 1901. + + + + +LOUIS MOREAU GOTTSCHALK + + +I knew Gottschalk well, and was fascinated by his playing, which was +full of brilliancy and bravura. His strong, rhythmic accent, his vigor +and dash, were exciting and always aroused enthusiasm. He was the +perfection of his school, and his effects had the sparkle and +effervescence of champagne. He was as far as possible from being an +interpreter of chamber or classical music, but, notwithstanding this, +some of the best musicians of the strict style were frequently to be +seen among his audience, among others Carl Bergmann, who told me that he +always heard Gottschalk with intense enjoyment. He first made his mark +through his arrangement of Creole melodies. They were well defined +rhythmically, and he played them with absolute rhythmic accuracy. This +clear definition in his interpretation contributed more than anything +else to the fascination which he always exerted over his audience. He +did not care for the German school, and on one occasion, after hearing +me play Schumann at one of the Mason-Thomas matinees, he said: "Mason, I +do not understand why you spend so much of your time over music like +that; it is stiff and labored, lacks melody, spontaneity, and naivete. +It will eventually vitiate your musical taste and bring you into an +abnormal state." + +Although an enthusiastic admirer of Beethoven symphonies and other +orchestral works, he did not care for the pianoforte sonatas, which he +said were not written in accordance with the nature of the instrument. +It has been said that he could play all of the sonatas by heart; but I +am quite sure that Mr. Richard Hoffman, who was his intimate friend, +will sustain me in the assertion that such was not the fact. + +I have known Mr. Hoffman for more than fifty years, having met him for +the first time in the year 1847 or thereabout. His playing is still +characterized by precision, accuracy, and clearness in phrasing, with an +excellent technic, combined with repose. I have many times enjoyed his +artistic interpretations, and I heard him with great pleasure not a long +while ago, on the occasion of his fiftieth anniversary as a teacher in +this country. + +Returning to Gottschalk, a funny thing happened one day. At the time of +which I write, forty-five years ago, William Hall & Sons' music-store +was in Broadway, corner of Park Place, and was a place of rendezvous for +musicians. Going there one day, I met Gottschalk, who, holding up the +proof-sheet of a title-page which he had just received from the printer, +said: "Read that!" What I read was, "The Latest Hops," in big block +letters after the fashion of an outside music title-page. "What does +this mean?" I asked. "Well," he replied, "it ought to be 'The Last +Hope,' but the printer, either by way of joke or from stupidity, has +expressed it in this way. There is to be a new edition of my 'Last +Hope,' and I am revising it for that purpose." + +[Illustration: Autograph of Moreau Gottschalk] + +I have in my autograph-book a letter of his, undated, but written in the +late fifties: + + MY DEAR M.: If you have nothing to do, come and spend the evening + with me on Sunday next. No formality. Smoking required, impropriety + allowed, and complete liberty, with as little music as possible. + I was going to mention that we will have a glass of wine and + chicken salad. + + Your friend, + GOTTSCHALK. + 149 East Ninth Street. + + + + +PROPAGANDA FOR SCHUMANN'S MUSIC + + +Gottschalk's remark about my liking for Schumann's music was at that +time echoed by others, for when I returned from Germany and found +Schumann virtually unknown here, I made it my mission to introduce his +music into this country--a labor of love in which I was afterward +greatly aided by the quartet concerts and by my teaching. Shortly after +my return from Germany I went to Breusing's, then one of the principal +music-stores in the city,--the Schirmers are his successors,--and asking +for certain compositions by Schumann, I was informed that they had his +music in stock, but as there was no demand for it, it was packed away in +a bundle and kept in the basement. Pretty soon, however, my pupils +began calling for Schumann's pieces, and Schumann moved up from the +cellar to the main floor. His music was expensive, because it was +published in sets, and if a pupil wanted to buy one of the "Novellettes" +or "Kinderscenen," it was necessary to purchase the whole collection. +After a while, however, some of the music-dealers began to publish a +number of the pieces separately. This had the effect in some measure of +opening up the sale of his music to pupils and amateurs. + + + + +SIGISMOND THALBERG + + +Thalberg's playing was characterized by grace, elegance, and perfection +of finish in detail. His style was suave, courteous, and aristocratic. +Being a pupil of Hummel, who had in turn taken lessons of Mozart for two +years, it was quite within the line of descent that he should have +acquired the extremely smooth legato touch of those masters. As +distinguished from any pianist-composer up to his time, his specialty +was the surrounding of a melody with arabesques and ornamental passages +of scales and arpeggios played with rapidity, clearness, and brilliancy. +Parish Alvars, the harpist, had originated this device, and Thalberg +adapted it to the pianoforte, for which instrument it was better suited +and more effective than on the harp. + +The important influence of the upper-arm muscles in the production of +powerful and resonant tones seems to have been but little known in those +days. Leopold de Meyer's constant use of these, as noted elsewhere, was +apparently unconscious and instinctive. + +Thalberg's octave-playing was not altogether elastic and free from +rigidity, for in long-continued and rapid octave passages a close +observer would have noticed a contraction of his facial muscles and a +compression of the lips, which would have been avoided under the +conditions of properly devitalized upper-arm muscles and loose wrists. + +Shortly after his arrival in our country he went by invitation to my +brother's house in West Orange, New Jersey, on a visit of some weeks. +This afforded an opportunity which was not neglected, and as a result I +became well acquainted with him and his method of practice. In this way +he was virtually one of my best teachers, although no regular lessons +were received from him. Moreover, in several of his concerts I played +with him his duo for two pianofortes on themes from "Norma," and these +were occasions of great artistic profit. One learned much, also, from +hearing him practise. His daily exercises included scale and arpeggio +passages played at various rates of speed and with different degrees of +dynamic force. These were always put into rhythmic form, and the +measures, sometimes in triple and sometimes in quadruple time in many +varieties, were invariably indicated by means of accentuation. Dynamic +effects, such as crescendos and diminuendos, also received due +attention. In short, as it seems to me, he made it a point--as well in +the cultivation and development of physical technic as in his +public performances--to play _musically_ at all times. + +[Illustration: Autograph of Sigismond Thalberg] + +Thalberg's technic seemed to be confined mainly to the finger, hand, +wrist, and lower-arm muscles, but these he used in such a deft manner as +to draw from his instrument the loveliest tones. He was altogether +opposed to the high-raised finger of some of the modern schools, and in +his work entitled "L'Art du Chant applique au Piano" he cautions +students against this habit. The same advice had been previously given +by Carl Czerny in his "Letters on the Art of Playing the Pianoforte," +namely: "Do not strike the keys from too great a height, as in this case +a thud will accompany the tone." + +Thalberg adds: "Gewoehnlich arbeitet man zu viel mit den Fingern und zu +wenig mit dem Geiste" ("Generally one works too much with the fingers +and too little with the intelligence"). + +This is reasonable advice, for a touch which starts off simply for +strength and mechanical development, separate from other traits, becomes +eventually so obstinately fixed and determined that its influence will +dominate and stand constantly in the way of poetic and musical +development. In this connection it is well to remember and apply the +proverb: "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." + +He was very fond of his grand pianofortes, both of which were made by +Erard of Paris. One of these instruments was drawn upon a much larger +scale than had previously been made by this or, so far as I know, by any +other manufacturer. The tone was powerful and of a lovely musical +character. Thalberg's idea was that the better the instrument the +greater the advantage afforded the virtuoso, not only for public +playing, but as well for the purpose of practice and musical development +I remember his telling me that a fine instrument even suggested ideas to +the composer and furthered his work. An experience of many years has +proved to me the soundness of his theory and the importance of its +practical application. + +The not uncommon assertion that "any piano will do for a beginner" is +wrong in principle. How absurd to assert that any associates will do +for children in the beginning! It is just at this tender age when +impressions are so easily received that the best musical advantages +should be afforded. What can be better adapted to the cultivation of a +musical ear than the constant presence of musical tones of the highest +quality and purity? The ear requires close musical companionship in +order to promote corresponding development. + +The cultivation of a physical technic is important, indeed +indispensable, but it should not precede or be separated from musical +companionship. Its development should at all stages be surrounded by a +musical atmosphere in which its adaptability to the expression of +poetical ideas may be developed. The heart and head should be closely +united. + + + + +PEDAL AND PEDAL SIGNS--WHY NOT DISPENSE WITH THE LATTER? + + +Prolonged or organ tones are not possible on the pianoforte. From the +moment the hammer strikes the string the tone begins to diminish in +volume and soon fades away. One of the chief arts of the pianist is to +sustain a tone throughout the full value of the note which represents +it, and this is accomplished either by steady pressure on the key or by +the use of the open pedal, frequently misnamed the loud pedal. The use +of the word "loud" in this connection is illogical and misleading. The +word "open" is much better, because this pedal, when pressed, causes the +dampers to be raised from the strings, thus leaving them open, and so +prolonging the tones. Furthermore, the open pedal is constantly used in +the softest and most delicate passages. Its mission is simply to prolong +the tones, whether loud or soft. In either case the tone dies rapidly +away, and the pianist, sensitively aware of this, and feeling the +necessity of keeping up the volume of sound, is led unconsciously to +anticipate or take the next tone a little before its due time. The +effect of this process in continuation is to produce a feeling of unrest +on the part of the hearer, and is fatal to repose. On this account +Thalberg earnestly recommends to piano-students that "the tones +invariably be held throughout their absolute or exact value" (see "L'Art +du Chant"). Tones can be sustained, so far as this is possible on the +pianoforte, in two ways, namely, by means of the open pedal or by +holding down the keys firmly during the exact value represented by the +notes. How can this value be determined? Solely through the medium of +the ear. "The proof of the pudding is in the eating." The proof of +musical sounds, as to quality and duration, is in the listening. + +This being granted, it seems to follow that all signs, such as "Ped.," +*, or [** two check marks], etc., should be discarded as being even +worse than useless, for when pupils pay careful attention to them they +are apt to be guided solely by the eye. They press down the pedal at the +sign "Ped.," and release it at the following asterisk (*), doing this in +a merely perfunctory way, and hence they either fail to produce a true +legato effect or err in the opposite direction of an over-legato, which +results in a confusion of sounds. This may be best avoided by +practising on an instrument of fine musical quality and beautiful +singing tone, which promotes the habit of listening attentively, and +thus contributes