THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA COLLEGE PRESENTED BY Miss Pearl Chase 7YO THE LURE OF MUSIC V? HANDEL, 1685-1759. The Lure of Music Picturing the Human Side of Great Composers, with Stories of Their Inspired Creations BY OLIN DOWNES Portraits by CHASE EMERSON HARPER y BROTHERS PUBLISHERS NEW YORK AND LONDON THE LURE OF Music Copyright, 1918, 192% by Harper & Brothers Printed in the United States of America \\ f\ i ' SANTA' BAKi^ARA COLLEGE ^1A FOREWORD FRIEND of mine had a graphophone which he oc- casionally enjoyed. He used to say that he "wasn't musical" but he "knew what he liked" His repertory was small, but pleasing to him, since, thanks to the records, he had become acquainted with some half- dozen pieces of fairly good music, and could even whistle scraps of them from memory. He never knew how musical he was until he chanced one day on a paragraph in a book his daughter was read- ing, about one of the compositions that he liked. He sud- denly realized that this composition told the story of an episode in the life of another man, a human being who lived, struggled, rejoiced, and narrated his experiences in the language of tones. Having read the story, he played the record over again, and discovered that it meant far more to him than it ever had before. He wondered whether there were stories about his other records, and after much searching obtained a little information on the subject that now absorbed his teisure moments. He then invited a number of friends to his home and read them the stories of the records which he played. His friends were delighted and surprised to discover all that the music, thus explained, meant to them. When my friend told me this, he convinced me that a great need of to-day is a book which shall bring to every home the treasures of the musical world. It is to him and to his friends, and to all those who love music and wish to know its meaning, that this book is dedicated, in the belief that they will find in the messages of the masters the enjoyment, solace, and inspiration in- tended for every human heart. The Author. The author wishes to thank the Columbia Grapho- phone Company for extending him the use of its records to serve as musical illustrations of the following chapters. In no other way could he so effectively bring to his readers the beauty and meaning of music. Grateful acknowledgment is herewith tendered to FRANCIS WINANS GIBSON for the original idea and the helpful co-operation which have led to the completion of this work. CONTENTS PAGE FOREWORD vii GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL 1 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH 11 GIOACHINO ANTONIO ROSSINI 15 GAETANO DONIZETTI 29 VINCENZO BELLINI 38 GIUSEPPE VERDI 46 LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN 77 FRANZ PETER SCHUBERT 88 FELIX MENDELSSOHN 98 FREDERIC FRANCOIS CHOPIN 108 FRANZ LISZT 118 HECTOR BERLIOZ 125 RICHARD WAGNER 132 AMBROISE THOMAS 154 CHARLES FRANCOIS GOUNOD 160 JACQUES OFFENBACH 170 LEO DELIBES 176 GEORGES BIZET 182 GIACOMO PUCCINI 192 PIETRO MASCAGNI 205 RUGGIERO LEONCAVALLO 209 JULES FREDERIC MASSENET 215 CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS . . 225 MODERN FRENCH COMPOSERS . 232 ANTONIN DVORAK 241 EDVARD GRIEG 247 ANTON RUBINSTEIN 258 PETER ILJITCH TSCHAIKOWSKY 263 MODERN RUSSIAN COMPOSERS 275 AMERICAN COMPOSERS 286 FOLK-SONGS 300 "KV V ooq I\ K 1 .................... OO PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY 325 RECORD INDEX 348 ILLUSTRATIONS GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL, 1685-1759 Frontispiece ROSSINI, 1792-1868 Facing p. 16 DONIZETTI, 1797-1848 " 30 BELLINI, 1801-1835 " 38 VERDI, 1813-1901 " 46 CHOPIN, 1810-1849 " 108 LISZT, 1811-1886 " us BERLIOZ, 1803-1869 " 126 THOMAS, 1811-1896 " 154 GOUNOD, 1818-1893 " 160 OFFENBACH, 1819-1880 " 170 DELIBES, 1836-1891 " 176 BIZET, 1838-1875 " 182 PUCCINI, 1858 " 192 MASCAGNI, 1863 " 206 LEONCAVALLO, 1858 " 210 MASSENET, 1842-1912 " 216 SAINT-SAENS, 1835 " 226 CHABRIER, 1842-1894 " 234 CHARPENTIER, 1860 " 236 DVORAK, 1841-1904 " 242 GRIEG, 1843-1907 " 248 RUBINSTEIN, 1830-1894 " 258 TSCHAIKOWSKY, 1840-1893 " 264 GLINKA, 1804-1857 " 276 MOUSSORGSKY, 1839-1881 " 278 RlMSKY-KoRSAKOFF, 1844-1908 " 280 MACDOWELL, 1861-1908 " 288 ETHELBERT NEVIN, 1862-1901 " 292 THE LURE OF MUSIC THE LURE OF MUSIC GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL was a full- blooded, adventurous, practical man, who swung through life magnificently and compelled every- body to acknowledge his genius. As student, traveler, duelist, opera manager, favorite of courts and friend of kings, he was tremendous! He went about clad in knee breeches, powdered wig, and the rest of eighteenth- century fashion. He quarreled and enterprised and speculated. He composed with furious rapidity in every form known to his time, and was one of the few great masters who did not have to die to become famous. Because of his oratorio, "The Messiah," Handel is commonly thought of as a religious composer. Religious he was, but not in the sectarian sense. He wrote more operas than he wrote oratorios. He knew life and loved it. His religious music is the exultant song of the Warrior of the Faith, who takes blows and gives them, chanting the while his assurance of the ultimate victory. Handel's father, a barber-surgeon, wished his son to become a lawyer. That was an estimable profession, whereas the ordinary musician of the day was a mounte- bank, a scalawag, or worse. When George Frederick showed an unmistakable fondness for musical toys they were taken away from him. He was forbidden even to listen to singing or playing. According to the story, an aunt smuggled a spinet up into the garret, and THE LURE OF MUSIC George Frederick would steal away to the loft and play to himself by the hour. A day came when his father decided to visit the local duke, who was known to be a patron of music. Handel was forbidden to go, but he ran after his father's coach for miles, through town, through country, until at last, when it was too late to send him home, he was taken in. Handel gained an audience with the duke, improvised for him, and the duke became the ally of his ambitions. It was an occurrence typical of the energy and the stubbornness which Handel showed all his life where his purposes were concerned. An impetuous, powerful character, who could not fail! Handel became a pupil of Zachau, organist of the cathedral at Halle, Handel's home town. At the end of three years Zachau announced that his pupil knew more than he did. Thus Handel, when he went out into the world in 1703 as a youth of eighteen, was already well equipped as a composer. He entered the orchestra of the opera house at Hamburg, amusing himself and at first deceiving the players by affecting to know nothing. He made a warm friend of George Mattheson, a composer, critic, and a singer of brilliant gifts. It was Mattheson's habit, when his own opera, "Anthony and Cleopatra," was being performed, to go on the stage as Anthony, then, after the death of that hero, return to his seat at the harpsichord and conduct the orchestra through the rest of the performance. Handel, seated one night in Mattheson's place, refused to give up his position. There were hot words, Matthe- son slapped Handel's face, and the quarrel was finished in front of the theater before a crowd of cheering spec- tators. It is said that a button on Handel's coat saved him from the sword-thrust of Mattheson. The two made it up later; Mattheson assisted enthusiastically in the production of Handel's first opera, "Almira," pro- duced with signal success in 1705. But Handel found himself the butt of jealousies and intrigues, and decided to go to Italy. Nothing could have been more providential. In his travels Handel consorted with artists and great men of every sort. Italian society was then particularly brilliant and stimulating to the creative mind, and in Italy Handel learned to combine with the science already his the warm beauty of Italian song. He made a sensation as a virtuoso as well as a com- poser. It was Scarlatti, himself a celebrated player of the harpsichord, who said, when Handel sat down to play at a masked ball, "That is either the devil or the Saxon" as Handel was called in Italy. "The Saxon" came to London, to the country which he was soon to adopt as his own, in 1710. The following year he made a sensation with his opera, "Rinaldo." We talk to-day about the extravagance of operatic production. In this production hundreds of living birds made their appearance in the scene of the gardens of the enchantress Armida, and Addison complained of it in the Spectator, "Instead of perching on the trees and performing their parts, these young actors either get into the galleries or put out the candles!" Every lover of Handel is familiar with the noble antique melody of the maiden, Almirenda, as she laments the power of Armida over her lover, Rinaldo. In many pages of his early work Handel stands re- vealed as one of the world's greatest melodists. That his operas have not held the stage is due probably to conventional libretti which he tried in vain to vitalize with his music. Handel had come to London on leave from the Elector of Hanover. He was late returning. His absence made trouble for him, and in the meantime this same elector because George I of England. Handel conciliated the 2 3 THE LURE OF MUSIC king by composing twenty-five pieces for a water fete given by that monarch, and conducting their perform- ance in a barge which followed the king's boat pieces known ever after as the "Water Music." At first, settled in London, Handel was very fortunate. He became music teacher of the daughters of the Prince of Wales, and it was for his pupil, Princess Anne, that he wrote the harpsichord piece, "The Harmonious Blacksmith." He was for years chapelmaster of the Duke of Chandos. He might easily have continued in sinecure after sinecure, but that was not Handel. He was made of different stuff. In 1720 he entered on a phase of his career which exposed him as never before to the buffets of fortune. Handel became director of an opera company, the "Royal Academy of Music," of which the king as well as the greater number of the aristocracy were patrons. In the company was also a rival composer, Bononcini. Promptly there developed a Handel-Bononcini feud, and the journalists of the day were merry. Thus John Byrom of Lancashire: "Some say, compar'd to Bononcini That Mynheer Handel's but a ninny; Others aver that to him Handel Is scarcely fit to hold a candle: Strange, all this difference there should be 'Twixt Tweedledum and Tweedledee!" There were more sensational events in store. Handel invested in opera stars as recklessly and pretentiously as any Grau or Hammerstein. He brought from Italy the coloratura soprano Cuzzoni. She was capricious and vain as a parrot, fearing neither God nor man, compelling managers until she met Handel and public alike to bow to her follies. Handel hauled her like a sack of meal to an open window. He pointed downward. He said, in German-English of his own, "Matam, I 4 THE LURE OF MUSIC know dat you are a she deffil, but I vill haf you know dat I ana Beelzebub, te chief of all te deffils!" and threatened to throw her down if she did not sing his music as he commanded. Cuzzoni obeyed. She reigned in London about seven years. Then Handel brought over her rival, Faustina, and there never were such scenes. The polite world, even royalty itself, took sides in the ridiculous quarrels of these two women, until at last, when Bononcini's opera, "Asty- anax," was produced, there was such commotion that not a note of Cuzzoni's first solo could be heard. When it came Faustina's turn there was a riot in the theater. Oaths, challenges, fisticuffs were exchanged on the spot. Lords and ladies forgot themselves, and finally Faustina flung herself at Cuzzoni, and they had it out, tooth and nail. For the moment the box office triumphed, but in the end, in spite of all he could do, Handel's company failed. He spent his fortune in backing a fresh organization, which also went to the wall. He composed his "Xerxes," an opera, or semi-opera, in 1737, as payment of a debt to Heiddiger, whose partner he had been and to whom he now found himself under obligation. This is the opera which contains Handel's most famous melody, "Ombra mai fu," universally known and loved as the "Largo." Imagine a man paying a debt of a few pounds with a score containing such music! Because of its stateliness and dignity many have believed the "Largo" to be a religious air. If religion is gratitude to God for nature, they are right, but Handel's intention was secular. He was writing for the stage. Xerxes enters his garden in the heat of the day. He sinks down under a plane tree and sings a song of gratitude for its beneficent shade. When the meaning of this air is realized it becomes the more eloquent the peace of the hour, the blessed com- fort of the shade! As for the title, "Largo," it is 5 THE LURE OF MUSIC simply a direction in the score, indicating a slow move- ment. Columbia records of several excellent arrange- ments of the melody are here appended. " Largo " from " Xerxes " Played by Pablo Casals ('cellist). Columbia Record 49802 Played by Gatty Sellers (pipe organ), Columbia Record A 6004 Played by Prince's Orchestra. Columbia Record A 5736 Handel was now in the depths of misfortune. He lay in his bed, partially paralyzed. Former friends of a moment, seeing him vanquished, were prompt to heap all manner of abuse upon him. It was only the interest of the Princess of Wales, friendly, like her father, to Handel, that saved him from being cast into prison for debt. But he was never so great as when faced by apparently insurmountable odds. He went to Aix-la- Chapelle, took the baths, and returned to London, ready for the fray. It was at this time, and reluctantly, that he turned definitely to the form of the oratorio. He had produced "Esther," an oratorio, while chapelmaster for Chandos, also the masque, "Acis and Galatea," which had characteristics of oratorio, but these works were incidental to the composition of operas and other music. Only bitter disaster led Handel, at the age of fifty-three, to undertake that style of composition in which, above all others, he was to become immortal. It should be said here that the oratorio and the opera originated at about the same time toward the end of the sixteenth century. The purpose of the one form was religious, of the other dramatic. The principal dis- tinctions between the two forms are that opera is music drama, performed by singers and instrumentalists, with costumes and