in the highest degree to the development and training +of the ear. + +It is true that musical temperament is inborn, and those who possess it +have native insight, and hence develop with rapidity. There are, +however, very many who are not "to the manner born." Such are obliged to +acquire habits through persistent and persevering effort. All travel the +same road, but the genius flies while the less gifted plods along. +However, for the benefit and consolation of the latter, I remind them +that the tortoise left the hare asleep and won the race. The ear should +be cultivated for music, the eye for painting, the mind in both; and the +heart especially in music, because the latter is the "language of the +emotions." + +A little pedal study from my work entitled "Touch and Technic" (Part IV, +page 18), will serve to illustrate what I mean. It is on an elementary +plane and can easily be accomplished by a beginner with a little care +and ordinary perseverance. + +[Illustration: PEDAL STUDY FOR THE PIANOFORTE + +(_To be played throughout with one finger_)] + +It is to be played with only one finger, and the tones of the melody +must receive special emphasis so as to stand out clearly, and they must +be sustained by means of the open pedal throughout the exact length of +time represented by the notes. The crescendo and diminuendo must be +observed according to direction, and as a help to this effect the soft +pedal may be used simultaneously, either all of the time or +occasionally, in an experimental way and according to fancy. This +promotes the faculty of judgment and leads to individuality, a very +desirable result. + +The melody is on the middle line and the accompaniment on the outer +lines. The melody must predominate in power, and must be sustained +throughout the exact value of its representative notes, which are mostly +dotted halves, viz.: [Illustration: dotted quarter-note]. This is +accomplished by firmly pressing the open pedal, the finger in the +meanwhile playing the accompaniment. Thus the tone is sustained solely +by means of the pedal. Carefully observe the effects of crescendo < and +diminuendo >. Play strictly in time. + +In the final measure still continue the pedal pressure after the C in +the treble has been played. There are now four tones sounding together. +Now replace the finger, silently and without striking, on the melody key +E. While still pressing this key raise the foot from the pedal. This +leaves the E sounding alone. Hold down the key until the tone has quite +died away. + + + + +RUBINSTEIN AND THE AUTOGRAPH-HUNTER + + +One afternoon I accompanied Rubinstein from his hotel to Steinway Hall, +where he was to give a recital. Just outside of the stage-entrance were +two young ladies, one of whom stepped forward and, handing me a sheet of +paper and a pencil, begged me to ask Rubinstein for his autograph, and +to leave it for her in the dressing-room, so that she could get it +after the recital. I told her that Rubinstein did not like writing +autographs; that he was a man of kindly disposition, but sometimes acted +from impulse; nevertheless, I would see what could be done. So, +following Rubinstein up-stairs to the retiring-room, I handed him the +writing materials, stating the young lady's request. + +He took them, saying nothing, but walked with an air of determination to +the window, opened it, and threw them into the street "Mason," he said, +"I don't like your country. People pry too much into private affairs." +He then went on to speak of newspaper writers who had interviewed him +and ingeniously beguiled him into speaking of many things which +concerned solely his own personality, and the next day published all of +these things in detail. He said: "There is absolutely no privacy in this +country." "Rubinstein," I said, "I can quite appreciate your position, +and understand why you should have come to such conclusions, but I am +sure that upon due reflection you will realize that you are doing us an +injustice. You have been incessantly occupied during your sojourn here, +have hurried from place to place, given concerts with hardly any +intermission, and naturally have had no time to see people in their +homes. You have not been able to judge of our domestic life or to mingle +in society and study our habits." He admitted this at once and made due +acknowledgment. Wieniawski, who was once with us when a similar +conversation occurred just before the close of their stay here, said: +"Mason, I regret extremely that I have not been able to go out to Orange +to visit you. We have traveled constantly and rushed from place to place +in order to fulfil concert engagements, so that there has been no time +for social intercourse. I don't wish you to gather from my apparent +neglect an idea that Poles are unsociable; on the contrary, I assure you +we are very fond of social life." + +Rubinstein came here with a great reputation, and achieved a good +success. He had transcendent ability, accompanied, however, by certain +limitations. By nature impulsive and excitable, he often lost +self-control, and in consequence he frequently anticipated his climax. +He was like a general who excelled in a brilliant sortie, but who had +not the dogged persistence necessary to a long-sustained battle, and at +the critical points he was constantly losing his self-poise. When, +however, he did effect a climax, it was apt to be a great one, a +jubilee. Liszt, on the other hand, was remarkable for his reserve force +and for the discretion with which he made use of it; for if, perchance, +he missed a climax he immediately made preparation for a new one, and +was always sure to reach the zenith at precisely the right moment. + +There were occasions on which Rubinstein played with the most wonderful +repose, and at such times his playing was musical and poetic in the +highest degree. This was particularly the case in slow or moderate +movements characterized by tenderness, affection, and fervor. But in +the rapid and spirited movements his tendency was to run away and +finally to lose self-possession--an affliction to which the large +majority of concert pianists are subject. Violinists and singers are not +nearly so much so, because they can prolong their tones with steady +force, or diminish and increase the tone at will. As I have already +pointed out, the case is different with the pianist, for after the +piano-key has been struck the tone immediately begins to decrease in +power, and this incites the player to produce another tone; so he +proceeds a little too quickly, constantly gaining a little in speed and +crowding one tone upon the other. The effect is exasperating to the +listener, who becomes more and more restless, until finally all quiet +and repose is utterly lost. + +The unevenness in Rubinstein's playing I believe to have been wholly due +to the temperamental moods of a man of extreme artistic sensitiveness. +He was a thoroughly conscientious artist and worked at the piano +incessantly many hours a day. I remember his once saying to me: "I +dislike nothing more than to have people say to me, as they frequently +do, 'But you do not have to practise, for you are a born genius and get +everything by nature.' It is provoking to listen to such stuff after +having worked so hard." + + + + +EVOLUTION IN MUSICAL IDEAS BEETHOVEN PIANOFORTE RECITALS + + +No pianist ever dreamed of playing Beethoven's sonatas in public in +those days. They were reserved for the parlor; and one, or two at most, +were enough for an evening. The mental absorption of this amount was +sufficient. Lighter pieces filled out the program. I am quite sure that +it was Bulow who first played several of Beethoven's sonatas +consecutively at a recital. I learned of this through Anton Rubinstein +when he was here in 1873. He spoke of it as being an extraordinary +thing, and added that, as a musician, he could not give it his approval. +It might be a scientific thing to do, but was certainly not congenial to +a true musical nature, which required variety. A dinner consisting of +heavy dishes throughout, without the interspersion of condiments, +vegetables, and tarts to stir and incite the appetite, would be both +distasteful and fatal to good digestion. The pieces selected for the +musical feast should be homogeneously arranged; and so should the +various courses of the dinner. + +However, notwithstanding what Rubinstein said in 1873, I noticed that, +but a comparatively short time afterward, he also began the practice of +giving recitals at which he played several sonatas in sequence. It is +possible that he did this less to gratify his own personal artistic +tastes than in deference to those of the public who had not his musical +organization, and so could stand the intensity of the thing while he +profited by the physical practice. + + + + +RUBINSTEIN'S FAVORITE SEAT AT A PIANOFORTE RECITAL + + +Rubinstein, as a listener, was particular as to the location of his seat +at a concert or recital of pianoforte music, and always sought a place +in one of the galleries on the left hand, facing the stage. Thus he sat +in the corner diagonal to the pianoforte, looking over the right +shoulder of the player. + +It is true that even on the ground floor or parterre of a hall this +position affords a great advantage, and the tones of the pianoforte are +essentially more full of resonance and musical tone than in any other +location. This may be accounted for on the theory that the raised lid of +the instrument deflects the sound in that direction. There is a +corresponding disadvantage in a position on the opposite side of the +house, especially if seated on the ground floor near the stage. I have +frequently tried both of these positions, and always with the same +result; hence I have learned to make due allowance in judging of the +pianist. A listener unaware of this difference may seriously err in +estimating the tone quality of the instrument. + + + + +BACH'S "TRIPLE CONCERTO" AND "LES AGREMENTS" + + +In Bach's time many embellishments were used in playing the clavichord. +They were all included under the general title _Les Agrements_, or, in +German, _Manieren_. Of these the mordent, almost identical with the +modern _Pralltriller_, was in most frequent use. It is quite a little +thing and simple enough, but there are few players who succeed in giving +it the right snap or rattle, without which its true significance is +wholly lost. I have already mentioned playing this concerto with +Klindworth and Pruckner at a court concert in Weimar. While previously +rehearsing it, Liszt was very particular in his directions, especially +regarding the mordents, and we did our best to follow them. Moreover, +Liszt was an authority. He always made thorough investigation of a +subject before expressing an opinion upon it, and he was very careful to +give a historically accurate and truthful rendering of these +old-fashioned ornaments. I afterward found that when three pianists +came together for the purpose of playing this concerto a good deal of +time was wasted in discussing the proper way of playing the mordent. It +was on the program of the Mason-Thomas matinees in New York more than +once, and on one occasion we had the assistance of the well-known +pianists Messrs. Timm and Scharfenberg. There was no friction at that +time, as the three performers were of one mind. + +In May, 1873, Theodore Thomas arranged a grand musical festival in New +York, of which Rubinstein was the principal attraction. The "Triple +Concerto" was one of the features of the festival. Rubinstein played the +first piano, and Mills and I the other two. + +The concerto has the accompaniment of a string quartet, which may be +doubled or increased to the size of a small orchestra if desired. It was +thought best to have a preliminary rehearsal for the three pianos alone, +and a time was appointed for our meeting together at my studio in +Steinway Hall. Mr. Thomas, not being familiar with the concerto, wished +to be present in order to become acquainted with it, and at the +appointed time was the first to make his appearance. I told him that +Rubinstein, not precise in historical methods, would play the mordents +in accordance with the mood in which he happened to be. "However," I +continued, "I have an old book by Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg, published +in Berlin in 1765, in which he gives written examples of all of the +_Manieren_. We will show this to Rubinstein and have some fun. But I do +not propose to waste time in discussions. He can play as he likes, and +Mills and I will follow suit." + +Rubinstein shortly made his appearance, and Mills came a little later. I +told Rubinstein about my ancient authority, adding that we should be +spared the tediousness of a discussion as to the manner of playing. "Let +me see the old book," said Rubinstein. Running over the leaves, he came +to the illustrations of the mordent. The moment his eyes fell upon them +he exclaimed: "All wrong; here is the way I play it," and going to the +piano, he played as follows: + +[Illustration: Musical notation] + +This is what Marpurg calls a kind of double mordent, or _Doppelschlag_. +The three keys are struck almost simultaneously, but the middle one only +is held down, while the upper and lower ones are immediately released, +thus producing the effect of a turn. The true way of playing the mordent +is thus: + +[Illustration Musical notation] + +However, we adopted Rubinstein's way without comment. + +[Illustration: Autograph of Anton Rubinstein] + +What I have written about Rubinstein and Bach's "Triple Concerto in D +Minor" recalls to my mind an occasion when I played it with Mr. +Boscovitz and Mme. Essipoff at the latter's last recital here, I think +in the year 1876. When, at the rehearsal, we came to discuss the +mordents, Essipoff exclaimed: "I cannot play those things; show me +how they are done." After repeated trials, however, she failed to get +the knack of playing them, as, indeed, so many pianists do, so at the +recital she omitted them and left their performance to Boscovitz and me. +I think the effect of the concerto was not marred by the omission. The +incident just related most not be construed as in any degree a +disparagement of Mme. Essipoff's playing; as an artist she belongs +easily in the first rank of women players and her style is charming. + +In taking leave of my old book by Marpurg I present a specimen of advice +which he addresses to pianoforte-students, namely: "In regard to +deportment and manners [at the pianoforte], one should take care to +avoid making faces, bobbing the head, snorting, twisting the mouth, +gritting the teeth, and all such ridiculous things. In the absence of +the teacher, a pupil who has fallen into such ungainly habits can +correct them by means of a mirror placed in front on the music-rack." +The foregoing is as honest a translation from the German as I am able to +make. Daring a half-century's experience in pianoforte-teaching I do not +remember a single case among my pupils of one who stood in need of this +advice. + + + + +A SIGNIFICANT AUTOGRAPH FROM RUBINSTEIN + + +Just before leaving Weimar I had asked Rubinstein to write in my +autograph-book, and he immediately complied. + +The theme, which he wrote in the key of E flat major, is characteristic +of him. It is strong and has a vigorous upward movement. It suggests the +young man just starting out in life, with the vitality and courage of +early manhood. It is dated "Weymar, le 5. Juin, 1854." + +I did not see Rubinstein again until 1873, the year of his visit to this +country. Happening in his room one day with my book, the idea occurred +to me of asking him to write in it again, under his former signature. +For some reason he was averse to doing so, but finally consented. At a +glance the second theme seems like the first, but on examination the +difference will appear. He has transposed the theme to E flat minor, and +its character is entirely changed. The young man has reached the summit +of the hill and realizes that he is now upon the descent. The allegro +maestoso of former years has changed to an adagio, and, as Rubinstein +aptly writes, it is "not the same." + +An autograph written for me by Joachim Raff is also interesting. On the +night before I left Weimar, June 25, 1854, Raff and I had supper at the +Erbprinz together, and as the evening wore on we somehow got into a +heated discussion about _Zukunftsmusik_, taking opposite sides. However, +as a matter of course, we made up before parting. He had previously +written his musical autograph in the book, but now he added a kind +thought to speed me on my way, namely: "That he may live well, work +well, and soon return to Weimar music. Mitternachtscheide." + + + + +RUBINSTEIN, PADEREWSKI, AND "YANKEE DOODLE" + + +Not long before Rubinstein's departure for Europe he wrote a large +number of variations on "Yankee Doodle," and meeting me shortly +afterward, he informed me of the fact, and added: "I have inscribed your +name at the head of the title-page, and they are now in the hands of the +publisher." He said further, and in a seemingly apologetic tone: "They +are good, I assure you, and I have taken much pleasure in writing them." +He played this composition at his farewell concert in New York, and in +point of fact the variations were very well made; but I think that much +of his playing at the concert referred to was improvised. + +The second season Paderewski was here I sat next to him at a dinner +given just after his arrival. During conversation he said somewhat +suddenly: "Mr. Mason, I have just composed a fantasy on 'Yankee Doodle,' +and have dedicated it to you." + +[Illustration: Autograph of I. J. Paderewski] + +He looked at me, and thought he saw a curious expression in my +face,--although I was quite unaware of such a thing,--and continued, +"You don't like it!" "Oh, I do," I protested, "and esteem the dedication +as a great honor." "I see you don't," he said. "Well," I replied, "I +already have one 'Yankee Doodle' from Rubinstein, and was thinking that +the coincidence of your dedicating me another was very curious, that is +all. Let me explain to you that 'Yankee Doodle' does not stand in the +same relation to the United States as 'God Save the Queen' to England, +'Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser' to Austria, or the 'Marseillaise' to +France. 'Yankee Doodle' was written by an Englishman in derision of us." +I am afraid that my remarks discouraged him, for he never finished the +composition. He played it to me as far as he had progressed with it, and +it is certainly the best treatment of the theme I have ever heard. He +had given it respectability, and, indeed, he told me that he really +liked the tune. + + + + +MEETINGS WITH VON BUeLOW + + +Von Bulow, who had been a pupil of Liszt a year or two before my time, +would occasionally return to Weimar from his concert tours, and during +these visits I became well acquainted with him. In certain ways he was a +wonderful man. He had an extraordinary memory and remarkable technic. He +was invariably accurate and precise in his careful observance of rhythm +and meter by means of proper accentuation, and the clear phrasing +resulting therefrom made up a good deal for the absence of other +desirable features, for his playing was far from being impassioned or +temperamental. His Chopin-playing always impressed me as dry, and his +Beethoven interpretations lacked warmth and fervency. + +I remember he once said to me: "Rubinstein can make any quantity of +errors during his performance, and nobody is disturbed by it; but if I +make a single mistake it will be noticed immediately by every one in +the audience, and the effect will be spoiled." + +Personally, Von Bulow and I got along very well together. He always made +kind inquiry for me when he met common friends in Europe, and he once +presented me with an autograph of Brahms which he valued highly. The +following letter he wrote me shortly after his arrival in this country, +in response to an invitation to make me a few days' visit in Orange, New +Jersey, where I was then residing. + + +BOSTON, October 21, 1875. + + MY DEAR COLLEAGUE: I have just now received your kind note, and + although I have not a single moment of leisure, I want to thank you + and to tell you how happy I should be to meet you again after + nearly a quarter of a century out of sight. + + Alas! it is quite impossible for me to make you a visit before my + arrival in New York. I must work very hard in spite of a bad health + and a not at all Rubinstein-like constitution. + + As this specimen of cablegrammatical shows, I am unable to express + myself in your language without a heap of wrong notes in every + line. It was but two years ago, when I made my first appearance in + old England (much less sympathetic to me than New England), that I + began to stammer the Anglo-Saxon idiom. Please kindly excuse the + shortness and weakness of my reply. + + Many thousand most friendly compliments from our common co-pupil + Carl Klindworth,[3] whom I saw last summer in Tyrol; we often spoke + of you. + + Yours most truly, + HANS VON BUeLOW. + +I know from what Von Bulow himself told me that he accepted +philosophically the trouble between himself and his wife Cosima Liszt, +and her subsequent marriage to Wagner. Soon after he arrived in New +York, in 1876, I called on him, and during our conversation I broached +the subject in a tentative way. I was not sure that his feelings toward +Wagner were not so hostile that mention of the Bayreuth master would +have to be avoided, and I thought it just as well to arrive immediately +at a clear understanding of the matter. + +[Illustration: Autograph of Hans von Bulow] + +"Bulow," I said, "you will excuse me if I touch on a rather +delicate subject. Of course your friends abroad know just what your +present attitude is toward Wagner; but over here we know little or +nothing about it. Perhaps you would like to enlighten me. I hope, +however, I have not touched on a painful subject." + +"Not at all," he exclaimed. "What happened was the most natural thing in +the world. You know what a wonderful woman Cosima is--such intellect, +such energy, such ambition, which she naturally inherits from her +father. I was entirely too small a personality for her. She required a +colossal genius like Wagner's, and he needed the sympathy and +inspiration of an intellectual and artistic woman like Cosima. That they +should have come together eventually was inevitable." + + + + +EDVARD GRIEG + + +On July 1, 1890, my daughter, sister-in-law, and I were in Bergen, +Norway, having just returned from a very pleasant trip to the North +Cape. + +Being so near Grieg's home, an hour and a half's drive from Bergen, and +having received an invitation to visit him, we presented ourselves at +his "Villa Troldhangen" in the afternoon. The day was bright and lovely, +and thus we saw Grieg's place under the most favorable aspect. Our +reception by Mr. and Mrs. Grieg was most hospitable, and we felt +immediately at home. After half an hour's conversation, we all strolled +through the beautiful grounds, which in many places are thick with trees +and shrubs, while here and there are clearings through which the waters +of the fiord shine bright and clear. The wild flowers, with their rich, +brilliant colors, were especially attractive; indeed, this is everywhere +in Norway an attractive feature. + +Mr. Grieg is a man of high intelligence and culture, and is thoroughly +natural and genial. I have very pleasant memories of our cordial +reception and delightful visit. + + + + +RATES OF TEMPO--THE PRESENT TIME COMPARED WITH FIFTY YEARS AGO + + +In recalling Liszt's playing I cannot help noticing the marked +difference in modern rates of tempo as compared with those which were +considered authentic fifty years ago. This is noticeable in many of +Chopin's compositions, especially the larger ones, such as the sonatas, +ballades, fantasies, etc., with all of which I am very familiar, having +heard them played not only by Liszt in Weimar, but in other German +cities, and by artists of the highest rank, many of whom were +contemporaries and personal friends of Chopin. They all seemed to adopt +a certain rate of speed, as if in conformity with the composer's +intention, and it was in agreement with my own intuitions. Dreyschock +and Liszt had often heard the composer play his own pieces and must +certainly have been familiar at least with his rates of tempo. I was +very close to the Chopin day, having been in Germany only a few months +when he died. Two of my teachers and nearly all of the musicians I had +met were his contemporaries and had heard him play his own compositions. +I certainly ought to have the Chopin traditions. + + + + +ELECTROCUTING CHOPIN + + +[Illustration: Autograph of Edvard Grieg] + +The question is, Should Chopin be played in accordance with the spirit +of the time in which he lived, should his works be played in the tempo +in which he played them, or, because electricity has brought about so +many changes and has enabled us to do so many things much more rapidly +than formerly, should Chopin's music be electrified, or, as it seems to +me, electrocuted? I think there is a general tendency to play the rapid +movements in Chopin, and, in fact, in all composers not of the extreme +modern type, too fast. To play these movements rapidly and give the +phrases with absolute clearness, one must have such breadth, command of +rhythm, and repose in action that he can put the tones together like a +string of pearls, so that each is rounded into shape, and the +phrase is a complete and definite series of tones, and not like a lot of +over-boiled peas, so soft that they all mash together. In too rapid +playing the effect of speed is lost. The Chopin "Waltz in D Flat Major" +is often played much too fast. The theme is said to have been suggested +to the composer by a lap-dog in his room suddenly beginning to chase his +tail. Whether true or not, the story is suggestive. Destroy the contour +of that waltz by playing it at too high a rate of speed, and the dog is +no longer chasing his tail, but dashing aimlessly about the room. + +Nor should the tempo be too slow. Slow movements are effective, but +sufficient animation must prevail to impart life and fervency to the +music. A stream may flow so sluggishly that the water loses its +clearness. This is not repose, but stagnation. During the musical season +of 1899-1900 in New York I heard modern pianists play some of Chopin's +compositions so slowly that the effect produced upon me was like that +of a music-box running down. One endures it for a while, but finally is +wrought up to such a feeling of impatience as to induce the exclamation, +"Either stop that thing altogether or wind it up." + + + + +TEMPO RUBATO + + +In modern times there is also a tendency to excessive use of tempo +rubato. + +I have recently heard the second part, of Chopin's "C Sharp Minor +Scherzo"--the choral with arpeggio passages--played by a celebrated +pianist in such a way that, mathematically adjusted, about one measure +was added to every section of four. + +The player was afterward highly extolled on account of his wonderful +rubato effects. The truth is that he was all the while simply playing +mathematically out of time. Rubato ("robbed") is a slight modification +of rhythmic flow in alternation with a corresponding compensation; it is +like excitement in verbal narrative; it is alternately losing and +making up, but within judicious bounds, so that in the end the balance +is preserved. The nature of music is essentially "tune and time"--in +other words, emotion and intelligence, or heart and head, in loving and +well-balanced combination. These conditions are absolute and can never +be violated without disaster. Hence a true rubato must be played in +time, but accommodatingly. + + + + +UNUSUAL PUPILS--TRANSPOSING--POSITIVE AND RELATIVE PITCH + + +I once gave to an intelligent pupil the task of transposing one of +Bach's inventions into various keys. My directions were that at her next +lesson she should be prepared to play it successively in three or four +different keys. As she came to my studio for her lesson but once a +month, there was ample time for preparation, and she succeeded in +accomplishing the feat with ease and without error. But, more than this, +she continued her transposing until she had completed the round of all +the twelve keys without a mistake--a rare and creditable performance, +deserving the emulation of all young ladies and gentlemen engaged in the +study of musical development and the cultivation of pianoforte technic. + +Another case is that of a young lady pupil not remarkably musical, but +who has an ear for positive pitch. By this is meant that she could +immediately name the pitch of any tone on hearing it sung or played. All +competent musicians possess the power of relative pitch. I mean by this +that if a definite pitch is given to one who has a musical ear, the +pitch of any other tone immediately following or sounding in connection +will be instantly perceived, and the interval between the two tones--in +other words, their pitch relationship--at once understood. + +[Illustration: THE STUDIO IN THE STEINWAY BUILDING--WEST SIDE] + +The power of positive pitch has been regarded by many as a very +desirable gift, but judging from the experience of the pupil of whom I +am writing, it would appear to be just the other way. This young +lady, to whom I had also given the task of transposition into various +keys, complained, on coming for her next lesson, that the effect upon +her was very disagreeable, in fact, extremely painful. She explained +that she was obliged to look at the music on the pianoforte-desk while +transposing, and that on account of her quick perception of positive +pitch she heard in companionship both the tones of the original key and +those of the key to which she was transposing, thus producing a jargon +and discord which was distressing. This at first seemed very strange to +me, indeed almost incredible, but not having an ear for positive pitch +myself, either by nature or through cultivation, I could not judge from +personal experience, so, having confidence in her sincerity, simply gave +her assertion credence. + +Later on, however, her statement received confirmation through the +authentic testimony of a German musician and conductor of high eminence. +At the time this gentleman came to our country, somewhat over fifteen +years ago, the standard of concert pitch was slightly lower in Europe +than with us. Since then it has been adjusted and is now uniform the +world over. This discrepancy caused our German friend extreme annoyance, +for having an acute and delicate perception of positive pitch, it pained +and confused him to hear the familiar symphonies and other works of the +great masters played in a higher pitch than that to which he had become +accustomed. This is, therefore, the penalty for an ear for positive +pitch. + +Some of the greatest musicians have possessed this faculty, notably +Mozart, but others of equal rank were without it. Of course a musical +ear of the most delicate sensibility as to relative pitch is common to +all of them, and this by the grace of God, as the Germans happily +express it. + +Another case is that of a lady having by nature an ear for positive +pitch, who occasionally attends church with me. She is constantly +disturbed by the difference of pitch between the tones of the organ and +the pitch indicated by the notes of the tones in the hymn-book. She +reasons that either the tones of the organ are above standard pitch or +else the organist transposes the music. At any rate, the two vary by the +interval of a semitone. + +Theodore Thomas is not only able to detect the disagreement, but at the +same time perceives whether it is by reason of transposition from the +original key or on account of the tones of the organ differing from +standard pitch. + + + + +APPLEDORE, ISLES OF SHOALS + + +MY first visit to Appledore was in August, 1863, two of my brothers +having discovered the island, so to speak, the year before. We were +enthusiastic fishermen, and during our summer vacation almost lived on +the ocean. Furthermore, during almost the entire year I was engaged in +teaching or in public appearances as a concert-player, so that in my +vacation I detested the very sight or even thought of a pianoforte. +Appledore afforded an ideal retreat where retirement verging almost on +oblivion was possible, and thus it happened that I had spent many +summers there before my musical vocation was brought to light. + +A few years later my friend Professor John K. Paine of Harvard +University also discovered the Shoals, and from that time came year +after year without intermission. After a year or two he had a piano sent +down from Boston for the summer and placed in the reception-room in +Celia Thaxter's cottage. I had the pleasure of Mrs. Thaxter's +acquaintance, but up to that time simply in a formal way, and beyond a +call on my arrival and one on taking leave, I had little association +with her; Professor Paine, however, quickly formed a habit of playing +Beethoven's sonatas to her, and she very shortly showed a delight in +music, and especially in Beethoven's sonatas, with which she became +quite familiar. In the year 1864 Isidor Eichberg accompanied my brothers +and myself to the island, and that led, still later on, to Mr. Julius +Eichberg's becoming an habitue of the island. He brought his violin with +him, and with Mr. Paine frequently played compositions of Bach for piano +and violin. Finally I was drawn into the current, and played, with +Eichberg, Schumann's and other sonatas. As I grew older I gave less time +to fishing. Moreover, whereas I had formerly spent only a couple of +weeks or so at the island, I now began to go early in July and stay +until September, so that in the nature of things I could not fish all +the time, and gradually formed a habit of playing in Mrs. Thaxter's +cottage every day from eleven o'clock in the morning until the arrival +of the boat, about an hour and a half later. + +Hers was an interesting and enthusiastic nature, which attracted to her +many literary and artistic people. She held, in a most charming and +informal way, what may really be called a salon. The walls of her parlor +were covered with paintings and pictures of all kinds, many of them the +work and gifts of personal friends. As she herself expressed it, "a +beautiful thought was always suggested whenever and wherever she +looked." + +Her love of flowers amounted almost to a passion, and no expenditure of +time or strength given to garden work was grudged, even when the effort +of very early rising was involved. And when did garden ever better repay +the personal love and care of the gardener? Where were ever seen such +radiant, waving poppies, such hundred-hued pansies, such stately and +brilliant hollyhocks, and such fragrant sweet peas? And upon entering +the parlor, it seemed as if one had hardly left the garden, so many and +so beautiful were the masses of flowers. + +As I have said, Mrs. Thaxter was very fond of music, and every morning +welcomed those of her friends who shared this taste to hear any artist +who might be on the island. + +It was my pleasure, being so much at Appledore, to play a great deal in +these informal ways. The doors wide open to the sun and salt breezes, +the people sitting in the room and grouped on the piazza, shaded by its +lovely vines, the beautiful vistas of gaily colored flowers, sea and sky +beyond, made a charming and ever-to-be-remembered scene. + +Chopin and Schumann were the favorite composers, their compositions +being constantly requested. After a while I enlarged the repertoire by +introducing several of Edward MacDowell's smaller works. These found +immediate favor. Some half-dozen years ago, having become acquainted +with and thoroughly enthusiastic over the "Sonata Tragica" of this +composer, I began to play it early in the summer on arriving at the +Shoals. At first the audience was somewhat reserved in the expression of +an opinion, but after a few hearings the composition found friends who +really appreciated and enjoyed it. Being curious to ascertain what +result a closer acquaintanceship with the work would bring about, and +wishing to do some missionary work, I formed the resolution of playing +it once a day during the season, and announced my intention to the +audience. With but the exception of a few days, the scheme was carried +out, and with gratifying success, for the "Sonata Tragica" became +eventually the favorite of the majority, and it was constantly called +for. + +One or two ladies who found it tedious at the outset became thorough +converts, and finally experienced genuine musical enjoyment from it. On +the publication of the "Sonata Eroica" a few years later a similar +result was reached, but not in the same degree as in the case of the +"Tragica." + +This incident is related to illustrate the remarkable effect of musical +surroundings and the great advantage of living in a musical atmosphere. +Here were people of intelligence and culture who, under adverse +circumstances, would not have appreciated the beauty of these +intellectual works, but who after closer association were led to +perceive their beauty and who learned to love them. + +Sundays were celebrated by the playing of Beethoven's sonatas. Every +one seemed to look forward to and enjoy these pleasant mornings. Mrs. +Thaxter was a delightful hostess, and possessed the rare quality of +bringing out the best in those about her. + +During the summer of 1894 Mrs. Thaxter seemed as well