scenery, in the theater; while oratorio is the musical setting of a sacred poem, often of a dramatic character, performed by singers and orchestra, without action, costumes, or scenery, in the church or concert hall. 6 THE LURE OF MUSIC Handel composed his oratorio, "Saul," in 1738. The "Dead March" from this work is one of the most impres- sive lamentations in music. It is played as the death of Saul and Jonathan is announced to David. The sor- row of the music is the sorrow of strong men. The march has this harmonic peculiarity, that, unlike most music expressive of sadness, it is in a major, not a minor key. The simple, strong, expressive character of this march are characteristic of much of Handel's music. It is not subtle or introspective, but rather the manly, direct, unpretentious expression of deep feeling. Handel's music, furthermore, never loses the sense of sunshine and open air. In the finest sense of the word, it remains always music for the people. The success of "Saul," however, did not suffice to save Handel, who had offended many by his outspoken- ness and independence, from the plots and cabals which sprang up against him on every hand. Men were paid to pull down the placards in the streets which announced his concerts. He was almost ready to confess himself defeated and seek fortune elsewhere than in England when he announced a farewell concert for April 8, 1741. He did not know that his disasters were at an end. "NVilliam Cavendish, fourth Duke of Devon and Lieu- tenant Director of Ireland, invited Handel to come to Dublin and give performances of his works. Handel, in order, as he said, "to offer this generous and polished nation something new," composed "The Messiah," which he completed in twenty -three days, to a text by Charles Jennens. The first performance was in Dublin, on the 13th of April, 1742. The fashionable audience received a request that the ladies would discard their hoopskirts, and the gentlemen their swords, in order to make more room for the public. The work had an overwhelming success. It remains to-day the best known of all oratorios. It is the supreme manifestation 7 THE LURE OF MUSIC of the human and dramatic quality of Handel's genius. For "The Messiah" is not a sermon, but an immortal song; not a treatise on religious doctrine, but a poem of human redemption, a vast, inspired setting of the greatest story ever told. The text is taken literally from the Bible. The work is divided in three parts. The first tells of the longing of the world for the Messiah, and of His coming. The second tells of the suffering, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus. The third is a dec- laration of the deepest principles of the Christian faith. Handel wrote the Pastoral Symphony, which fellows the chorus, "Unto us a child is born," after an air which he heard the shepherds of the Abruzzi play on their pipes one Christmas night on the hills outside Rome. The simple little piece is unique in the literature of oratorio. No text is required to tell us what it means, for the very spirit of the moment is upon us the birth in the manger, and the shepherds who watched their flocks by night. The climax of the oratorio comes with the "Halle- lujah" chorus, of which Handel himself said, "I did think I saw all heaven before me, and the great God Himself." All of Handel's inspiration, all his skill, are embodied in this triumphal outpouring. When this chorus was sung in Covent Garden, London, in 1743, the effect was so sublime that the king, followed as a matter of course by the audience, rose to his feet, an act which has become a custom whenever this music is performed in English-speaking countries. " Hallelujah " Chorus Sung by Columbia Chorus Columbia Record A 5802 Through "The Messiah" and the oratorios which followed it Handel's position became firm and incontest- able in England. He composed in all fifty -one operas, 8 THE LURE OF MUSIC twenty-three oratorios, and over seventy other composi- tions. His inspiration fairly ran away with him. Copies of his scores are extant which show that he could scarcely write rapidly enough to keep up with his ideas. He adopted a kind of musical shorthand as a matter of necessity. It is true that he more than once utilized the idea of other composers, a matter in which there was a good deal of license in his time. Some one called him "the grand old thief." But when Handel took another man's idea he made more of it than its originator had dreamed of. He gave the gem its rightful setting. A great many creative artists, among them one William Shakespeare, have done the same thing. Before Handel died he was stricken blind. He was composing the chorus, "O Lord, how dark are thy ways" for his oratorio, "Jephthah," when an eye failed him and he had to stop work for a time. Ten days later he resumed his labors, and composed some of his noblest music to these prophetic lines, "Grief follows joy as night the day." When he finished the oratorio, in 1751, his sight was gone. Conducting a performance of "Samson" the following year, Handel was seen by a deeply moved audience to tremble and grow pale as the lament of Samson, "Total Eclipse," in which he has so wonderfully sounded the complaint of the sightless hero, was sung. On April 6, 1759, he took the organ, blind as he was, to play during a performance of "The Messiah." His strength failed him in the middle of the movement, but, recovering, he improvised with his accustomed and incomparable grandeur. When he arrived home he took to bed, saying, "I want to die on Good Friday, in the hope of rejoining the good God, my sweet Lord and Saviour, on the day of His resurrec- tion." He passed away, in fact, at eight o'clock in the morning of Holy Saturday, April 14th. The glory of the grand old warrior grew ever greater. In accordance THE LURE OF MUSIC with his wish he was buried in Westminster Abbey. There, to-day, the sun gleaming down through one of the long windows falls athwart his statue, and a page of music, on which is inscribed the first line of the song, "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth." JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH AT the window of a little cottage in Thuringia, by the faint light of the moon, the boy Bach copied music. There was no other way to get the scores which he coveted. His elder brother had forbidden him to touch them. Night after night, for six months, he toiled. Gradually he accumulated a library, to him beyond price. Then his brother discovered Bach at work, took from him the precious manuscripts, and it was years before the lad saw the music again. This was an episode in the boyhood of John (Johann) Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) "Old Bach," as he is called to-day by musicians who revere his name and was perhaps the cause of the blindness which came upon him in his last years. But Bach persisted in his studies. It was impossible to divert him from the pursuit of his purpose. He became the greatest of a family of genera- tions of musicians perhaps the greatest musician who ever lived. To him, in the words of Robert Schumann, "music owes as great a debt as religion to its Founder." Bach was the father of twenty children and of compo- sitions without number. His life was a quiet gray. His career is a succession of positions as organist and choir- master in different corners of Germany in the environ- ment of the hard times that followed the Thirty Years War. He composed indefatigably, spinning music as a spider spins his web. His neighbors thought him a little queer, but respected his attainments, and they got along very well. That his music was not estimated at its true worth while he lived concerned the master 11 THE LURE OF MUSIC very little. Careless of the opinions of his contempo- raries, he labored on. A few musicians held him in awe, and one day Frederick the Great invited Bach to play the flute with him, but it was a hundred years after Bach's death before the scope and sublimity of his genius were realized. No doubt Bach's hardships had much to do with his profoundly religious spirit. That he was forced to thrift will be realized from a citation of the yearly salary which he received as organist at Miihlhausen eighty-five gulden, or about fifty-two dollars in money; twelve bushels of corn; three pounds of fish; two cords of wood; six trusses of brushwood in place of some tilled land owned by the former organist. In addition, as a special favor, the council of the church agreed to loan him a cart to bring his belongings from Arnstad. Bach, nevertheless, contrived to work his way, a pious, upright, though two-fisted citizen, and to owe no man a penny. He married twice and had wonderful help- mates in his wives. Both of them were excellent mu- sicians who did copying for him and sang and played his music in intervals of bringing up the families. A substantial lot! And Bach created beautiful and sub- stantial music, music as different from the stuff turned out by the average composer of to-day as the firm-woven cloths of Bach's period were different from the shoddy now sold at bargain counters. One of Bach's simplest and most beautiful melodies is the famous "Air for the G String," which has among Bach's compositions about the place that the celebrated "Largo" holds among the compositions of Handel. It was originally written as a movement for orchestra, but gained its name from the fact that the virtuoso Wilhelmj arranged it as a solo piece to be played on the G string of the violin. It is a melody which grows always more eloquent as one listens, not only because of its noble 12 THE LURE OF MUSIC beauty, but also because of the wisdom, the tenderness, the profound knowledge of life which speak from every measure. "Air for the G String" (From Suite in D Major) Played by Pablo Casals Columbia Record 49814 The writer remembers an old Dutch picture which comes up in his mind whenever he listens to this melody of Bach. It is a picture of an old woman at the window of her simple home. Outside, the glory of a sunset tinges the sky. Within, an open Bible on her knees, sits the grandmother, the struggles of life behind her, the day's work done, in her heart the thankfulness and peace that pass human understanding. Of course Bach had no idea of this picture when, as chapelmaster of the Duke of Cothen, he turned out his wonderful composi- tion as a mere detail of the day's work. But the picture surely expresses the meaning of Bach's music. . . . A noted musician said to the writer: "I am told that Shakespeare had as universal a mind as Bach, as much imagination, as much understanding of life and human nature. But I can't believe it!" Bach wrote his preludes and fugues and suites and oratorios, his pieces for clavichord the instrument which preceded the modern piano and his vast, thunderous organ compositions, as readily, when it came to the technic of it, as you or I would write a letter. Yet his technic became only the vehicle of his vision, and in his works can be found most of the ultramodern harmonies discoverable in the music of to-day. He peered forward, with the gaze of a seer, into coming ages. He summed up in his incredible accomplishment all that hundreds of lesser men had toiled and struggled through the centuries to prepare for the coming of such a prophet. Generations of musicians have since chipped off little 13 THE LURE OF MUSIC pieces from his towering cathedrals of tone enough to give them thought and material to use for the duration of their lives. Bach was born in the same year as Handel. Like Handel, he was afflicted with blindness in the closing years of his life. Curiously enough, they never met, although a meeting was once arranged, and it appears to have been Handel who was responsible for its not taking place. No greater contrast could be imagined than the careers of these two men. While Handel was marching across the world, making the heavens ring with his hosannas, Bach was humbly, obscurely, greatly lay- ing the foundation stones of the music of the next three centuries. GIOACHINO ANTONIO ROSSINI ONE evening Napoleon III sat in his box at the opera. Across the hall, in a loge which faced his, he ob- served a stout man in a brown wig whose atten- tion was divided between the performance, a box of bon- bons, and the telling of a joke. The Emperor watched this man for a moment, then turned to an attendant, saying, "Bring him to me." The stout one apologized, as he entered the imperial box, for not being in evening dress. "My friend," said Napoleon, "ceremony is un- necessary between emperors." His visitor was Gio- achino Rossini, Emperor of Music, as Napoleon was Emperor of France. Gioachino Antonio Rossini was born at Pesaro, on the Gulf of Venice, February 29, 1792. His parents were very poor. His father was town trumpeter and inspector of slaughter-houses. He played the trumpet very badly, but was a man of parts, and his keen wits were inherited by his son. The child Rossini had little education. He was ap- prenticed to a pork butcher, and later to one Prinetti, who sold wine and gave harpsichord lessons. Prinetti was a curious person. It is recorded that he played the scale with only two fingers and was 'accustomed to go to sleep standing up! He proved too tempting a butt to the natural-born mimic, Rossini, with the result that the apprenticeship came to a sudden end. 15 THE LURE OF MUSIC What Rossini had absorbed he turned to good account. In the summer his family made part of a troupe of actors who toured the villages and towns about the Venetian Gulf. The father played in the orchestra. The mother sang. Gioachino learned to accompany the singers, play the horn, sing a part, and even try his hand at conducting. Every one liked him for the fun he made unless perchance he happened to be making fun of them. In this school of life the boy learned much of human nature and the whims and tastes of the great public. People are not very different at heart. The song or "turn" that was successful with the peasants of the gulf districts would just as surely, in slightly different dress, win applause from audiences in great cities. The appeal of music and laughter is universal, and Rossini was a lover of both. Rossini's lessons were not too many. His achieve- ments were due to the originality of his own mind rather than to the precepts of his teachers. Like most of the great masters, he composed first and learned how after- ward! He read the scores of master composers, which told him more than books on counterpoint. His father remonstrated with him one day for his erratic mode of life, and urged him to practise the trumpet. Rossini answered that he intended to compose