and active as +usual, still working in her garden, still the lively center of her group +of friends and admirers. One day she did not appear, nor the next, and +then we heard she had peacefully passed away. + +None who were at Appledore then will easily forget that 26th of August, +nor the day she was buried on her island home. + +The funeral service was held in the well-known sitting-room; the address +was made by her old friend the Rev. Dr. James De Normandie, and, by +request of her sons, I played Schumann's "Romance in F Sharp," and +Dvo[^r]ak's "Holy Mount," + + The tides of Music's golden sea + Setting toward Eternity. + +When the simple service was over the coffin was followed by her old and +faithful friends and the island fishermen to the grave by that of her +father and mother. The long procession of people, through the gray mist, +winding in and out along the rocky way, the leaden sky and sea, the +hushed voices of the children, usually ringing out so merrily from rocks +and hotel piazzas, accentuated the sense of our loss. + +At the grave, all lined with bayberry and flowers, the coffin was +lowered, and each of those present came forward and laid upon it a few +of the flowers she loved so dearly. + + + + +MUSIC IN AMERICA TO-DAY + + +A year or two ago a young lady came to my studio and asked for a single +lesson. She told me that she had been studying in Germany for some +years, and named the city, which is one of the well-known musical +centers. She was then going to the West on her way home, and stopped a +day over in New York expressly for a lesson from me. I heard her play +several pieces, and was surprised and pleased with her manner and style. +She phrased with intelligence and gave due attention to rhythmic +requirements. Her tone was large, full, and musically resonant, and +could not have been produced otherwise than through the agency of the +upper-arm muscles, which were constantly in active use. The flexibility +and elasticity of hands and wrists were also apparent, and finally the +evident repose in action of all of these qualities capped the climax. I +said to her: "My dear young lady, I cannot add to your playing, for it +is already finished and artistic. I might possibly suggest a different +rendering in certain parts, but, after all, this would amount only to a +matter of taste. If you had studied exclusively under my guidance for a +course of years, and I had succeeded in doing my best, aided by your own +intelligence and careful practice, I should have sought to bring about +just the result which you have reached. I think your teacher must be a +young man." "He is," she replied; "but why?" "Because," I answered, "his +method is free from the stiffness and rigidity of the old German school. +Has he, perhaps, a method of his own?" Her immediate reply was, "He uses +your method." She also told me her teacher's name, which I have now +unfortunately forgotten. I think this teacher deserves to have more +pupils! + +But the time has gone by when it was necessary for students of the piano +to go abroad to complete a musical education. There are now teachers of +the piano of the first rank in all of our principal cities, who secure +better results with American pupils than foreign teachers do, because +they have a better understanding of our national character and +temperament. Such men among my own former pupils are E. M. Bowman in New +York, S. S. Sanford in New Haven, W. S. B. Matthews and William H. +Sherwood in Chicago, and many others who are distinguished in their +profession as teachers, and who have done and are doing much in +furtherance of sound musical education and in the cultivation of a +refined, musical taste in America. Our country has also produced +composers of the first rank, and the names MacDowell, Parker, Kelley, +Whiting, Paine, Buck, Shelley, Chadwick, Brockway, and Foote occur at +once to the mind. Enormous progress in the art and science of music has +been made in America since I began my studies in Germany in the year +1849. Our teachers meet in great numbers in convention during the summer +months and in summer schools and classes, and it is difficult to +overestimate the beneficent results which flow from these assemblies. +They create a musical atmosphere, in which teachers and pupils live and +move and have their being. They afford opportunities for the intelligent +discussion of mooted questions and for the interchange of ideas, and +lead to a wider dissemination of the best educational methods. + +[Illustration: Autograph of Kneisel Quartet] + +Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and Princeton all have their chairs of music, +and doubtless this is true of others of our universities and colleges. +The city of New York has become one of the great musical centers of the +world. The Philharmonic Society, the opera season, the Kneisel Quartet, +and many others of high artistic merit, afford opportunities for the +gratification of musical taste which are hardly to be excelled +elsewhere; and the popularity of these and of the countless pianoforte +recitals and chamber-music concerts bears eloquent testimony to the +growth of an intelligent musical taste among us. Boston and Chicago have +their world-renowned orchestras, led by Gericke and Thomas, who are +passed masters of their art. The cities of Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and +St. Louis have their orchestras, each under competent leadership. The +most celebrated artists at home and from abroad are heard in our +principal cities. The season just closed (1900-01) is in striking +contrast to those of my early manhood. Among the many prominent pianists +who have played to us there are some of extraordinary talent, who give +abundant promise of brilliant future achievement. + +Ernst von Dohnanyi, born at Pressburg, July 27, 1877, is a wonderfully +talented musical composer and at the same time a pianist whose technic +is complete, combining as it does the emotional, intelligent, and +mechanical elements in happy union and adjustment. Von Dohnanyi has by +nature as intense, thorough, and complete a musical organization as +ever came within my experience. He composes with marvelous spontaneity +and rapidity. His ideas are fresh and original, and their expression and +elaboration are effected with the freedom of an improvisation, thus in +no way emphasizing their mechanical setting forth. + +He is just completing, in the twenty-fourth year of his age, an +elaborate symphony in D minor for grand orchestra, the scheme of which +is as follows: I. Allegro; II. Adagio; III. Scherzo; IV. Intermezzo; V. +Finale: Introduction, Tema con Variazioni; Fuga. + +This is a massive production, apparently the result of inherent +qualities carried into act by impulse, in other words, of spontaneous +achievement. It is so instinctive and impulsive that the art of its +construction hardly occurs to the hearer at first, but as an +afterthought excites wonder and admiration. + +Early in March of the present year (1901), Von Dohnanyi, his wife, and a +few other friends, among them Emil Pauer, dined at my house, and during +the evening Von Dohnanyi played his symphony on the pianoforte. This +instrument is naturally quite inadequate to the interpretation of such a +work, but Von Dohnanyi's technic is so complete, his tone so massive +while intensely musical, and his enthusiasm so contagious that we became +conscious of an ever-increasing interest, steadily growing in intensity. +The occasion and its experience will not be forgotten by any of those +present. + +A week later the Von Dohnanyis spent the evening with us just before +their departure on the following day for Europe, and he played again a +portion of the work, deepening and confirming the impression made at the +first hearing. The future of this young man is full of promise. His +teacher in composition was Hans Koessler in Pesth; his pianoforte +teacher was Stephen Thoman of the same city. Later on he had eight +lessons of Eugen d'Albert in Berlin, after which the latter said to him: +"You can go on by yourself now; I have taught you all I can." + +Leopold Godowsky is a pianist of the first class, but above all he is a +specialist, and altogether unapproachable in his specialty. His left +hand is in every respect the equal of his right, and passages of extreme +intricacy and rapidity come out with an astonishing clearness of detail. +Nothing in his work, however minute, is slighted, but musical expression +and finish of execution are above criticism. His specialty is his +rearrangement and working up of many of Chopin's Etudes in such manner +that several of the various themes of these are, so to speak, +intertwined. In some instances three different melodies can be heard +progressing simultaneously in loving union, with a smoothness, delicacy, +and accuracy in counterpoint which is simply marvelous. There is never a +suspicion of haste in his playing, no matter how rapid the rate of +speed. His manner is full of repose--respectful, earnest, and +sympathetic; thus there is no suggestion of violence to the composer's +original production. + +I know that among my best friends, whose judgment I esteem, there are +some who do not hold the same opinion, and who think that the +composer's work should be left intact. It seems to me, however, that +much depends upon the manner of treatment. The French proverb runs: "Il +y a fagots et fagots"; or, in the more homely phrase of dear old Boston, +"There are beans, and then there are beans." Moreover, the fact that +these compositions are etudes (studies), and therefore avowedly for the +purpose of developing physical technic as well as poetic style, should +be duly considered in judging of their _raison d'etre_. Similar +treatment of the sonatas, ballades, and nocturnes would surely be a +different thing. Furthermore, the solid and dignified Brahms--one of the +three B's of Bulow's trinity--set an example, by rearranging a rondo by +Von Weber, which he turns upside down, so to speak, making a bass of +what in the original is the right-hand part. Brahms has also utterly +destroyed the charm of Chopin's "Etude in F Minor, Op. 25, No. 2," which +lies in the very rapid and delicately pianissimo playing of passages of +triplets in the right hand as against duals in the left. In the original +these passages are throughout of single tones in both hands, and hence +can be performed in the most dainty and fascinating manner; but Brahms +has changed the right hand part to double thirds and; sixths, thus +completely altering the character of the music, and doing violence to +the exquisitely light, delicate, and graceful effect of the original +version. In passing judgment upon the work of Brahms, however, it must +not be forgotten that he publishes this in company with several other +arrangements, under the general title, "Studien fur das Pianoforte," +thus indicating that his object is the development of physical technic. + +In this connection, I remember Rubinstein's telling me as long ago as +1873, in the artists' retiring-room during one of his recitals at +Steinway Hall, that he used in his boyhood's days "to do all sorts of +things with Chopin's etudes," as he expressed it, "in order to exercise +and strengthen the fingers." By way of illustration, he went to an +upright piano which happened to be in the room, and began playing with +his left hand alone the right-hand part of the chromatic-scale etude; +"Op. 10, No. 2," and this he did with fluency. + +Godowsky has played his arrangements to me on several occasions at my +studio and at home _en famille_, and has invariably produced a state of +happy good humor which was of long duration and which in large measure +returns to me as I write. + +April 20, 1901. Yesterday evening I attended the farewell concert of +Ossip Gabrilowitsch, the talented young Russian pianist. He was at his +best, and proved his right to stand in the front rank of modern +pianists. His playing throughout of a program of compositions of +Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, and Liszt was masterly, combining as it did +genuine musical quality, intelligence in phrasing, and great brilliancy, +as well as poetry in interpretation. He is yet a young man and has not +reached the full climax of his power, and will doubtless show still +further development in the next few years. Other pianists who have +played in New York during the season of 1900-01, and who deserve to be +classed with the highest, are Harold Bauer, who has deservedly won a +very high reputation through his splendid ability in all styles of piano +music, and Arthur Friedheim, whose recent concert was brilliant in high +degree, and who on that occasion gave an interpretation of Liszt's great +"Sonata in B Minor" which it seems to me was not surpassed by the master +himself--and I have heard Liszt play this work many times. Richard +Burmeister also gave a masterly interpretation of this same sonata +earlier in the season. This is the sonata, by the way, of which mention +has been made, in the earlier part of these "Memories," as having been +played by Liszt on the occasion of the first visit of Brahms to Liszt, +in the year 1853. + +We have also had Teresa Carreno, Adele aus der Ohe, and Fannie +Bloomfield-Zeisler, all of them of the first rank and established +reputation. Of these the first-named is a friend of long standing, for +my first acquaintance with her dates back to the early sixties, when she +first came to New York as a child prodigy. I well remember the +impression she made upon me at that time, both from her artistic playing +and her charming appearance in short dresses and "pantalets," the +fashion for children of that day. A friendship was immediately begun and +established, which still continues. + +Josef Hofmann, with his tremendous technic and executive skill, has +given pleasure to many; and Arthur Whiting, Howard Brockway, and Henry +Holden Huss have ably upheld the reputation of American virtuosos and +composers. + +In bringing these papers to a close, I desire to make my grateful +acknowledgment to the friends and pupils of many years who united in +celebrating the seventieth anniversary of my birth by presenting me with +a beautiful silver loving-cup, which I fondly cherish as an evidence of +affectionate regard, and which will be ever filled and overflowing with +loving memories, not alone of those who united in the gift, but of the +many others whom I have known in the course of an unusually long +professional career. To one and all I offer my heartfelt thanks. + + + + +APPENDIX + + +PART I + + +EARLY LIFE OF LOWELL MASON + + ADDRESS OF WILLIAM S. TILDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE MEDFIELD HISTORICAL + SOCIETY, AT CHENERY HALL, MEDFIELD, FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 1892, THE + CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF DR. LOWELL MASON + + +FELLOW-CITIZENS: Most that has been hitherto said and written has been +rather concerning the public and professional career of Dr. Mason; and +we shall doubtless have presented many interesting mementos to-day, in +letter and address, relating to those things in which he is most +generally known. What I have to present in this paper will refer +particularly to his birth, parentage, and early surroundings, of which +comparatively little has been said. + +[Illustration: LOWELL MASON + +FROM A DAGUERREOTYPE] + +Lowell Mason was of English descent, being in the sixth generation from +Thomas Mason and Margery Partridge. Thomas, born in England, was the son +of Robert, who settled in Dedham, from whence he, with his brother +Robert, came to Medfield in the second year of its settlement. The +marriage of Thomas Mason and Margery Partridge, April 23, 1653, is the +first recorded marriage in this old town. He received his house-lot by +original grant from the town. It was upon North street, where Amos E. +Mason now lives, the homestead having never been out of the possession +of the Mason family. Thomas Mason and two of his sons were killed by the +Indians on that fateful morning in February, 1676, when the town was +burned. His eldest son was killed the following year, while fighting the +Indians at the "Eastward" (now Maine), leaving one boy, Ebenezer, who +was seven years of age only when his father was killed, and who, +therefore, became the progenitor of the line from which Lowell Mason +sprang. The son of this Ebenezer, Thomas Mason, left the homestead on +North street, and settled in the extreme northeast corner of the town, +at what is now known as the Charles Newell place. He married the +daughter-in-law of Samuel Sady, who kept a tavern on North street, where +the Pfaff mansion now stands; and his son Barachias, grandfather of +Lowell, inherited, through his mother, that place, and settled upon it, +where he lived with his son Johnson, father of Lowell. There the man +whose nativity we celebrate to-day was born. The building has been +preserved, and is, no doubt, the "farm-house," so called, on Adams +Avenue. + +The first twenty years of his life were spent in his native town of +Medfield; and very little has ever been written about this portion of +his life, and much of that somewhat incorrectly. His biographers seem to +have endeavored to add to his fame by magnifying his want of +opportunities for education and culture in his youth. In a discourse +upon Mr. Mason's life and labors, the Rev. George B. Bacon, his pastor, +says: "Mr. Mason had no advantages of education. He was the son of a +mechanic in a small New England town. He began almost in his cradle that +fight for a living which left small opportunity for study or culture." +Another writer says: "He spent twenty years of his life doing nothing +but playing upon all sorts of musical instruments, and there was no one +to teach him their use." We feel inclined to believe that these +statements were half-truths only, and are not a complete statement, by +any means, of the conditions and pursuits of his youth. + +We think it can be shown that while Medfield is proud of having such a +son, he was fortunate in having such a birthplace. We believe in the +influence of heredity in genius, but also in the influence of +environments. He was especially favored in both these respects, +descending for generations from an honored ancestry and surrounded in +his youth by educated people of high moral and religious character. His +parents were in fairly comfortable circumstances, and he was, as is +usual in such cases, permitted considerable freedom in following the +promptings of his natural genius, which, springing as he did from a +musical family, early showed tendency toward that branch of art. + +Dr. Holmes says: "If we wish to educate a boy properly, we must begin +with his grandfather." Barachias Mason was a graduate of Harvard +University in 1742, but one hundred and fifty years ago. He was a +schoolmaster, a teacher of singing-schools, and a selectman of the town +for several years. This certainly is a fair start, on Dr. Holmes's +principle. His son, Colonel Johnson Mason, Lowell's father, lived with +him, and inherited the homestead, where he kept a public school for many +years. He was a merchant. In this pursuit, it seems, young Lowell +assisted him in his boyhood, as we learn that, on the occasion of his +narrow escape from drowning in 1806, he was out with a team on business +for his father, near what is now poor-farm bridge, where he was rescued +from a watery grave by two boys about his own age after having sunk for +the third time. Colonel Mason manufactured straw goods to some extent. +He was also an ingenious mechanic, inventing some useful machines used +in the straw business of those days. He was town clerk for nineteen +years, town treasurer, and a member of the legislature; he was a +musician, a player on musical instruments, particularly the violoncello, +and, together with his wife, sang in the parish choir for more than +twenty years. When the musical talent of the town united, on a +Fourth-of-July occasion in 1840, to supply the music, Colonel Mason +stood at the head of the basses, although then over seventy years of +age. He was also a prominent military man, commissioned captain in 1800, +and lieutenant-colonel in 1803. It will thus be seen that he was one of +the most intelligent and influential men in the town. + +So much for the parentage; now for the neighborhood influences about the +Mason family. The nearest neighbor was the Rev. Thomas Prentiss, +minister of the old parish church from 1770 to 1814, and who sent four +boys to Harvard College, one of whom was of Lowell Mason's own age, a +schoolmate and playmate. His seatmate in the North School, which he +attended, and a lifelong friend, was the late Joseph Allen, D.D., of +Northboro, Massachusetts, who ever said that Lowell Mason was one of the +best scholars in the school; and the schools of the town being then +under the supervision of Dr. Prentiss, they were doubtless fairly good +schools. Ellis Allen, another friend and schoolmate, said that Lowell +Mason was the most popular and talented, as well as the handsomest, +young man in town. The next neighbor on the other side was George +Whitefield Adams (brother of the celebrated historian, Hannah Adams), +who built organs at his homestead, where Dr. Bent now lives; and, +without doubt, Lowell was familiar with that instrument, as he was with +many others--the violin, violoncello, flute, and clarinet particularly. +He led the Medfield Band in his day, playing the clarinet. Mr. Adams +went to Savannah in 1812, accompanied by Nathaniel Bosworth of this +town, and young Mason went with them, journeying the entire distance +with horse and wagon. Another near neighbor was Amos Albee, a +schoolmaster and musician of some note in those days, author of "Norfolk +Collection of Church Music." He assisted Mason in his musical studies, +as reliable accounts inform us. Libbeus Smith, a relative of the Mason +family, was also a singing-master here during the early years of this +century. James Clark, a fine player on the violin, lived in Medfield in +those days. From these facts it is easy to determine that, though the +musical advantages of the times would not perhaps satisfy the demands of +modern culture, yet the place was by no means devoid of influences +calculated to encourage the special development of a young man musically +inclined. + +Lowell Mason commenced teaching singing-schools when only a boy. He led +the parish choir when about sixteen years of age, and conducted the +music at the ordination of Dr. Ranger of Dover in 1812, writing an +anthem for the occasion, aided, it is said, by his neighbor Amos Albee. +The Medfield Choir assisted at these ceremonies, Mr. Ellis Allen and his +wife, from whom this account is obtained, being among them on that day. +Lowell's two brothers, Johnson and Timothy, were also good musicians, +and remained prominent in the church choir, both socially and +instrumentally, for many years after he left Savannah. They became +musical leaders in Cincinnati and Louisville. The old choir in those +days was large, and it was made up from the most influential people in +the town, which is an excellent thing for a church choir. The following +are some of those who were members of it while young Mason took charge +of the music: his father and mother, with his two brothers above named; +Major Fiske, father of the late Captain Isaac Fiske; Captain William +Peters, grandfather of Mr. William P. Hewins; Captain Wales Plimpton, +father of Deacon G. L. Plimpton; Oliver Wheelock, a merchant of the +town; Amos Mason, father of A. E. Mason; Ellis Allen, father of the +Allen brothers, from whose reminiscences we gather many of these facts. +The old choir, it will be seen, was highly favored, in a military point +of view, having a colonel, a major, and two captains. Mr. Mason often +said, in after years, that there was more musical talent in Medfield +than in any other town of its size in the State. This we can with +confidence believe. + +It is not, therefore, strange, with his inherited tastes and capacities, +and surrounded as he was by musical people, that he should devote much +of his time to music. It was his common practice, tradition tells us, to +play from the meeting-house steps, summer evenings, upon the flute or +clarinet, to the young people who would congregate around the +locality--in this way, doubtless, doing much to contribute to the growth +of a musical taste among the companions of his youth. The atmosphere of +liberal culture which characterized his neighborhood aided him in taking +a more intelligent view of musical matters, without which natural +abilities, and even special training, produce comparatively meager +results; and the young person who knows nothing but music cannot expect +a very high place in public estimation. + +That he had much ability as a practical musician is shown by the fact +that when he went to the South he was able to give entertainments with +his voice and violoncello alone, which brought him at once to the front +with the musical public in Savannah; and his tact, executive ability, +and intelligence