operas. "In that case," said his father, "you will starve." "Father," answered Rossini, "you are as good a prophet as you are a trumpeter!" He quickly became so popular as a composer that in 1813, when he wished to leave the San Mose Theater in Venice for the larger Fenice of the same city, the manager of the San Mose was incensed. By his con- tract Rossini had to compose one more opera for this theater. The manager treated him very uncivilly and gave him a libretto so poor that the writing of serious 16 ROSSINI, 1792-1868 THE LURE OF MUSIC music to it would have been impossible. Rossini turned the trick against the manager by writing the most ridicu- lous passages in which the basses sang tenor parts, the sopranos alto, the worst singer had the most difficult aria, and the violinists rapped on the tin candlesticks in front of them. Immediately after the performance Rossini left for Milan! In Milan he met an old friend, Prince Belgiocoso, who invited him to his home for a week's hunting-party. It was a gay company. Every day the prince and his guests hunted in the forests, only returning for dinner. Before dinner and between courses Rossini completed his new opera, "Tancredi." Having covered music sheets with almost unintelligible scribbling, he would take his dessert with him and install himself at the piano, saying, "Come, everybody, let us see what this sounds like." Each person would sing a part, Rossini himself joining in, and when it came time for a chorus all would shout at the top of their lungs to give the effect of a great crowd. No one thought of bed till the small hours of the morning, and at six the rising-horn sounded. One could not compose a successful opera in that way to-day; but at the end of the visit "Tancredi" was finished. At the performance in Venice Rossini did not at first dare to show himself. The Venetian public was still smarting from the effect of the tin candlestick opera produced only a little time before. The composer hid himself under the stage where he could see and not be seen. Soon, however, the hostility of the public changed to applause, and at the beginning of the quick move- ment of the overture the repeated bravos so heartened Rossini that he came pompously forth, took his seat at the piano in the orchestra, and conducted the remainder of the opera himself. The overture kept its popularity long after the opera left the stage. The dreamy song 3 17 THE LURE OF MUSIC of the horn in the opening measures is characteristic of the genius for melody which led the world to the feet of Rossini. The quick movement which follows has the true Rossinian wit and animation, and the spon- taneous quality which always distinguished this man's art. " Tancredi Overture " Played by H. M. Grenadier Guards Band Columbia Record A 5773 In the following years Rossini introduced many im- portant and admirable changes in Italian opera. He shortened the recitatives (passages of musical declama- tion), which had become pompous and tiresome. He developed the orchestra. In addition to this, he was the first man to write "arias" (airs) as he expected them to be sung. Before his time the composers wrote only the bare outlines of their melodies, leaving it to the singers to fill in with endless trills and flourishes to suit themselves. With Rossini's changes the opera became more dramatic and lifelike than it had been in the hands of his prede- cessors, and less a mere exhibition of vocal gymnastics. In 1816 Rossini produced that opera by which he is best known to-day, the incomparable "Barber of Se- ville." He completed this work in from thirteen to fifteen days there is a dispute as to which number is correct. We think it would have been a pity if he had taken more time to write it. It was not for him to plod and philosophize in his music. His genius flashed and flamed. The Promethean fire descended on the music page, and in a trice a masterpiece was born. The libretto of "The Barber" is based on the comedy of Beaumarchais. Doctor Bartolo is determined to marry his charming young ward, Rosina, but the Count Almaviva, on a visit to his estates near Seville, has seen the girl and is stealthily paying court to her, disguised as a poor student named Lindoro. With the help of 18 THE LURE OF MUSIC Figaro, the quick-witted barber of Seville, the intentions of Bartolo are defeated and the count wins his bride. The air "Ecco Ridente" is sung by the count as a serenade in the early morning under the window of Rosina. It is a tenor solo in the florid and melodious style of Rossini's day, in which, to quote the scintillating Theophile Gautier, "the Signor Rossini has embroidered marvelous melodies upon the meaningless words of the Italian song." " Ecco ridente in cielo " (" Dawn with her rosy mantle ") Sung by Charles Hackett Columbia Record 49604 The count, longing for a sight of Rosina on the balcony, dismisses his followers and ponders how he may win his way to her side. Enter Figaro, the village barber, with his guitar. Lo, the factotum! The town busy- body, who knows everything and does everything, handles the razor, the lancet, the combs, connives at love intrigues, marries the girls and widows, and pockets the snug perquisites of the business. They all need him. "Figaro!" "I'm here!" "Figaro!" "I'm coming!" Figaro here, there, and everywhere! What a life! This introduces the rollicking solo, "Largo al facto- tum." Only in Italian could a singer patter it out as it is pattered by Figaro to the gay lilt of Rossini's or- chestra. "Passing from mouth to mouth," said Gau- tier, "it has traveled as far as Polynesia, and the natives of the Southern seas hum it as they cook then* break- fast of shell-fish !" " Largo al factotum " (" Way for the factotum ") Sung by Riccardo Stracciari Columbia Record 49181 Sung by Giuseppe Campanari Columbia Record A 5777 19 THE LURE OF MUSIC The count and Figaro plot together. Meanwhile Rosina, alone in the house, sings the cavatina, "Una voce poco fa." The song commences coquettishly. In Rosina's hand is a letter. She has barkened to the voice of her lover, and has already resolved to become his. A little later, taking up a laughing melody first announced by the orchestra, she sings, "I'm as gentle as a dove ("lo son docile") provided that I have my own way!" ("faro giocar, faro giocar!"), a sentiment repeated with emphasis as the aria comes to an end. i " Una voce poco fa " (" The voice I heard e'en now ") " lo son docile " (" A docile mind ") Sung by Eugenie Bronskaja Columbia Record A 5209 A little later in the opera Don Basilio, the greasy music-teacher of Rosina, appears. He is Bartolo's spy and paid agent, as well as the young lady's instructor in song. Bartolo tells Basilio that Rosina has been dropping notes over the balcony to a serenader, also that he hears the Count Almaviva, reputed unusually successful with ladies, is in town. He rightly suspects the count of attentions to his w r ard. How prevent this? He looks at Basilio. That astute gentleman, suiting ac- tion and song to the word, sings the "Calumny" aria. They will give the count, he says, such a reputation that he will have to fly the town. It shall be done by means of scandal! Calumny! Does Bartolo realize the power of this weapon? Calumny (La Cahmnia) starts as a run- ning stream, a whispering zephyr, but before you know it, it is resounding like the roar of a cannon ("Come un colpo di canno-o-ne, come canno-o-ne"). The laugh- ing accompaniment of the instruments, the unction with which the solemn-faced Basilio delivers his text, the melody that fairly bubbles from the pen of the composer, make a composition of irresistible humor. 20 THE LURE OF MUSIC " La calunnia e un venticello " (" Calumny like a zephyr ") Sung by Jose Mardones Columbia Record A 5200 The conversation of these two worthies, however, has been overheard by Figaro. As they disappear the barber steps from his hiding-place with a message for the young mistress. Bartolo and Basilio are drawing up a marriage contract, while the poor student, Lindoro, is dying of love for a certain maiden named Rosina. This brings the duet, "Dunque io son." "Can I believe it?" cries Rosina. "But then," be- ginning to sing up the scale like a lark, "I had already suspected it." The song becomes more brilliant and joyous as she realizes her happiness. "Yes," says Figaro, ."it's true. He loves you to distraction "- imitating humorously the passages Rosina has just been singing. "And when," asks Rosina, "can I see him?" "Hark!" ("Zitto, zitto!") answers the messenger. "He is near. He waits only one small word from you. Here! Write, saying you expect him!" "Write him!" cries Rosina. "Impossible!" Figaro presses her. "Oh, come, a note ("di biglietto") of but two lines, and it is done." Rosina slyly takes from her pocket the letter already written. "Well, here it is" ("eccolo qua"). Even Figaro, adept in intrigue, is astonished. So this is Miss Innocence, with her hesitations and refusals! Figaro hurries off with the missive for Lindoro. " Dunque io son " (" Can I believe it ") Sung by Maria Barrientos and Riccardo Stracciari Columbia Record 49612 In the second act occurs the lesson scene, in which the count enters, disguised as the musical assistant of Basilio, and makes love to Rosina behind the piano. 21 THE LURE OF MUSIC The trio composed for this scene was lost, as was also the original overture of the opera. For this overture the overture to Rossini's "Elisabetta, regina dTnghilterra," which was in turn transplanted from an earlier opera, "Aureliano in Palmyra," is customarily substituted, while in place of the lost trio Rosina sings to her admiring guardian whatever show-piece the officiating prima donna desires. Grisi and Alboni sang Rode's "Air and Varia- tions.'* Patti selected "II Bacio." Mme. Barrientos sings the brilliant waltz song, "Voce di primavera." " Voce di primavera " (" Voices of springtime ") Sung by Maria Barrientos Columbia Record 49171 The plot is nearly spoiled by the untimely arrival of Basilio, the real music-teacher, but Figaro's wit is finally victorious, and Bartolo, recognizing at last the futility of his precautions, confers his blessing. Rossini, who under his careless exterior was a very brilliant, observant, and reflective man, knew that much of his music would not live, but he predicted that one act of his "William Tell " and the whole of his "Barber of Seville" would last for a century. History has proved the sound judgment displayed in this proph- ecy. Nevertheless, the first performance of " The Barber of Seville" was one of the worst failures in the history of opera. Rossini, by venturing to set this subject to music, had offended the elderly composer, Paisiello, who had also written an opera, very popular at that time; on the same theme. Paisiello's followers gathered in the theater to see that the new work should not be a success, and the cursedness of all animate and inanimate things seemed conspiring to aid them. Ros- sini, entering the orchestra pit in a showy suit of vicuna with golden buttons, a gift of the manager, Barbaja, was received with a shout of laughter. In the first act 22 THE LURE OF MUSIC Almaviva was to sing a Spanish serenade to Rosina be- neath her window and accompany himself on the guitar. He had forgotten to tune his instrument and, in attempting to do this before the tittering onlookers, a string broke. The audience was hilarious. After much preparation Almaviva began again. The people listened only long enough to catch the air, which they then commenced to hum, sing, and whistle in a mock- ing manner until not a note of the original melody could be heard. It was for this unfortunate air that Rossini substituted at the second performance the "Ecco Ridente." Later on Basilio, entering, stumbled over a trap-door, which increased the confusion. The excitement grew. At the beginning of the magnificent finale of the first act calamity reached its climax. A black cat appeared on the stage. Figaro drove it one way, Bartolo another, and in avoiding Basilio it tangled itself in Rosina's skirts. Nothing could still the uproar, in the midst of which the curtain was lowered. Later in the evening, when a group of the leading singers met to condole with Rossini, whom they imag- ined as pacing the floor in despair and mortification, they found him in bed fast asleep or pretending to be. He was at heart a supersensitive man, but he would have died before admitting his chagrin to the world. He feigned illness the next night, in order to avoid conducting. But the tide turned, and the opera triumphed, as it has triumphed ever since. During the next eight years Rossini visited many cities Naples, Milan, Verona, Vienna composing some twenty operas besides many smaller works. In 1823 he was back in the scene of so many of his operatic ventures, Venice, where he had contracts for two new works, in each of which the black-eyed Madame Col- bran, Rossini's wife, was to sing the leading role. 23 THE LURE OF MUSIC " Semiramide " was first performed at the Fenice Theater, February 3, 1823. The text, by Rossi, is a characteristically Italian operatic version of Voltaire's tragedy, "Semiramis." Rossini spent unusual care and thought on this work, and was disappointed when it proved too serious for the public of his day. The overture, however, with its portentous introduction, won immediate favor. " Overture to ' Semiramide ' " Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 5873 An admirable example of the decorative and melodious style of the period, in which Rossini excelled, is the aria sung by the queen, Semiramis, as she sings of her love for Arsaces, the young and victorious commander of the Babylonian armies. " Bel raggio lusinghier " (" Bright ray of hope ") Sung by Celestina Boninsegna Columbia Record 30359 Leaving Italy, Rossini went to London, where he had sensational success, then proceeded to Paris, in or near which he passed the remaining years of his life. There, on the 3d of August, 1829, he produced his serious masterpiece, "William Tell," a grand opera, originally in five acts, after the heroic and semi-historical drama of Schiller. The subject offered high incentive to a dramatic composer, although the libretto, pieced together by several different people, was far from per- fect for thoughtful purposes, nor was it overfaithful to the drama of Schiller. The opera has three magnificent stage pictures: 1. "The Lake of the Four Cantons "- Lake Lucerne with a Swiss village in the distance. $. The gathering of the Swiss patriots in a clearing high THE LURE OF MUSIC up on the side of a snow-capped peak. 3. The scene of the trial in which Tell, forced to obey the tyrant Gessler, shoots