gave him a position as teller in a bank. About this +time the conscious purposes of his life were changed, and the mode of +life characteristic of his early years gave place to one of deep-seated +religious convictions. He became a member of the Presbyterian Church in +Savannah, where he held the position as director of music for many +years. He was also superintendent of the first Sunday-school ever formed +in that city. + +As an instance of his natural tact and shrewdness, it is related of him +that while a resident of Savannah he undertook the instruction of a new +band that was being formed somewhere in that region. On the first +evening a considerable number of instruments were brought in with which +he was unacquainted, and some of them, even, he had never heard of. He +got over this difficulty by telling the owners of them that it would be +necessary for him to take them all home, that they might be "fixed and +toned up." When he brought them back, at the next meeting, he had +mastered them all, and proceeded to give his instructions accordingly. + +He had a remarkable degree of personal magnetism, which gave him that +wonderful control which he possessed over classes and conventions. When +he taught or lectured, all eyes were upon him, all ears were attentive, +all wills were moved by his. This, with his natural aptitude for +teaching, gave him the prominence which he so readily won in the chief +cities where his mature life was spent. Soon after his return to +Boston, about 1827, after fifteen years' sojourn in Savannah, he +attained great popularity as a singing-teacher. He organized a class for +the well-to-do ladies and gentlemen of Boston who wished to perfect +themselves in music, the instruction to be by the new method, and +gratuitous. Five hundred singers attended, and at the close voted him a +bonus of five dollars each, or twenty-five hundred dollars for the term. +He was in constant demand as a teacher and director, and it would be +strange if those who had occupied the field before him, and who were now +compelled to take a back seat or migrate to "fresh fields and pastures +new," should not manifest some feeling of opposition. This he had to +meet, in one form or another, during his twenty-five years' residence in +Boston. The writers on musical matters during that period show very +plainly that such was the case, often giving expression to personal +feeling. + +But as a teacher he had no superior, and but few equals, in this +country; and this not only musically speaking, but pedagogically as +well. Horace Mann said he would walk fifty miles to see him teach if he +could not otherwise have that privilege. Secretary Dickinson, of our +State Board of Education, says: "My first notions of what good teaching +is were derived from seeing Lowell Mason give a singing-lesson"; and +this although our honored secretary has no knowledge of musical tones. +George J. Webb, one of the best musicians in Boston, and himself +associated with Mr. Mason for many years as a teacher in the Boston +Academy of Music, said that he had seen him teach hundreds of times, but +never without astonishment at his wonderful power before a class. Dr. +George F. Root says that he always became intensely interested in +listening to Mr. Mason teaching even so simple a thing as the property +of long and short musical sounds. The writer of this sketch was himself +a member of the Boston Academy of Music at its latest session in 1851; +and it is not too much to say that he has never seen any one, from that +day to this, manifest such ability to hold a large class of teachers +and musicians to the consideration of the topic under discussion. + +He was employed by the State Board of Education to teach music in the +normal schools and in the teachers' institutes for many years. Through +his influence singing was introduced into the Boston public schools as a +regular branch of study, which occurred in 1838. He introduced into this +country the inductive method of teaching singing, formulating a system +from the study of Pestalozzi and other eminent European teachers. His +system to this day molds the instruction, to a great extent, throughout +the United States. Modifications have been made, but the principles +which underlie all good elementary instruction in music were undeniably +first inculcated and placed before the people by him. He had, and still +has, a wide reputation; but it is not greater than his genius. + +While we acknowledge with pride the honor bestowed upon the town of his +nativity, on the other hand, we think that this "obscure New England +village" is entitled to some credit for the formative influences which +sent forth such a son. Some one has said: "The first great requisite to +a man's amounting to anything is to be well born." He was born of the +sturdy yeomanry of Medfield. We cannot but think that the influence +emanating from the men, his neighbors and early counselors, who made the +old town what it was a hundred years ago, and what it is even down to +the present, contributes no little to the successful career of him whose +centennial we celebrate to-day. + + + + +PART II + +LISZT'S LETTERS + + + MY DEAR SIR: It will certainly give me great pleasure to see and + hear you again at Weimar, but I trust that you will excuse me if I + do not accept the proposition you make, that of giving you regular + lessons, from which, moreover, I fancy you would have little to + gain. + + As for your idea of settling for some time at Weimar, it would be + well for me to discuss it a little with you before you carry it + out. The distance from Leipsic being so short, it would cause you + but little inconvenience to pay me a short visit here, in the + course of which it will be easy for me to say exactly what I + believe will be best for you. + + Accept, my dear sir, the expression of my feelings of esteem and + consideration for you. + + F. LISZT. + + WEIMAR, August 3, 1851. + + + DEAR MR. MASON: Your welcome letter gives me very hearty pleasure, + and I beg you to rest assured of the continuance of my most + affectionate feelings for you. + + I often hear of your triumphs in America, and I rejoice to know + that your talent is rightly appreciated and praised. Your + compositions have not reached me yet, but I am all ready to make + them very welcome. + + In a fortnight I start for Weimar. The Tonkuenstler Versammlung is + to take place this year at Meiningen, from the 22d to the 25th of + August. I shall attend it, as also the Wartburg Jubilee Festival, + at which my oratorio "Sainte Elisabeth" will be given on the 28th + of August. Perhaps I may meet there Mr. Theodore Thomas and Mr. S. + B. Mills, of whom you have spoken to me. The ability of Mr. Thomas + I have heard highly praised; I have to thank him particularly for + the interest which he takes in my "Poemes Symphoniques." Those + artists who desire to give themselves the trouble of understanding + and interpreting my works are separated, by that alone, from the + ranks of the commonplace. I, more than any one, owe them gratitude, + and I shall not fail to show it to Messrs. Thomas and Mills when I + have the pleasure of making their acquaintance. + + The news which reaches me from time to time of musical things in + America is usually favorable to the cause of the progress of + contemporary art which I am proud to serve and uphold. + + It seems that with you chicanery, blunders, and stupidity of a + criticism perverted by ignorance, envy, and venality, exercise less + influence than in the Old World. I congratulate you on it. May you + successfully follow the noble career of an artist with industry, + perseverance, resignation, modesty, and an unshaken faith in the + Ideal--such as you showed in Weimar, dear Mr. Mason. + + Your truly affectionate and devoted + + FR. LISZT. + + ROME, July 8, 1867. + + + DEAR MR. MASON: Mr. Seward has brought me your welcome letter and + several of your compositions. These give me double pleasure, for + they show that your time at Weimar has not been lost and that you + continue to make good use of it elsewhere. + + "L'Etude de Concert, Op. 9," and "Valse Caprice, Op. 17," are + distinguished in style and of good effect. I can also sincerely + praise the three preludes (Op. 8) and the two ballades, but with + some reservation. The first ballade appears to me a trifle + curtailed. + + There is a certain something lacking at the beginning and toward + the middle (page 7) which is necessary to make the _motif_ stand + out again, and the pastorale of the second ballade (page 7) figures + there rather as padding--_embarras de richesse!_ + + And, since I am criticizing, let me ask why you entitle your "Ah, + vous dirai-je Maman," "Caprice Grotesque"? Beyond the fact that the + grotesque style should not intrude in music, this title does + injustice to the ingenious imitations and harmonies of the piece + which is otherwise so charming; it would be more fitting to call it + "Divertissement" or "Variazione Scherzose." + + As to the "Method," you do not, of course, expect me to make an + exhaustive study of it. I am much too old for that, and it is only + in self-defense that I occasionally try the piano--considering the + incessant fatigue caused me by the indiscretion of a crowd of + people who imagine that nothing can be more flattering to me than + to amuse them! + + Nevertheless, in going through your "Method," I find highly + commendable exercises, notably the _interlocking passages_ (pages + 136-142) _and all the accentuated treatment_ > > > > _of + exercises_. May your pupils and editors derive thence all the + benefit they should. + + A thousand thanks, dear Mr. Mason, and rely on my very affectionate + and devoted feelings as of old. + + F. LISZT. + + ROME, May 26, 1869. + + + It will give me genuine pleasure to see you again, dear Mr. Mason. + Next week I return to Weimar and shall remain there as usual till + the middle of July. + + Therefore, suit the time of your visit to your own convenience. I + beg you to stay for several days at least. + + A thousand affectionate and cordial greetings. + + F. LISZT. + + VIENNA, May 23, 1880. + + + + + +INDEX + + +Allen, Thomas, 95 + +Altenburg, the, Liszt's studio in, 93; + Furstin Sayn-Wittgenstein at, 94; + picture of, 94; + Liszt pupils at, 98, 122 + +Appledore, Isles of Shoals, Mason at, 251-258 + + +Bach, "Triple Concerto," 107; + "les agrements" in, 229; + Rubinstein and, 290; + Essipoff and, 232 + +Bauer, 270 + +Beethoven, first symphonic performance in America, 8, 13, 31; + Remenyi and "Kreutzer Sonata," 93; + Op. 106, 103, and Liszt plays, 104, 105; + "Eroica Symphony," Liszt's contretemps in, 120; + Liszt's "Young Beethoven" (Rubinstein), 171 + +Bellman, 137 + +Benedict, Sir Julius, 84 + +"Benediction de Dieu dans la Solitude" by Liszt, Mason's copy of, 118 + +Bergmann, Carl, 193 + +Berlioz, autograph, 168, 169 + +Blessner, Mr., violinist, 19 + +Bloomfield-Zeisler, 270 + +Boston Academy of Music, 9 + +Bowman, E. M., 261 + +Brahms, 127-142; + in 1853, 127; + first meeting with Liszt, 127-131; + MSS. illegible, 127; + won't play for Liszt, 128; + Liszt plays Op. 4 and part of Op. 1 at sight, 128; + Raff on Op. 4 and B.'s reply, 129; + dozing while Liszt plays, 129; + Liszt annoyed, 130; + wrong accounts of first meeting with Liszt, 130 and 141; + feat in transposing, 131; + and Schumann, 132; + Mason's meeting with in Bonn in 1880, 136; + pianoforte-playing, Mason's opinion of, 137, and of compositions, 139; + Liszt's coolness toward, 142, 194, 267, 268, 270 + +Brockway, Howard, 261 + +Brodsky, 151 + +Buck, Dudley, 261 + +Bull, Ole, 148, 149; + autograph, 150 + +Buellow, Hans von, 91 + +Bulow, Von, 182, 238-241; + letter to Mason, 239; + statement about Cosima and Wagner, 240; + autograph, 240 + +Burmeister, Richard, 270 + + +Carreno, Teresa, 270 + +Chadwick, George W., 261 + +Chamber-music concerts, Mason's, 193-197 + +Chickering, Jonas, 19 + +Chopin, style of playing, 75, 171, 244 + +Clauss, Wilhelmine, 64 + +Cornelius, Peter, 145-147 + +Cossmann, Bernhard, 63, 92, 150 + + +David, Ferdinand, 134 + +Devitalized muscular action, its importance in piano-playing discussed, 20 + +Diary, Mason's, at Weimar, 122-126 + +Dodworth's Hall, 194 + +Dohnanyi, Ernst von, 263; + new symphony, 264 + +Dreyschock, 65-79; + octave-playing, 66; + on Chopin's pianoforte-playing, 75, and Henselt, 77 + +Dyer, Oliver, 184 + + +Eichberg, Isidor, 252 + +Eichberg, Julius, 253 + +Erard pianoforte, Liszt's, 88, 92 + +Ernst, 149 + + +Fontaine, Mortier de, Beethoven-player, 31 + +Foote, Arthur, 261 + +Franck, Cesar, 122 + +Friedheim, Arthur, 