with his arrow an apple from the head of his little son. The action of the opera is summarized in the superb overture, which Hector Berlioz described as a great symphony in four parts. The lofty and con- templative introduction expresses the peace and soli- tude of nature, undisturbed by human passions. The second part depicts the rising of the storm on the lake, after which Gessler meets his end, and a first blow is struck for Swiss liberty. This is one of the most thrill- ing passages of storm music in the literature of the art. " Overture to ' William Tell ' " Parts I and II Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 6129 The third part of this "symphony" is pastoral in character. A flute, solo, plays an air said to be of Swiss origin. "The triangle," said Berlioz, "struck at intervals, is the bell of the flock while shepherds sing their songs." The finale is, battle music, stirring to-day as it was ninety years ago the gathering of the cantons, the deliverance of the people. It is difficult to praise sufficiently the grand outlines, the musical inspiration, the dramatic force of this work. " Overture to ' William Tell ' " Parts II and III Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 6130 Strange to say, "William Tell" was the last opera Rossini composed. With it he brought to a close his career as dramatic composer at the age of thirty-seven. Why, no one knows. Various reasons have been ad- vanced Rossini's proverbial laziness; his fear of the success of Meyerbeer, his rival, then winning the favor 25 THE LURE OF MUSIC of Paris; his annoyance and resentment when, following the July Revolution of 1830, he saw "William Tell" give place to inferior works on the stage of the Academy. But these reasons are hardly adequate. A great composer must create, whether he wishes it or no. Rossini stopped, inexplicably, in mid-career. The only important composition which appeared be- tween the, performance of "William Tell" in 1829 and Rossini's death at Paris, November 13, 1868, was the performance of his "Stabat Mater." This work was composed in 1832, although not performed in its en- tirety until ten years later. Rossini wrote the first six movements for Serior Varela, a Spaniard whom Ros- sini met while traveling in Spain. The remaining four numbers were finished by Tadolini, Rossini being ill and pressed for time. Conditions were that Don Varela should never part with his score, that it should be given every year during Lent at his church, that it never should be performed in public for profit. After Don Varela's death, his heirs sold the manuscript to a Parisian pub- lisher. There were various complications; a lawsuit followed involving several people. It was finally won by Rossini, who replaced Tadolini's numbers for the "Stabat Mater" and had the work thus performed on the 7th of January, 1842. The "Stabat Mater" is a Latin church song sung in Catholic churches at the festival of the Seven Sorrows of Mary, and generally during Lenten service. It is the setting of a medieval poem probably written by a Franciscan monk of. the thirteenth century. There is the thought of the Mother of Christ at the foot of the cross and the wish of humanity to share her sorrow with her. The text has been given innumerable different musical settings, of which that by Rossini is one of the most famous. The following numbers are among the most impressive 26 THE LURE OF MUSIC features of the work. " Cujus Animam " is a tenor solo which narrates the suffering of Christ on the cross. The rhythm of the accompaniment is almost martial. The musical style is that of the stage rather than the church. It is hardly necessary to add that the composer has written a splendid melody for the tenor voice. " Cujus animam " (" Lord, vouchsafe Thy loving-kindness ") Sung by Charles Harrison Columbia Record A 5833 The final number of the work, a brilliant climax, is the "Inflammatus," for solo voice, chorus, and orchestra. Rossini employs his solo voice to the greatest advantage by making it soar to a high C over the massed harmonies of the chorus. " Inflammatus " (" To Thy holy care elected ") Sung by Grace Kerns, with chorus Columbia Record A 5833 The "Stabat Mater" has been called, with some jus- tice, theatrical music. It should be remembered that the Italian is emotional and dramatic rather than austere and contemplative in his religion. Rossini always com- posed in the operatic manner. This work, with the exception of some short choral compositions of little value, was Rossini's last w T ord in music. Accused of laziness, he answered that with him it was a creed. Nevertheless, he had produced in nineteen years over thirty works for the stage. If he was indolent of body his mental activity was prodigious. The story of his having preferred to write another piece of music to recovering sheets he had dropped under his bed is probably true. But the man who can write one composition in little more time than it would take him to pick up another has, perhaps, a right to his own methods of work. Rossini was one of the most gifted melodists in the 27 THE LURE OF MUSIC history of his art, a man born for success, knowing his public and how to reach it, yet a bold innovator and reformer. An epoch of Italian opera is represented in his music. Even when he deliberately composed dis- play pieces for singers his genius turned what he touched to gold, and so fascinated the people that it was long before opera in Italy could recover from the endeavors of other composers to imitate an inimitable master. GAETANO DONIZETTI A SCOTCHMAN left his bluebells and heather to seek fortune in the wars. His name was Izett, son of a weaver of Perthshire. He was soon captured by a French general, who made him his secretary and took him first to France and later to Italy. In Italy Izett became Izetti. Izetti settled and married. As a com- pliment, some say, to the lady, he prefixed the syllable "Don" to his name. But Fortune did not deal very kindly with this Donizetti. He ended his life in a basement in Bergamo, a little town in the north of Italy. In this place his grandson, Gaetano, a com- poser of genius, was born November 29, 1797. Writ- ing of his birthplace to his teacher, Mayer, in a later year, he said, "I was born underground Borge Cavale; you had to go down by the cellar stairs, where no light ever penetrated." Donizetti's father, a minor official at the Monte di Pieta, was paid by that civil institution a salary of about one hundred and ten dollars a year. The mother, in the intervals of her family duties, wove linen. Neither parent had any musical inclination, but one of Gae- tano's brothers became leader of the city band and ultimately concert-master for the seraglio of the Sultan in Constantinople. The other brother was a tailor whom Gaetano more than once helped in his shop. In this shop there worked also the celebrated tenor, Ru- bini, who was later to sing in operas composed by his fellow- workman, and who died a millionaire. Donizetti, whose bent was toward the arts, finally 29 THE LURE OF MUSIC succeeded in inducing his parents to send him to a school of music which had recently been opened in Ber- gamo by Simon Mayer. Mayer was an uncommonly practical and serious teacher, and Donizetti made such rapid progress under him, especially in singing and violin-playing, that a public subscription was taken to send him to Bologna, where he became a pupil of Padre Mattei, the teacher of Rossini. It is said that a dispute arose between Donizetti and his father as to the former's vocation, and that, as a result of this dispute, Donizetti voluntarily enlisted in the army. An officer in a regiment quartered at Naples, he soon became very popular because of his agreeable personality and his great musical talent. At last he met a manager who gave him the opportunity which he had been impatiently awaiting, a commission to write an opera. This opera, performed in Venice in the autumn of 1819, was enough of a success to give the composer a start with the public. His first real triumph, however, came three years later with his "Zoraide di Granata" in 1822. The work made so strong an im- pression that Donizetti was released from military ser- vice and henceforth was free to devote himself to a composer's career. He proceeded to compose with extraordinary rapid- ity. He was poor, which made it necessary for him to work in haste, but he had a fertile invention, an incredible facility, and a technic which was both sub- stantial and brilliant for his time and his school. He was very accurate in putting down his ideas, and had seldom to make corrections. He did keep a little ivory eraser at his side, but it was less a tool than a talisman. His father had given him this keep- sake, with the gruff remark that if Gaetano was de- termined to be a musician he had better write as little rubbish as possible! so DONIZETTI, 1797-1848 THE LURE OF MUSIC In 1832 the manager of the theater in Milan found that the composer engaged to provide the opera for the opening night of the season would be unable to fulfil his contract. In despair he went to Donizetti. In a fortnight Donizetti produced an opera which, performed on the 12th of May, proved the greatest success of the season. This opera was the melodious and charming comedy "L'Elisir d'Amore" ("The Elixir of Love"). The story is similar to that used by Gilbert and Sullivan in "The Sorcerer." Adina (Act I) is loved by two men, Nemorino, a young farmer, and Belcore, the dashing sergeant. She seems to favor Belcore, though in reality she prefers the handsome farmer. But Nemorino is shy. Donizetti was fortunate in finding a melody ex- pressive of his plaint, as, distracted with passion, Nemorino mourns the fact that to her who has beauty, charm, and wealth he can offer only an honest love. " Quanto e bella " (" How dearly I love her ") Sung by Alessandro Bonci Columbia Record A 1408 Adina pointedly reads a story of a certain "elixir of love" and its wonderful effect on a lady who had ap- peared indifferent to her suitor. Nemorino wishes that he might discover this magic potion. Dulcamara, a traveling mendicant, appears. From this fraud Ne- morino with his last penny purchases what he believes to be "the elixir of love." Actually it is a bottle of strong wine. But it serves. There comes the news, which spreads quickly, of the death of a rich uncle of Nemorino, of whose fortune the nephew, though as yet ignorant of the fact, is the sole heir! The village girls make up to Nemorino, who believes this to be the working of the love potion. Adina, piqued, bursts into tears. Nemorino is deeply affected, and sings the beau- 4 "31 THE LURE OF MUSIC tiful romanza, "Una furtiva lagrima," one of the most graceful and tender of Donizetti's inspirations. " Una furtiva lagrima " (" A hidden tear ") Sung by Florencio Constantino Columbia Record A 5109 Although this simple air has a range of but nine tones, it is a proof of what a great composer can do with the most unpretentious material. The song had been haunting Donizetti for days. Romani was not willing at first to write the text for the music, saying that this would interfere with the development of the last act. Donizetti insisted, and at last the verses were written. The composer appears in this case to have been in the right. It is the appropriate moment in the opera for the romanza which reconciles the lovers and brings a happy conclusion. "L'Elisir d'Amore" ran for thirty -nine nights, with constantly increasing enthusiasm of the public. It was dedicated "to the fair sex of Milan." They had indeed been most cordial to the composer. He was already at the flood-tide of a remarkable personal popularity, which he never lost. A well-favored youth, a brilliant conversationalist, fond of pleasure, and, they say, not a little successful in affairs of the heart, he was everywhere feted and acclaimed. Scotland, the land of Donizetti's ancestry, inspired more than one of his operas. Cammarano wrote the libretto of the opera founded on the story of Walter Scott's "Bride of Lammermoor." This opera, "Lucia di Lammermoor," commonly accounted the greatest of Donizetti's productions, was first performed at Naples, September 26, 1835. The air, "Regnava nel silenzio," from the first act, is sung by Lucy as she awaits her lover, Edgar, in a grove where, legend says, a Ravenswood once killed a 32 THE LURE OF MUSIC maiden who had deceived him. This song is notable for its suavity, refinement, and delicacy of style. The harp accompaniment has a charm of its own, as Lucy narrates the old legend. " Regnava nel silenzio " (" Silence reigns over all ") Sung by Maria Barrientos Columbia Record 48628 Edgar appears. He must depart on a mission of state. Vows are plighted, in a duet which is one of the loveliest melodies in the opera. " Verrano a te sulT aure " (" My sighs shall be borne," etc.) Sung by Charles Hackett and Maria Barrientos Columbia Record 49766 Lucy's brother, Henry, is heavily pressed for debts, and can save himself only if his sister marries the rich Sir Arthur Bucklaw. He calls Lucy to him, tells her that Edgar is faithless, shows her a forged letter, and finally secures her consent to marry Arthur. A wed- ding is hastily arranged. The ring is no sooner on Lucy's finger than Edgar, returning from a mission to France, bursts into the room, accompanied by a few followers, and stands appalled by what he sees. Lucy, always a well-bred young lady, faints on the spot, Ashton and Bucklaw finger their swords, and it is at this critical moment that Donizetti thrills us with his heavenly sextette. It has been said with entire justice that this music is too beautiful to be appropriate to the dramatic situation. That is true. It should also be said that this glorious composition, defying criticism, analysis, or the passing of time, begins where words end. Sextette " Chi mifrena il mio furore? " (" Why do I my arm restrain? ") Sung by Kerns, Potter, Miller, Charles Harrison, Croxton, and Wieder- hold Columbia Record A 5709 33 THE LURE OF MUSIC Soon after the sextette comes the familiar "Mad Scene," when Lucy, staring before her, a knife in her hand, confronts the astonished guests. She rehearses incoherently the events of the wedding. She has gone insane and killed her bridegroom. Her ravings result in all sorts of melodious pyrotechnics, which exhibit to the full the voice and the skill of the singer. In the cadenzas, a flute is used as though in competition with the vocalist, the one attempting, apparently, to outdo the other in grace and agility of execution. The great- est coloratura singers in the world have awakened frenzies of enthusiasm with this scene. " Mad Scene from ' Lucia di Lammermoor ' " " Ardon gl'incensi " (" These flaming tapers ") Sung by Maria Barrientos Columbia Record 48627 To-day "Lucia di Lammermoor" is known prin- cipally for this "Mad Scene," a "vehicle" for a prima donna, and the great sextette. Yet Donizetti wrote the opera with thought of the heroic tenor, Duprez, a singer of extraordinary presence and dramatic power; and the most impressive music was considered by the public of the thirties and forties to occur in the last act, as Edgar, taking leave of the world and all he holds dear, throws himself on his sword. From 1822 to 1836 Donizetti produced three or four operas a year, with more rapidity than substance and workmanship. Then a new composer rose up, a younger man by a few years than Donizetti, one Vincenzo Bellini. Donizetti bestirred himself. "Lucia di Lammermoor" was in a sense his answer to Bellini's opera, "I Puritani," which had had a notably successful premiere only nine months before. The triumph of "Lucia" gained its composer the position of teacher of counterpoint at the Naples Conservatory. But when the Naples censor 34 THE LURE OF MUSIC forbade the production of Donizetti's "Polyeucte" he left Italy for France. In 1840 came an order from Paris, which henceforth welcomed Donizetti as its own, for a new opera. Doni- zetti composed "La Favorita," the text adapted by Rover and AVaez from a drama, "Le Comte de Com- minges," of Baculard-Darnaud. The finale of the fourth act, accounted by many the most dramatic passage that Donizetti composed, was finished by him in three hours' time. He was having dinner with his friends. The company rose to go to a ball. Donizetti begged to be excused, saying that he wished to enjoy his coffee, of which he was inordinately fond. As soon as his friends had gone he sent out for music-paper. Inspiration was upon him, and when the others returned at a late hour the finale of "Favorita" was completed. The plot is not a tranquil one. Ferdinand, a young monk, sees an unknown and beautiful woman. He can- not dismiss her from his thoughts. He tells his superior, Balthazar, of his vision, and announces that he is going to leave the monastery forever. "Una vergine" is one of the melodies most characteristic of Donizetti's talent. " Una vergine un angiol di dio " (" A vision of beauty appearing ") Sung by Hipolito Lazaro Columbia Record 48749 Ferdinand finds his divinity. She is Leonora, the favorite of King Alfonso of Castile. Ferdinand, know- ing nothing of her past, lays his heart at her feet. Leonora is moved, first to compassion, then to love. In the mean time the Church has commanded Alfonso to give up his favorite. It is Balthazar, Ferdinand's old superior, who brings the message, and it is Balthazar who tells Ferdinand that the woman he loves is the creature of the king. In the last act the monks wel- come Ferdinand back to the cloister. Heartbroken at 35 THE LURE OF MUSIC his knowledge of Leonora's past, alone within the gray walls, the embittered man looks back to the world which he has left forever and sings the touching air, "Spirito gentil." " Spirito gentil " (" Spirit so fair ") Sung by Hipolito Lazaro Columbia Record 48748 Sung by Alessandro Bonci Columbia Record A 5468 Coming from the chapel, Ferdinand is confronted with the sight of a novice struggling to her knees. Horrified, he recognizes Leonora, and, his love returning, is willing again to break his vows. But Leonora reminds him of his oath to God, and dies in his arms. This opera, like "Lucia," was composed for Duprez. It was first pro- duced on the 2d of December, 1840, at the Academic. In the course of his lifetime Donizetti composed nearly seventy works for the stage. "Don Pasquale" was writ- ten in eight days and produced at the Theatre des Italiens, Paris, January 4, 1843. From the quality of its workmanship, one would not believe that it had been cre- ated in such haste. While "Lucia di Lammermoor" remains Donizetti's masterpiece in the eyes of the pub- lic, there are those who think it surpassed by "Don Pasquale" and by other of his works in the humorous vein, such as "The Daughter of the Regiment" and "L'Elisir d'Amore." In these light operas, if he is not greater and it would have been hard for him to be greater than he was in the "Lucia" sextette he is at least more consistently great, and much more human. The characters in "Don Pasquale" are not figures of strutting operatic tragedy, but human beings, alive to the core, who act naturally and show genuine emotion on the stage. How shrewdly they are drawn, in the music as well as by the action of the drama ! How vivid and sparkling is the music! How captivating its play of melody and humor! 36 THE LURE OF MUSIC Donizetti wrote the music, Cammarano the text of "Don Pasquale," which he adapted from an older opera. Donizetti's operas, in his later years, were performed all over Europe and even in Constantinople and Cal- cutta. But he was overtaxing mind and body, and was one day found on his bedroom floor unconscious from over- work and over-play. From that time dated an increasing paralysis of muscle and brain. Nothing is more pathetic than the delusion harbored by him that he was dead. "But don't you know," he would ex- claim to callers "don't you know that poor Donizetti is dead?" He died in his brother's arms on the 8th of April, 1848. Donizetti's facility, his nervous temperament, and the constant demand for his music as fast as he could pro- duce it, militated against the slow and reflective proc- esses by which enduring masterpieces are brought to birth. Notwithstanding this he w r as a musician of great gifts and a man of more than ordinary mentality. His grand operas have the conventional defects of their school and period, but they have also the beautiful melodic line, the lyrical emotion, and, in their highest estate, the divine grace and transparency of true Italian art. In operatic comedy he showed an understanding of human nature, a gift of observation, a love of life which carried him far. Certain of his melodies will live as long as the school of which he was so brilliant a representative endures. VINCEXZO BELLINI /CATANIA fronts on the shimmering waters of the \^S Mediterranean, and ^Etna, the volcano, towers in the distance. Ships from all ports of the world crowd the harbors. The place seems to have grown rather than to have been built from the soil. The prin- cipal street is laid on the lava which in centuries past flowed from the volcano. A portion of the city, founded about eight centuries before Christ, is new, but the Catania in which Bellini was born is the Catania of stone and stucco houses which nestle together, their brilliant blues, pinks, and yellows softened and made wonderful by time. Narrow streets run into vine- covered arcades or up flights of worn stone steps. Here, in a niche, is a madonna. There, peasants in costumes of a former day sell olives and goats' milk. To feel the peace and tranquillity of the scene, to bathe in the sunshine which floods the land of Italy, is to under- stand the melodies of Bellini. His art was a flower which blossomed quickly from a hot and fertile soil. Its life was soon spent. It left behind an emotion, a perfume, slow to fade. Of distinguished appearance, with light, wavy hair, delicate features, a high forehead, and elegantly clad, Bellini was the picture of his music. He was born on the 3d of November, 1801, and was not six years old when he began to compose. His father and grandfather were musicians. He was musical by instinct. His technical accomplishments as a composer were never important, but he interested himself in piano-playing, r>ri MM. - iss THE LURE OF MUSIC could sing well, and during a happy and uneventful boy- hood composed music of an aria, psalms, and several masses. On his face was already the reflection of that melancholy which colored much of his music and seemed to forecast his early end. Bellini's father had not the funds to educate his son musically. He, therefore, petitioned the municipality to send the boy to Naples, and the necessary allowance was granted in May, 1819. In that year Bellini entered on a course of four years' study at the Naples Conservatory. He had good introductions, and the sorrow of parting from his family he was almost morbidly attached to those whom he loved was tempered by social and musi- cal successes in the city of his sojourn. When his festi- val cantata, "Ismene," was performed in San Carlo for a birthday in the royal family, the king himself led the applause. At a stroke Bellini had secured the entry not only into the best houses in Naples, but the greatest theaters in Italy. In Naples Bellini met Maddalena Fumaroli, the one woman he ever loved. She was a fair-haired Neapolitan. One of her poems was set to music by Bellini. But when Bellini asked Maddalena's father for her hand, he was peremptorily refused. This was a blow from which he never recovered. Another man would have overcome the parent's opposition, or time would have healed the wound. But Bellini had neither a robust nor a combative temperament. He could only suffer. He saw Maddalena for the last time, then threw himself into his work. He worked furiously, fatally, for one of his frail constitution. Opera after opera came from his pen and he rose to fame with a rapidity that was the result of his feverish energy. "II Pirata" (Milan, 1827) established Bellini's reputa- tion. In Milan he had the advantage of constant inter- course with a brilliant and artistic circle. He made 39 THE LURE OF MUSIC here the acquaintance of the librettist Romani, who was to write the text of two of Bellini's most famous operas "Norma" and "Sonnambula" and he became inti- mate with celebrated singers who had an important influence on his style. "La Sonnambula," a pretty, pastoral opera, was inspired by certain stretches of water and woodland, peasant cottages, and a waterfall in the vicinity of Lake Como, where Bellini used often to wander. The work was composed with special thought of the singers La Pasta, Rubini, and Mariani. For them he wrote his airs and remodeled a number of his melodies to make them not only expressive, but particularly suitable to the voice and the talent of each of his leading interpreters. "La Sonnambula" ("The Sleep-walker") was first performed at the Teatro Carcano, Milan, March 6, 1831. The plot hinges on the love of Elvino, a wealthy young peasant, for Amina, and her sleep-walking ten- dencies. As it happens, on the eve of their wedding, Rodolfo, a young lord, returns from his travels to the village. Amina, walking in her sleep, enters Rodolfo 's bedroom. All is explained when Amina, sleeping, steps from a window of the mill, and, amid the breathless suspense of the onlookers, crosses a rotten plank high over the whirling wheel. She descends safely, and Elvino, realizing the cause of his suspicions, gathers her in his arms. It cannot be said that the plot of "Sonnambula" is either substantial or highly dramatic. A text of little meaning is Bellini's excuse for some delightful florid melodies. The day had come and gone, and was not to return until the period of the later Verdi, when Italian composers would give careful thought to their libretti and the relation of text and music. "Norma," Bellini's greatest work, was produced nine months after the premiere of "Sonnambula" on the 40 THE LURE OF MUSIC 26th of December, 1831, at Milan. The composer astonished his warmest admirers by the breadth and nobility of his melodic style. This opera is seldom heard to-day, principally because of the fact that there are all too few singers capable at once of the technical brilliancy and the dramatic feeling of the music. Bellini rewrote the great air "Casta Diva" nine times before he could satisfy La Pasta, who was to sing it. She pro- tested that no human voice was capable of executing such difficulties in an acceptable and artistic manner. Bellini finally suggested that Pasta take the aria home and practise it each day for a week. If at the end of that time she still wished him to change the music, he would do so. La Pasta returned, radiant. She was de- lighted with the aria and would on no account consent to the change of a single note. She made one of her greatest successes in a scene which, even to-day, is a supreme test of a singer's art. Norma, high priestess of the Druids of Gaul, counsels them that it is not yet time to rise against the invading Romans. When this time arrives, she will give the signal from the altar. It is night in the sacred groves, and the moon shines clear in the heavens. The proph- etess, whose heart is torn between secret love of the Roman proconsul, Pollione, and consuming devotion to her native land, asks the pale goddess to send peace as pure and serene as her own silver rays. Few airs from any opera made a more profound impression on audiences of Bellini's period than this one, an air which, sung in the grand manner, still moves the hearer by the beauty of the melody and the pathos and depth of its feeling. " Casta diva " (" Queen of heaven ") Sung by Rosa Ponselle Columbia Record 49720 41 THE LURE OF MUSIC could sing well, and during a happy and uneventful boy- hood composed music of an aria, psalms, and several masses. On his face was already the reflection of that melancholy which colored much of his music and seemed to forecast his early end. Bellini's father had not the funds to educate his son musically. He, therefore, petitioned the municipality to send the boy to Naples, and the necessary allowance was granted in May, 1819. In that year Bellini entered on a course of four years' study at the Naples Conservatory. He had good introductions, and the sorrow of parting from his family he was almost morbidly attached to those whom he loved was tempered by social and musi- cal successes in the city of his sojourn. When his festi- val cantata, "Ismene," was performed in San Carlo for a birthday in the royal family, the king himself led the applause. At a stroke Bellini had secured the entry not only into the best houses in Naples, but the greatest theaters in Italy. In Naples Bellini met Maddalena Fumaroli, the one woman he ever loved. She was a fair-haired Neapolitan. One of her poems was set to music by Bellini. But when Bellini asked Maddalena's father for her hand, he was peremptorily refused. This was a blow from which he never recovered. Another man would have overcome the parent's opposition, or time would have healed the wound. But Bellini had neither a robust nor a combative temperament. He could only suffer. He saw Maddalena for the last time, then threw himself into his work. He worked furiously, fatally, for one of his frail