270 + + +Gabrilowitsch, 269 + +Geilfuss, Louis, 182 + +Godowsky, 265 + +"Goldene Zeit" at Weimar, 97, 122 + +Gottschalk, 183, 205-209; + "The Latest Hops," 208; + Characteristic letter and autograph, 208 + +Grange, De la, 154, 157 + +Grieg, 241; + autograph, 244 + +Groenvelt, Mr., violoncellist, 19 + + +Handel and Haydn Society, Boston, early repertoire of, 7 + +Handel's "E Minor Fugue," Mason's copy of, 119, 123 + +Harvard Musical Association, repertoire of, 1846, 19 + +Hauptmann, Moritz, 44; + passion for baked apples, 45; + _Spiegel-Canon_ autograph, 45 and 48; + opinion of Lowell Mason's work, 46 + +Heckmann, 137 + +"Heinrich, Father," anecdote of, 22 + +Henselt, 75, and Dreyschock, 77 + +_Herrmann_, steamer, 27 + +Hill, Frank, 27 + +Hoffman, Carl, 95 + +Hoffman, Richard, 207 + +Hofmann, Josef, 271 + +Hummel, 172 + +Huss, Henry Holden, 271 + + +Joachim, 62; + autograph, 64, 109, 124, 126, 137; + coolness between Liszt and, 142, 147 + + +Kelley, Edgar Stillman, 261 + +Klauser, Karl, 202 + +Klindworth, Karl, 89, 91, 97, 100, 107, 109, 114, 127, 141 + +Kneisel Quartet, autograph, 262 + +Kobbe, Gustav, X + + +Laub, Ferdinand, 63, 92, 126, 150; + autograph, 180 + +Leschetitsky, 70 + +Liszt, feat of memory, 31-34, 59; + Mason a pupil, and reminiscences of, 86-182; + in middle life, portrait, 88; + method of teaching, 90, 97-101, 114; + quartet at the Altenburg, 91, and Remenyi, 93, 152; + Liszt pupils, 89, 96; + personal appearance, 101; + and Beethoven's Op. 106, 103; + and the eye-glasses, 106; + carefulness in dress, 107; + pianoforte-playing, 110-114; + touch and own opinion of, 114; + warns pupils against, _id._; + on technic, 116; + and Pixis, 117; + as a conductor, 119; + rehearsing "Tasso," 121; + and Brahms's first meeting, 127-132, 141; + and Wagner, 132, 158, 164; + Joachim and, 142; + sight-reading, 142; + contrition, 144; + musical intuition, 167; + opinion of Tausig, 175; + letters to Mason, 179, 181, and 291-296; + last message to Mason, 182, 184, 198, 224, 229, 243, 270; + "Sainte Elisabeth," 292; + "Poemes Symphoniques," 293; + opinion of Mason's compositions, 294 + +Liszt, Cosima, 240 + +Lohengrin, 133, 134, 139, 146 + + +MacDowell, 255; + "Sonata Tragica," 255; + "Sonata Eroica," 256, 261 + + +Marx, Dr., 165 + +Mason Brothers, 184 + +Mason, Lowell, 4; + career of, 5-10 and 275 _et seq._; + Handel and Haydn Society, 7; + introduces music in Boston public schools, 8, 289; + musical instruction for the blind, 8; + Boston Academy of Music, 9; + originates musical conventions, 9; + fife and drum serenade to, 25; + work praised by Moritz Hauptmann, 46; + address on, by William S. Tilden, 275; + ancestry of, 276; + at Medfield, Mass., 277; + portrait, 277; + nearly drowned, 279; + commences teaching, 282; + religious views, 285; + tact and shrewdness, 285; + magnetism as a teacher, 286 + +Mason, William, portrait, 1899, frontispiece; + ancestry of, 3; + born at Boston, 3; + early musical training, 10; + meets Webster and Clay, 11, 12; + portrait as a boy, 12; + debut as pianist, 13; + piano lesson, 14, 15; + hints on touch, 16-18; + plays with Harvard Musical Association, 18; + hears Leopold de Meyer, 19; + portrait at eighteen, 20; + and "Father Heinrich," 22; + meets Miss Webb, 26; + sails for Bremen, 27; + in Paris, 27; + meets Meyerbeer, 28; + in Hamburg, 31; + goes to Leipsic, 31; + first meeting with Liszt, 33; + arrives at Leipsic, 34; + concert of the Euterpe Society changes his + high opinion of German musical taste, 34, 35; + begins studies with Moscheles, 36; + contrasts Schumann and Mendelssohn, 43; + calls on Schumann and secures his autograph, 43, 44; + contrasts personalities of Wagner and Schumann, 44; + pupil of Moritz Hauptmann, 44; + of Ernst Friedrich Richter, 48; + acquaintance with Albert Wagner, 48; + call on Richard Wagner in Zurich and interview, 48; + impressions of Wagner, 50; + Wagner writes the dragon motive for him as an autograph, 55; + compares Moscheles and Paderewski, 59; + first meeting with Joachim and opinion of, 62; + hears Schumann's "First Symphony," 63, and pianoforte concerto, 63, 64; + comment on, 64; + decides to study with Dreyschock in Prague, 65; + passport difficulties, 65; + opinion of Dreyschock, 66; + remarkable pianistic feat of Dreyschock, 67; + upper-arm muscles in pianoforte-playing, 69; + comment on Leschetitsky's method, 70; + acquaintance with Jules Schulhoff, 71; + amusing experiences at Prince de Rohan's dinner, 71; + goes to Frankfort, 79; + meets Beethoven's friend Schindler, 79; + London debut, 84; + Mendelssohn's influence in England, 84; + again calls on Liszt at Weimar, 86; + mistaken for wine agent, 87; + plays for Liszt, 88; + becomes a pupil of Liszt, 89; + dines with the Wittgensteins, 95; + acquaintance with Raff and Klindworth, 96; + first lesson with Liszt, 98; + fatigue after, 100; + breakfast to Joachim and Wieniawski, 109; + opinion of Liszt's playing, 111; + M.'s copy of Liszt's "Benediction de Dieu dans la Solitude" + and Handel's "E Minor Fugue," 118, 119; + attends with Liszt rehearsal of "Tasso," 121; + extracts from Weimar diary, 122-125; + present at Brahms's first meeting with Liszt and description of, 127; + attends Leipsic premiere of "Lohengrin," 133; + supper at Ferdinand David's, 134; + "Kapellmeister of New York," 135; + meets Brahms at Bonn, 136; + opinion of Brahms as pianist and composer, 137-141; + acquaintance with Cornelius, 145; + reminiscences and opinion of Joachim, Vieuxtemps, Ole Bull, Sivori, + Ernst, Wilhelmj, Henri Wieniawski, Laub, Cossmann, and Brodsky, 147-151; + acquaintance with Remenyi, 93, 151; + reminiscences and opinion of Tedesco, Perelli, Sontag, + Johanna Wagner, and De la Grange, 153-158; + becomes a "Murl"; + opinion of Wagner, 159; + reminiscences of Raff, 161-164; + sees Berlioz conduct, 168; + opinion of, 169; + opinion of Beethoven, Chopin, and Schumann, 170, 171; + entertains Rubinstein at Weimar, 171; + compares him with Hambourg, 174; + letters from Liszt to, 176, also Appendix, Part II, p. 291 _et seq._; + messages from Liszt to, 181, 182; + return to America, 183; + marriage, 183; + concert tour, 183-190; + combines "Yankee Doodle" and "Old Hundred," 187; + teaching in New York, 191; + inaugurates chamber-music concerts, 193; + first program, 194; + "Mason and Thomas Quartet," 196; + concert at Farmington, Conn., 202; + reminiscences of Gottschalk, 205, and Schumann's music, 209; + describes Thalberg's playing, 210; + reminiscences of Rubinstein and opinion of, 221-236; + and Von Bulow, 238; + letter from Von Bulow to, 239; + meeting with Grieg, 241; + discusses piano technic, tempo, pitch, etc., 243-251; + studio, 248; + at Isles of Shoals, 251-258; + opinion of Von Dohnanyi, 263; + Godowsky, 265; + Gabrilowitsch, 269; + Bauer, 270; + Friedheim, 270 + +Mason-Thomas Quartet, portrait group, 196 + +Matthews, W. S. B., 261 + +Matzka, George, 194 + +Mayer, Carl, 31, 65 + +Mendelssohn, exaggerated worship of, 37; + friendship with Moscheles, 37; + thought greater than Beethoven, 37; + influence in England, 85 + +Meyer, Leopold de, Mason's recollections of, 19; + beauty of tone, 20; + New York concerts and anecdote, 21, 69, 211-215 + +Meyerbeer, meeting of with William Mason, 28; + rehearsing "Le Prophete", 30 + +Mills, S. B., 292 + +Moscheles, 27; + autograph, 32; + practises Beethoven in secret, 36; + opposes his daughter's playing Chopin, 37; + intimacy with Mendelssohn, 37; + entertains Schumann, anecdote, 42; + pianoforte-playing, 57; + silver wedding, 61 + +Mosenthal, Joseph, 194 + +Mozart, 250 + +"Murls," the, 158 + +Musical conventions, origin of, 9 + +Musical pedigree, 180 + +Music in America to-day, 259-272 + + +Ohe, Adele aus der, 270 + + +Paderewski, 60; + fantasy on "Yankee Doodle," 236; + autograph, 236 + +Paine, John K., 252, 261 + +Parker, Horatio W., 261 + +Parker, J. C. D., 135 + +"Parsifal," Liszt's tribute to, 133 + +Pedal, hints on use of, 215-221; + study, 219 + +Perelli, 154 + +Perkins, Charles C., 135 + +Philharmonic Society, New York, 262 + +Pitch, positive, 247; + Thomas's ear for, 251 + +Pixis, 117 + +Pruckner, Dionys, 89, 91, 100, 107, 114, 125, 135 + +Pupils, unusual, 246 + + +Raff, 89, 91, 96; + friendship for Mason, 97, 124, 129, 133; + in Weimar, 161-164; + Mason's first impression of, 161; + poverty, 162; + arrested for debt, 162; + prison + comforts, 162; + pianoforte-playing, 162; + as a composer, 163; + and Wagner propaganda, 134, 142, 144, 164 + +Remenyi and the "Kreutzer Sonata," 93; + Liszt rebukes, 94; + on Liszt's playing, 112; + visits Liszt with Brahms, 127, 130, 151-153 + +Rhythmus exercises, 191 + Moscheles on, 193 + +Richter, Ernst Friedrich, 48 + +Rohan, Prince de, 71-75 + +Rubinstein and Princess Marie Sayn-Wittgenstein, 95; + on Liszt's playing, 111; + Liszt's contrition, 144; + Mason entertains at Weimar in 1854, 171; + plays, 173; + opposition to Wagner, 174; + Liszt's opinion of, 175, 180, 221-236; + and the autograph-hunter, 221; + opinion of Americans, 222; + style of playing, 224; + favorite seat, 227; + Bach's "Triple Concerto," 230; + significant autograph, 232, 234; + "Yankee Doodle" variations, 236, 268 + + +Sanford, S. S., 261 + +Sayn-Wittgenstein, Furstin, 94; + Princess Marie, 95 + +Schindler, Anton, 79; + "Ami de Beethoven," 80; + autograph, 80; + and "Fifth Symphony," 81; + persuaded to meet Von Wartensee, 82, and denouement, 83 + +Schlesinger, 33; + daughter plays Chopin, 33 + +Schmidt, Henry, conducts first Beethoven symphony in America, 9, 13-15, 19 + +Schubert, 125, 169 + +Schuberth, Julius, 27, 31, 32 + +Schulhoff, 112 + +Schumann, his life at Leipsic, 38; + autograph, 38; + not appreciated, 39; + Mason's enthusiasm on hearing S.'s "First Symphony," 40; + Mason sends score to Boston, 40; + attempts there to play it, 40; + Webb's opinion of it, 41; + S. laughed at by his publisher's clerks, 41; + as a conductor, 41; + absent-mindedness, 42; + compared with Mendelssohn by Mason, 43; + Mason calls on him, 43; + second call and autograph, 44; + Mason contrasts the personalities of S. and Wagner, 44; + a minor concerto, 63; 132, 136, 137, 171, 209 + +Schumann, Clara, 43; + autograph, 44 + +Shelley, H. R., 261 + +Sherwood, William H., 261 + +Sontag, Henriette, and autograph, 154 + +Stange, Adolph, Weimar reminiscences of, 165-168 + +Stavenhagen, 112 + +Stoerr, 92 + + +"Tasso," Liszt at rehearsal of, 121 + +Tausig, 175, 176 + +Tedesco, 154 + +Tempo, hints on, 243-247; + Chopin, electrocuting, 244; + rubato, 246 + +Thalberg, 75; + and Chopin, 76, 210; + autograph, 212 + +Thaxter, Celia, 252-258 + +Theimer, 117 + +Thomas, Theodore, 111, 194; + at twenty, 195; + genius of conductorship, 196; + Mason and Thomas Quartet, 196; + as a violinist, 197; + a great conductor, 198; + confidence in himself, 200; + portrait at twenty-four, 200; + contribution to Mason calendar, 202; + ear for positive pitch, 251, 292 + +Timm, Henry C., 58 + +Tomaschek, 66-70 + +Tracy, James M., 95 + + +Vieuxtemps, autograph, 144, 148 + + +Wagner, Albert, 48, 49 + +Wagner, Johanna, 154, 156 + +Wagner, Richard, 48; + "Wer ist da?" 49; + receives William Mason, 49; + appearance in 1852, 50; + compares Beethoven and Mendelssohn, 51; + tribute to Beethoven, 52; + lively manner, 54; + gives Mason his autograph, 55, 56, 132, 133; + Wagner cause in Weimar, 159; + Mason on, 159, 179 + +Walbruehl, 92 + +Webb, George James, 8; + and Boston Academy of Music, 9; + opinion of Schumann, 41 + +Webb, Miss, 26; + engaged and married to William Mason, 183 + +Weber, Dionysius, 36 + +Weimar, 86; + Mason's reminiscences of Liszt at 86-182 + +Whiting, Arthur, 261, 271 + +Wieniawski, Henri, 109, 123, 124; + at Weimar, 126, 150, 223 + +Wilhelmj, 150 + + +"Yankee Doodle" and "Old Hundred," Mason asked to combine, 187, 189 + + * * * * * + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] In a letter written twenty-four years later, in 1878, Liszt says of +"Parsifal": "The composition of the first act is finished; in it are +revealed the most wondrous depths and the most celestial heights of +art." + +[2] As I have elsewhere stated, I was the first to meet Rubinstein in +Weimar, while Liszt was away. + +[3] He was at Moscow, being first professor of pianoforte-playing at the +Conservatory there. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Memories of a Musical Life, by William Mason + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMORIES OF A MUSICAL LIFE *** + +***** This file should be named 35520.txt or 35520.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/5/0/35520/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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