constitution. Opera after opera came from his pen and he rose to fame with a rapidity that was the result of his feverish energy. "II Pirata" (Milan, 1827) established Bellini's reputa- tion. In Milan he had the advantage of constant inter- course with a brilliant and artistic circle. He made 39 THE LURE OF MUSIC here the acquaintance of the librettist Romani, who was to write the text of two of Bellini's most famous operas "Norma" and " Sonnambula " and he became inti- mate with celebrated singers who had an important influence on his style. "La Sonnambula," a pretty, pastoral opera, was inspired by certain stretches of water and woodland, peasant cottages, and a waterfall in the vicinity of Lake Como, where Bellini used often to wander. The work was composed with special thought of the singers La Pasta, Rubini, and Mariani. For them he wrote his airs and remodeled a number of his melodies to make them not only expressive, but particularly suitable to the voice and the talent of each of his leading interpreters. "La Sonnambula" ("The Sleep-walker") v/as first performed at the Teatro Carcano, Milan, March 6, 1831. The plot hinges on the love of Elvino, a wealthy young peasant, for Amina, and her sleep-walking ten- dencies. As it happens, on the eve of their wedding, Rodolfo, a young lord, returns from his travels to the village. Amina, walking in her sleep, enters Rodolfo's bedroom. All is explained when Amina, sleeping, steps from a window of the mill, and, amid the breathless suspense of the onlookers, crosses a rotten plank high over the whirling wheel. She descends safely, and Elvino, realizing the cause of his suspicions, gathers her in his arms. It cannot be said that the plot of "Sonnambula" is either substantial or highly dramatic. A text of little meaning is Bellini's excuse for some delightful florid melodies. The day had come and gone, and was not to return until the period of the later Verdi, when Italian composers would give careful thought to their libretti and the relation of text and music. "Norma," Bellini's greatest work, was produced nine months after the premiere of "Sonnambula" on the 40 THE LURE OF MUSIC 26th of December, 1831, at Milan. The composer astonished his warmest admirers by the breadth and nobility of his melodic style. This opera is seldom heard to-day, principally because of the fact that there are all too few singers capable at once of the technical brilliancy and the dramatic feeling of the music. Bellini rewrote the great air "Casta Diva" nine times before he could satisfy La Pasta, who was to sing it. She pro- tested that no human voice was capable of executing such difficulties in an acceptable and artistic manner. Bellini finally suggested that Pasta take the aria home and practise it each day for a week. If at the end of that time she still wished him to change the music, he would do so. La Pasta returned, radiant. She was de- lighted with the aria and would on no account consent to the change of a single note. She made one of her greatest successes in a scene which, even to-day, is a supreme test of a singer's art. Norma, high priestess of the Druids of Gaul, counsels them that it is not yet time to rise against the invading Romans. When this time arrives, she will give the signal from the altar. It is night in the sacred groves, and the moon shines clear in the heavens. The proph- etess, whose heart is torn between secret love of the Roman proconsul, Pollione, and consuming devotion to her native land, asks the pale goddess to send peace as pure and serene as her own silver rays. Few airs from any opera made a more profound impression on audiences of Bellini's period than this one, an air which, sung in the grand manner, still moves the hearer by the beauty of the melody and the pathos and depth of its feeling. " Casta diva " (" Queen of heaven ") Sung by Rosa Ponselle Columbia Record 49720 41 THE LURE OF MUSIC On the reverse side of this record is the second great air of Norma, which follows almost immediately in the opera. Alone with her thoughts, the high priestess, overcome by a foreboding which she cannot explain, ex- presses her apprehension for the future, and her doubts of Pollione's love. "Ah! Bello a me ritorna " ("Restore to me your love's protection") Sung by Celestina Boninsegna Columbia Record A 5197 Her fears are too well grounded. Pollione is faithless. The young priestess Adalgisa throws herself at Norma's feet, begging to be released from her vows. Norma asks the name of her lover. "Behold him," cries Adalgisa, as Pollione appears. At last, enraged past endurance at the treachery of the Roman, Norma strikes the sacred shield, and sum- mons the Druids to war. "But first," is the cry, "a sacrifice!" Pollione is led up by the guards. He has been seized in the very temple of Esus, where he had pursued Adalgisa. Norma, raising the dagger, ad- vances to strike, but love is stronger than vengeance. She falters, tears the sacred wreath from her brow, de- clares herself the guilty one, and offers her life as the propitiatory sacrifice. Overcome by her nobility, and filled with remorse, Pollione follows Norma to the funeral pyre, where, amid the ascending flames, the two expiate their sin. Returning to Catania soon after the premiere of his masterpiece, Bellini was received with indescribable en- thusiasm. A procession headed by dignitaries of the city met him before the gates and escorted him in triumph through the streets. Shopkeepers refused pay- ment for then* wares. There was hot rivalry between the Milanese and the Catanians for the favor of their idolized composer. Yet it is recorded that Bellini was 42 THE LURE OF MUSIC profoundly melancholy when it came time to leave his birthplace and once more face the world, and his de- pression was increased by a superstitious belief in the portents of nature. ^Etna was in eruption. "Thou, too, O zEtna," he cried, "art bidding me a last farewell." He was in Paris when he composed his swan-song, "I Puritani." "I Puritani" ("The Puritans"), the book by Count Pepoli, was first performed at the Theatre des Italiens, Paris, January 25, 1835. The scene is England and the period the wars of the Puritans led by Cromwell against Charles II and his Parliament. Elvira, daughter of Lord Walter Walton, a leader of the Puritans, loves Lord Arthur Talbot, a Cavalier, and, therefore, a supporter of her father's foes. Ad- mitted to the Puritan fortress through the leniency of Elvira's father, Arthur, in one of the sweetest melodies Bellini ever composed, claims her hand. " A te, O Cara " (" Often, dearest ") Sung by Hipolito Lazaro Columbia Record 48783 Arthur recognizes in a hostage the wife of King Charles, and, his loyalty to his sovereign triumphing for the moment over his love, resolves to save the queen. When Arthur's deed is discovered he is sentenced to death if captured. Elvira, like many operatic heroines of Bellini's day, goes mad at the suspicion of Arthur's infidelity. Compare this song for the operatic heroine who temporarily loses her wits to sing an aria, with Donizetti's music for the mad Lucia of Lammermoor, and note the difference between Lucia's virtuoso piece and the pathetic lament of Elvira. Bellini's music is simpler and more emotional in its appeal than is Doni- zetti's. This simplicity, this touching pathos and 43 THE LURE OF MUSIC genuineness of feeling, is a distinguishing characteristic of the art of the Catanian. " Qui la voce " (" Hear his voice ") Sung by Maria Barrientos Columbia Record 49370 Sir George, Elvira's uncle, and Sir Richard, her unsuc- cessful suitor, listen, deeply moved, to the maiden's complaint. Elvira fancies that Arthur is near. He must make haste and no longer delay their happiness. The guests are assembled. Does he hear the music for the dance? The wedding feast is prepared. " Vien diletto " (" Come, my love ") Sung by Maria Barrientos Columbia Record 49371 The two men then agree that if Arthur returns unarmed and unoffending in any active manner against the cause, his life shall be saved. It is at this juncture that the two Puritans sing the warlike bass duet, "Suoni la Tromba," a battle-song so robust and sonorous in its character that Rossini laughingly wrote a friend in Milan that he must have heard the sound of the Paris performance! " Suoni la tromba " (" Sound the trumpet ") Sung by Ramon Blanchart and Jose Mardones Columbia Record A 5184 Arthur is arrested, but news conies of the defeat of Charles and Arthur's life is saved. Elvira's reason is automatically restored to her, and all ends happily. If Bellini had had Roman! instead of Pepoli as his librettist at the time he composed "I Puritani" he would probably have produced a work surpassing every previous effort. One is led to this belief because of the fact that while the libretto of "Puritani" is one of the 44 THE LURE OF MUSIC weakest and silliest which the composer used, the music lifts the work far above the commonplace level of the text. Soon after the 'premiere of "Puritani" Alexandre Dumas, traveling in Italy, saw before him an old man driving a light carriage, and was informed that this was the father of Bellini. The author hastened to make him- self known. The old man was overjoyed. "Do you really know my son," he cried, "and is he really so cele- brated a man? To think that when he was a boy I scolded him for idleness and neglect of his tasks, and because he sat for hours teaching his sister to sing in- stead of working himself! Every time he has success he sends me a memento. This watch came from 'Xorma,' my horse and caleche from 'Puritani.' He is a devoted and affectionate boy!" Dumas himself remarks, "I made myself known to the old man and told him my name, but it brought no recollections to his mind even in his son he saw not the artist, but his affectionate child." In September, 1834, Bellini was taken ill and did not again leave his bed. He was delirious, and fancied in his last hours that he was surrounded by the great singers who had often collaborated with him. He was buried in the cemetery of Pere-la-Chaise, by the side of Chopin and Cherubini, an immense concourse follow- ing his body in the driving rain to its last resting-place. In 1876 an Italian warship, thundering its salute, bore the remains back to Catania. GIUSEPPE VERDI WAR had descended on the little village of Le Roncole. Some of the villagers sought refuge in the church, but the barricaded doors soon gave way and those within were at the mercy of a drunken and infuriated soldiery. One woman, hugging a year-old child to her breast, remembered a hidden stairway which led to the belfry. There she crouched, speechless with terror, until evening fell and only a few huddled bodies told of the outrage which had been committed. Then she crept down, her child asleep in her arms. That child was Italy's greatest composer, Giuseppe Verdi. This incident, according to Arthur Pougin, one of the most authoritative biographers of the composer, oc- curred in 1814. On the 10th of October, 1813, Verdi was born, the son of an innkeeper, in the little village of Le Roncole. A ragged beggar, Bagasset by name, used to tell Verdi's father that his bambino would make a musician. /This man Verdi never forgot. When, in after years, the composer bought himself an estate at Sant' Agata, near his birthplace, he often met old Bagas- set, still playing, snuffling, and begging for pennies. It was Verdi's habit to give the old fellow money and good things to eat, and Bagasset would weep and laugh, and stammer: "Ah, maestro! I knew you when you were very little; but now Verdi's father saved enough to buy the boy a spinet, a reckless extravagance for one in the humble position and circumstances of the innkeeper. The old spinet 46 VERDI. 1813-1901 THE LURE OF MUSIC is preserved to-day, and within it one may read the following inscription : By me, Stefano Cavaletti, were made anew and releathered the jacks of this instrument, to which I have adapted a pedal. I made these jacks gratuitously in consideration of the good disposition which the. young Giuseppe Verdi shows in learning to play on the said instrument, which quite suffices to satisfy me Anno Domini 1821. Verdi was soon playing the organ at the church of Le Roncole, on Sundays and holy days, for weddings, baptisms, funerals, and receiving for it all a little less than twenty dollars a year and each harvest-time a popular contribution of corn and other grain. Accord- ing to the standards of his neighborhood, he was a well- to-do and coming young man. He went to school at Busseto while pursuing his profession at Le Roncole. Tramping the three miles from Le Roncole to Busseto, and back again, sometimes under the sun, sometimes under the shining stars, he developed a health of body and mind that never left him. A wine merchant of Busseto, Barezzi by name, be- came interested in Verdi. He took him into his home, secured him a teacher of composition, and later helped him to go to Milan for further study. Applying for entrance to the famous Conservatory of that city, Verdi was refused as not having sufficient talent! But he had his revenge. He became a private pupil of Lavigna, one of the Conservatory teachers. One evening at Lavigna's house, Easily, the man who had re- fused Verdi's application, complained of the backward- ness of twenty-eight of the Conservatory pupils who had proved unable to construct a fugue on a "subject" (a short musical phrase on which the whole fugue, one of the most complicated of musical structures, is built) which he had given out. 47 THE LURE OF MUSIC "Can you write down your subject?" asked Lavigna. Easily complied. "Sit down at that table," said Lavigna to Verdi, "and work this out." When Verdi had finished, Easily was amazed. "You have written not only a fugue," said he, "but a ' double cannon ' on my subject. Why?" Verdi had voluntarily doubled the difficulty of the task set him. And the young genius, looking the old pedant squarely in the eye, answered, with the unmerci- ful candor of youth, "Because I found your subject rather poor and I wished to embellish it." Verdi's talent soon made a stir in Milan. Returning to Busseto, he married the daughter of his benefactor, Barezzi. The union was happy, and all promised well, when Verdi's first opera, "Oberto, Conte di San Boni- facio," was produced at La Scala on the 17th of Novem- ber, 1839, with a success that went far toward securing him the entree to the opera-houses of Italy. But tragedy was stalking the composer. Verdi had scarcely begun the composition of a comic opera when a disease which the physician could not name carried off first his wife and then his two children. The blow affected profoundly the man and his music. All the succeeding operas of Verdi, until he reached his eightieth year, were of a serious and tragical character. For the moment the heart of the master failed him. But he had his life to live, his work to do, and his genius drove him on. Love of country, if not of life, was strong in him. Italy was groaning under Austrian misrule. It was for Verdi with his music, as for Garibaldi with his armies, to set that spirit free. The performance of Verdi's next opera, "I Lom- bardi," on the llth of February, 1843, was the signal for his first brush with the Austrian censor. The libretto did not treat directly of Italy's wrongs, but it had 48 THE LURE OF MUSIC verses susceptible of patriotic interpretation, and even the presence of the police could not silence the tumultu- ous demonstration of the audience when the chorus be- gan the broad and stately hymn to liberty opening with the words, "O God of all nations." The record of this passage shows us in what a simple and eloquent way Verdi was able, even so early in his career, to stir the emotions of his countrymen. "Pilgrims' Chorus" from "I Lombard!" Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 5736 Verdi chose for the subject of his next opera the "Hernani" of Victor Hugo. The opera was first per- formed at the Fenice Theater, Venice, March 9, 1844. A king, Don Carlos of Spain, and the bandit, Ernani, a deposed nobleman, are rivals for the love of Elvira, who, against her wishes, is betrothed to the aged Don Gomez de Silva. Don Gomez and Ernani, for political reasons, plot against the king, with the understanding that if Gomez aids Ernani in the conspiracy, Ernani shall give up his life when demanded by a trumpet blast, the signal of Gomez. The king defeats the conspiracy, for- gives the plotters, and, repenting his evil designs on Elvira, himself unites her to Ernani, whom she loves. But the trumpet of the revengeful Gomez sounds from afar, and Ernani, in accordance with Castilian honor, throws himself on his sword. An air from this opera, which has long held favor and figured in many a ro- mance, is the song of Elvira, "Ernani, fly with me." The heroine, longing for her lover, implores him to come and save her from the union with Don Gomez. It is high-flown if you like so was the drama but it has the warmth and the romantic feeling in which Verdi already surpassed his contemporaries. 49 THE LURE OF MUSIC Verdi lived his characters when he composed witness the reproach of Don Gomez, when he finds both king and bandit confronting him in the presence of Elvira. The crude force, the broad, virile outline of the melody contrast powerfully with the delicious musical frills of the Italian operas of the Rossini period. " Infelice, e tuo credevi " (" Unhappy one, that I so trusted ") Sung by Jose Mardones Columbia Record A 6095 "O de' verd' anni miei" is the soliloquy of the king as he reflects on the folly of those whose machinations he is about to defeat. This song, too, has more than a hint of the dramatic power as well as the melodic beauty of the Verdi of later days. " O de' verd' anni miei " (" Though o'er your fleeting pleasures ") Sung by Riccardo Stracciari Columbia Record 77088 It is a striking fact that out of some thirty operas written by Verdi only six remain secure in the repertory of to-day. These are "Rigoletto," "II Trovatore," "La Traviata," "Alda," "Otello," and "Falstaff." Occasionally certain others are revived. All of these contain strokes of genius and bear testimony to the labor and failure which even the greatest composer must go through to attain his end. "Rigoletto," like "Ernani," was inspired by a drama of Victor Hugo, "Le Roi s'amuse." This astonishing opera, produced in Venice, March 11, 1851, is far ahead of its period. Even to-day there are pages which sur- prise one by their modern feeling and atmosphere. Mark the opening solo of the Duke of Mantua. Surrounded by his brilliant court, this tyrant and libertine sings of 50 THE LURE OF MUSIC his conquests. The song indicates his gay and cynical nature. Questa o quella " (" Amongst the fair throng ") Sung by Hipolito Lazaro Columbia Record 46737 i Sung by Hipolito Lazaro Rigoletto, the hunchbacked buffoon of the court, insults Monterone, a nobleman whom the duke has wronged, and Monterone, terrible in his wrath, curses the jester. This curse is soon a- working. Rigoletto loves but one being in the world, his daugh- ter, Gilda. The duke secretly woos her, in the dis- guise of a student. Alone in her garden, Gilda sings one of the most famous of Verdi's melodies. "Dearest name," she murmurs, thinking of her lover, "name of one whom I adore." The melody is in the old-fashioned style of Rossini a simple air, with elaborate musical ornaments. It is worthy of note, however, that it not only displays the skill of the singer, but also reveals the character of Gilda, an innocent young girl, singing coquettishly cf her love. The end of the song is well known in soprano literature because of the high E. "Caro nome" ("Dearest Name") Sung by Maria Barrientos Columbia Record 48649 Sung by Florence Macbeth Columbia Record A 6189 The courtiers conspire to blindfold Rigoletto and make him an unconscious party to the abduction of his own daughter, whom they hand over to the duke. One of the greatest passages of the opera comes in the third act when Rigoletto enters the ducal anteroom, trying vainly to conceal his dismay under a laughing and careless exterior, while his eyes search everywhere for a sign of the whereabouts of his lost child. At last, unable longer to dissemble, he implores the courtiers who jeer at his misery to have mercy, to speak. They 51 THE LURE OF MUSIC whisper among themselves, but give no reply. Desper- ate, at his wits' end, forgetful, at last, of caution and the flattery due his masters, the misshapen jester, with a cry of rage, denounces the rabble who have broken his heart. " Cortigiani vil razza dannata " (" Vile race of courtiers ") Sung by Riccardo Stracciari Columbia Record 49192 The courtiers, taken aback by the jester suddenly transformed into a desperate man at bay, leave the room as Gilda emerges from the ducal chamber and throws herself into her father's arms. "Dishonor, my father! Dishonor! Each morning when I went to church a youth wooed me with his eyes. Yesterday as evening shadows fell ... I was seized. Ah, horror!" Rigoletto, appalled, cries out, "How I prayed, every day, that you should be shielded and untouched by my infamy. . . . Ah, weep ("piangi, piangi, fanciulla"), my daughter. Weep here on my heart." " Tutte le feste al tempio " (" As on festal days I went ") Sung by Maria Barrientos and Riccardo Stracciari Columbia Record 49611 There is a dramatic interruption: the sudden appear- ance of the aged Monterone, whose curse is bringing such evil to the jester, and who, not perceiving the presence of Rigoletto and his daughter, pauses before a portrait of the duke, to thunder his denunciation. For an instant Rigoletto, terrified by this impersonation of doom, cowers in a corner; then, as Monterone goes on, he springs to his feet, and in turn addresses the portrait. "Yes, vengeance" ("Si, vendetta"), he cries. "A father's vengeance upon you." While he strides up and down the apartment, invoking all the powers of evil on the head of the tyrant, Gilda, who can find in her heart only love for her betrayer, tries to console her parent, 52 THE LURE OF MUSIC and prays that Heaven may avert the consequences of his wrath all this to the furious music of Giuseppe Verdi. " Si, vendetta " (" Vengeance I'll have ") Sung by Maria Barrientos and Riccardo Stracciari Columbia Record 78363 The last act of the opera, which contains the im- mortal quartet, takes place in a lonely spot on the shores of the river Mincio. On one side is seen the hut of the assassin, Sparafucile. With this man Rigoletto has struck a terrible bargain. Through the sister of Sparafucile, the wanton Maddalena, the duke is to be lured to the hut and there murdered. His body is to be delivered to Rigoletto, who will wait outside at mid- night. Gilda, loving her betrayer, implores her father to reconsider his projected crime. For answer he bids her approach the hut, where Gilda sees the duke, fickle, and amorous as ever, dallying with the unscrupulous Maddalena. Such is the situation when the duke sings his aria, beloved of all tenors, "La donna e mobile." " La donna mobile " (" Woman is fickle ") Sung by Hipolito Lazaro Columbia Record 46736 This aria was not shown to the tenor Mirate until a few hours before the premiere. Verdi then gave him the music, bidding him not to sing, whistle, or think the melody outside the theater. The composer exacted similar promises of the orchestra, the chorus, and every one present at the rehearsal. The reception of the air proved his wisdom in taking these precautions. The house burst into applause before the tenor had finished the first verse, and when the audience had filed from the theater "La donna e mobile" could be heard whistled and sung throughout Venice. There are few ensemble passages in all opera which 53 THE LURE OF MUSIC equal in beauty and dramatic power the quartet. Here are four people each animated by a different emotion, each part strongly individual, and all the voices com- bining to make a piece of heavenly harmony. Qilda is desperate with the discovery of the duke's infidelity. The duke is casting languishing eyes on Maddalena. Maddalena is laughing in his arms, and Rigoletto, crouching outside the door of the hut, is plotting ven- geance. Quartet from " Rigoletto " " Bella figlia dell' amore " (" Fairest daughter of love ") Sung by Maria Barrientos, Jeanne Gordon, Charles Hackett, and Riccardo Stracciari Columbia Record 49782 A storm rages. The hour of midnight strikes. A body inclosed in a sack is thrown through the door. Rigoletto is exulting in his vengeance when he hears what seems to him a ghostly echo, the careless song of the duke, "La donna e mobile." He opens the sack and beholds the face of his own daughter. Gilda has offered her life to save the man who betrayed her. "The curse!" he shrieks, and the curtain falls. The two operas which followed "Rigoletto," "II Trovatore," and "La Traviata," were performed in the same year, 1853. "II Trovatore" is a wild tale taken from a Spanish drama. The Count di Luna suspected an old gipsy of gazing with the evil eye on his two chil- dren. She was burned at the stake. One of the chil- dren of the count disappeared and the next morning bones were found in the midst of a pile of ashes. It was believed that Azucena, daughter of the tortured gipsy, had burned the child in revenge. She committed, however, a horrible mistake, for she cast her own child into the fire and bore off the son of the count. Azucena's life was, on the one hand, a consuming desire for revenge on the family of Di Luna, and, on the other, a pas- 54 THE LURE OF MUSIC sionate love, which she could not quell, for the child she had stolen. This child, whose real name is Garcia di Luna, grows up knowing only that he is called Manrico of Urgel. The gipsy is to him as a mother. She is one of the greatest portraits in Verdi's gallery of operatic heroines. Some think her to have been inspired by Walter Scott's ' ; Meg Merrilies." It develops in the first act of the opera that the pres- ent Count di Luna, whose younger brother has vanished, is madly jealous of an unknown troubadour who sere- nades the fair Leonora at midnight. That heroine, on a terrace, sentimentally narrates to her confidante, Inez, the circumstances of her first meeting with the mys- terious hero whose song has so thrilled her. This is the occasion for her solo, "Tacea la notte," in which she describes the calm beauty of the moonlit night on which she first heard the voice of her adorer. " Tacea la notte placida " (" How peaceful the night ") Sung by Celestina Boninsegna Columbia Record A 5194 Scarcely has Leonora told her romantic tale, and Inez very sensibly remarked that she believes no good will come of it, when the voice of the troubadour falls on their ears, a serenade not so famous as the solo of the tower scene, but a beautiful number which merits more attention than it commonly receives. The familiar operatic formula is then worked first the solo of the lover, then the agitated observations of the fair, then the assembling of three of the principal personages of the drama, in order that a trio may bring the act to an effective musical conclusion. A third individual has been an interested listener to this melancholy song the Count di Luna, who, as the serenader advances from one side, himself approaches on the other. The two men fight. The count is 55 THE LURE OF MUSIC wounded, but his life is spared by the troubadour, who is discovered to be Manrico. Leonora flees to a convent. The second act opens with the gipsy chorus, one of the most popular choruses ever composed. " Anvil Chorus " Sung by Columbia Opera Chorus Columbia Record A 5667 Azucena, as one in a trance, sings of the death of her mother. A messenger arrives with the intelligence that Di Luna is attacking the convent in which Leonora has taken refuge, that Manrico must assemble his men and confront the foe. In agitation Azucena clings to Man- rico and begs him, for her sake, to guard his life. " Perigliarti ancor languente " (" While yet in languishment ") Sung by Maria Gay and Giovanni Zenatello Columbia Record A 5370 Before the convent walls Di Luna sings of the tem- pest in his heart. Few composers save Verdi could have written a melody of such breadth and beauty of line. The man did not lack nobility, and his superb air is in the grand manner. " II balen del suo sorriso " ("In the brightness of her glances ") Sung by Riccardo Stracciari Columbia Record 49220 Manrico rescues Leonora, and they hasten to the fortress of Castellor, pursued by the army of the count. On the eve of their wedding comes the news that the count's followers have captured Azucena. This is the moment for Manrico's furious cry of battle, "Di quella pira." He grasps his sword and, to the warlike rhythm of Verdi's orchestra, rushes forth to the fray. This des- perately heroic song was the one melody which the Italian statesman Cavour could remember, as "II 56 THE LURE OF MUSIC Trovatore" was the one opera to which he would will- ingly listen. One day Cavour was waiting for news which would powerfully affect the destinies of Italy. At last the telegram, arrived. The face of the solemn and bespectacled statesman lit up at the message. He said nothing, but rushed to the window, threw it open, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Di quella pira!" " Di quella pira " (" Tremble, ye tyrants ") Sung by Hipolito Lazaro Columbia Record 47211 The fourth act of " Trovatore' 5 is one of the most dramatic Verdi ever composed. Manrico and Azucena have been captured and are to be executed in the morn- ing. Outside the castle Aliaferia, Ruiz, the faithful follower of Manrico, shows Leonora the tower in which her lover is confined. "Ah, love," she laments, "carry your message to the cell of the lonely prisoner, keep and console him, and do not let him know the despair in my heart." " D'amor sulT ali rosere " (" Borne on love's pinions ") Sung by Rosa Ponselle Columbia Record 49559 Here follows the tower scene, a scene of deathless eloquence and beauty, a scene in which Verdi once and for all demonstrates the dramatic potency of simple Italian melody. From above comes the voice of the doomed troubadour, while Leonora cries out in anguish. A musical background, black as the surrounding night, is the requiem chanted by the nuns, the bell tolling for the last hours of the condemned. Underlying all is the shuddering accompaniment of the orchestra. Miserere: " Ah, che la morte ognora " (" Ah, I have sighed to rest me ") Sung by Emmy Destinn, Giovanni Zenatello, and Chorus Columbia Record A 5399 57 Manrico is to be beheaded at dawn. Azucena, as her mother before her, will be burned at the stake. Leonora offers herself as the price of her lover's safety. She asks but one condition that she may bear the news to the dungeon. As she goes, she raises to her lips a poisoned ring. In the cell of the condemned, Azucena lies on the straw, between exhaustion and death. Manrico begs her to sleep, to disperse the dreadful visions which haunt her. Fain would they return to their mountains. Verdi has here written music of the most simple and touching pathos. " Ai nostri monti " (" Home to our mountains ") Sung by Maria Gay and Giovanni Zenatello Columbia Record A 5370 Leonora enters, urging Manrico to escape before it is too late, but he, suspicious, asks her at what price she gained his freedom. For answer, Leonora expires be- fore him, with words of love on her lips. The count stands on the threshold. He orders the guards to lead the troubadour to the scaffold. Useless the pleadings of Azucena, and her terrified warnings that the count will rue the deed. The ax falls. "He is punished," cries the count. The gipsy turns on him. "Manrico was thy brother. Oh, mother, thou art avenged!" "II Trovatore" was first performed in Rome, January 19, 1853. Its plot is lurid and complicated, but the music seethes with the hot blood of Verdi's race. Oper- atic standards of the period in Italy were crude. A plank and a tune sufficed. But what tunes they were! What melody! What emotional power! In spite of its tortuous narrative, in spite of the old-fashioned con- ventions which inhere in "II Trovatore," the music has a pulse, a thrill, that neither time nor custom nor hand-organs can stale. The libretto of "La Traviata" by Piave, is based on 58 the play of the younger Dumas, The Lady oj the Camellias. Marguerite Gautier of Dumas's novel is Violetta of the opera. Violetta, a Parisian beauty, is loved by Alfredo. Sincerely devoted to him, she abandons her corrupt life in Paris and retires with him to the country. Alfredo's father, discovering the affair, pleads with Violetta to set free his son. Violetta, knowing that it will be im- possible to send Alfredo away by any ordinary means, leaves him to infer that she has been faithless to him, and returns again to Paris. Alfredo, heartbroken by this apparent desertion, follows, and, in the presence of many guests, insults her. Challenged by one of the company, Alfredo is wounded in a duel. Violetta is dying of consumption when Alfredo, recovering from his injuries, finds out, too late, the cruel injustice he has done. Verdi in this opera surprised his warmest admirers by the simplicity and refinement of his style. With the utmost economy of means he frequently achieves sur- passingly emotional effects. The orchestral prelude to the first act forecasts in a considerable degree the emo- tions of the drama. Prelude to Act I of " La Traviata " Columbia Symphony Orchestra Columbia Record E 5065 In a company of revelers (Act I) Violetta and Alfredo salute each other with a toast. Life is short and fleet- ing. It is well for youth to gather its joy while it may. Alfredo takes his leave. Violetta, for his sake, would fain renounce the follies that surround her. Sadly, wist- fully, she begins her air, "Ah! fors' e lui" ("Ah! were it he"). But alas, she reflects, what could she offer Alfredo that would be worthy of his affection? It is best to live in the moment, to be free. With forced 6 59 THE LURE OF MUSIC gaiety she sings the aria, "Sempre libera" ("Forever free"). " Ah! fors' lui " (" Quel est done ce trouble charmant ") " Sempre libera deggio " (" Pour jarnais ta destinee ") Sung by Mary Garden (in French) Columbia Record A 5284 Alfredo's ardor overcomes Violetta's hesitation. But her happiness is short-lived. Renouncing all, she leaves him. Alfredo is confronted by his father, who reminds the heartbroken lover of all that waits at home for- giveness, the love of parents and sister, and the fair land of Provence, where the past may be forgotten and healed. "Di Provenza il mar" is the melody Verdi has given the father whose heart goes out to his son. " Di Provenza il mar " (" From your home in fair Provence ") Sung by Riccardo Stracciari Columbia Record 49215 Not unnaturally Alfredo misunderstands the action of Violetta and puts the grossest construction upon it. He pursues her to the home of her friend, Flora Belvoix. There a ball is in progress, and Violetta is dissembling her grief as best she may. Alfredo, ignoring the un- fortunate woman, plays at cards, wins heavily, and challenges his supposed rival, Baron Duphol, to a duel. Violetta is in consternation at his wild talk when they find themselves alone together. Alfredo accuses her of inconstancy, summons the guests about them, and in the presence of the entire company throws his purse at Violetta's feet. For this act of a puppy he is censured not only by his friends but by his father, who has fol- lowed him and who now appears on the scene. To a chorus of disapprobation Alfredo departs. Violetta, of course, swoons. Between this scene and the opening of the last act 60 THE LURE OF MUSIC Alfredo has been wounded in his duel, and has learned too late of the selflessness of Violetta. She is seen, a wasted consumptive, on her death-bed. She reads a letter from Alfredo's father, who is also late in repenting of his interference, well meant as it was, in his son's love affair. "I have told my son," he writes Violetta, "of your sacrifice. He will return to you for pardon. Live for the happiness which you deserve." The music Verdi wrote for these situations is not only remarkable for deep feeling, but extreme simplicity. With a very few instruments, a very few notes, he pre- pares the hearer, in his prelude to this final act, for the emotions to come. Prelude to Act III of " La Traviata " Played by Columbia Symphony Orchestra Columbia Record E 5065 Alfredo arrives. He clasps the dying Violetta in his arms, and the two sing of the happiness, far from the prying crowd, which they fondly anticipate, and which will never be theirs. Violetta breathes her last in her lover's arms. The simple eloquence of the music of the final scene is only another proof of the limitless possibilities of Verdi's genius. Produced at Venice, March 6, 1853, "Traviata" was coldly received. "Is it my fault or that of the singers?" wrote Verdi to a friend. Time has vindicated the com- poser. Who was to blame for the failure of the last act? The soprano weighed something over two hundred pounds, and it is not surprising that a gale of laughter swept the house when she announced she was dying of consumption ! It is significant that while up to the time of the com- position of "Ai'da" Verdi had composed opera after opera, the average time of composition being four 61 THE LURE OF MUSIC months for each work, "A'ida" was followed by only two works, "Otello" and "Falstaff," in a period of twenty- two years! In other words, Verdi was reaching the period when profound reflection and knowledge of life were to contribute to the careful, deliberate achievement of master- works. "A'ida," produced at Cairo on the 24th of December, 1871, was composed at the invitation of the Khedive of Egypt, a munificent patron of the arts, who desired that Verdi should compose a work on an Egyptian theme for the new Italian Theater which had thrown open its doors the preceding season. To Mariette Bey, the eminent Egyptologist, was intrusted the task of finding a subject which would be appropriate to the occasion and likely to interest Verdi. The libretto was written in French prose, under the eye of the composer, by Camille du Locle. Ai'da, a captive in the Egyptian court, is handmaid to the Princess Amneris. The two women discover themselves to be rivals for the love of the hero, Radames. He is appointed commander of the Egyptians who are sent against the hordes led by Amonasro, the African chieftain and Aida's father. Picture the tumult in the heart of this unhappy woman devoted to her father, fearful for her lover, and the slave of her rival, in whose power she lives. Radames returns from the campaign victorious and with Amonasro in chains. The Egyptian king confers on Radames the hand of his daughter, an honor which may not be refused. On the eve of the wedding A'ida, at the command of her father, wrings from her unsuspecting lover information as to the military plans of the Egyptians' forthcoming campaign against the Ethiopians. Scarcely has the secret been betrayed than the guards of Amneris appear. Radames is con- demned to be buried alive for his apparent treachery. Amneris, who knows the truth, offers to save him if he 62 THE LURE OF MUSIC will renounce A'ida, but Radames prefers death to a living lie. In the tomb he finds Ai'da, come to share his fate. While the priests chant and the priestesses per- form the sacred dance in the temple above them, the lovers sing of union in death, and Amneris, conscience- stricken, implores pardon of her gods. One of the most beautiful of Verdi's arias is the well- known "Celeste Ai'da," in which Radames (Act I) pays glowing tribute to the beauty of A'ida and prays the gods to give him victory and the reward of her love. Compare the artistic simplicity and romantic feeling of this air with the love music of Verdi's earlier operas. Here are neither pompous heroics nor elaborate vocal display, but straightforward, noble, manly sentiment, and a melody that every one can comprehend and cherish. " Celeste Aida " (" Radiant Aida ") Sung by Hipolito Lazaro Columbia Record 48762 Radames, in the presence of the king, the High-priest Ramphis, and other dignitaries, priests, and attendants, is informed of his appointment as leader of the Egyptian armies. Ai'da is left alone. "May laurels crown thy brow," she cries out to the departing Radames; "but, alas! how can I wish Radames victory over my father, who wages war that I may be restored to my country and my crown?" The noble line of the melody, the passionate outbursts of feeling, the broken exclamations which alternate with sustained and beautiful song, make this air one of the world's great masterpieces of dramatic music. Very wonderful, too, is the part played by the orchestra. At the same time, it femains subordinate to the voice, which always retains its ascendancy, its matchless expressive power. "No more," continues A'ida, "do I dare even to recall the names of those for 63 THE LURE OF MUSIC whom my prayers would ascend to heaven. Look down on me, merciful gods, and pity these tears." The scene changes to the interior of the temple of Vulcan at Memphis. In a mysterious light which shines down from above are seen towering columns, statues of ancient Egyptian deities, tripods whence rise the golden fumes of incense, and looming over all the image of the god Phtha. The aid of Phtha is besought by an in- visible priestess, and there are low responses from the assembled priests. Verdi has set before us in an un- forgetable manner a scene of ancient ceremonial and worship. " Possente Phtha " (" Almighty Phtha ") Sung by E. Toninello, soprano, V. Bettoni, bass, and Chorus Columbia Record E 1937 Then follows the solemn invocation : " Nume, custode e vindice " (" Guard now our sacred land ") Sung by Giovanni Zenatello, Jose Mardones, and Chorus Columbia Record A 5426 Radames is at the battle-front. Amneris, appre- hensive for his safety, longing for his return, broods savagely on the possibility that he loves Ai'da. And what if his love is returned? With an imperious gesture she summons the African before her. "Radames has perished!" And the outcry of Ai'da shows Amneris how truly she has read her heart. Comes Radames, triumphant at the head of his hosts, with captives, among them Amonasro, in his train. Probably no composer has written a more stupendous operatic ensemble than the second scene of the second act of "Ai'da." The first half of this scene the acclamations of the people, the ceremonies of triumph, the discovery of the identity of Amonasro, and his superbly barbaric defiance of his conquerors would have absorbed the creative power of a great and gifted composer. 64 THE LURE OF MUSIC March from " Aida " Played by Metropolitan Opera Orchestra Columbia Record A 6118 But this is only the prelude to the gigantic climax, when Radames, against the protests of the priests, obtains as a boon the life of Amonasro, and the hand of Amneris is conferred on the hero. It is musical and dramatic architecture of the grandest type. Nor could one easily conceive a finer contrast than that of this scene and the opening of the third act, the river Nile, which shimmers in the moonlight, while from an adjoining temple come the songs of priests and priestesses who await Amneris. Ramphis leads her to the temple in which, on the eve of her wedding, she intends to spend the night in prayer. Ai'da steals in for her meeting with Radames. "Oh, native land," she sings. "Oh, skies of azure, no more shall I behold you." The passion for his native land, for his own soil, which often animated Verdi as a com- poser, has come powerfully to his assistance in this pas- sage. A tender pastoral melody precedes Aida's solo, and in the orchestra is the whisper of gentle winds. Again Verdi achieves an effect of extraordinary poig- nancy with the simple melody that comes from the heart of the sorrowing woman. " O patria mia " (" Oh, my beloved land ") Sung by Rosa Ponselle Columbia Record 49557 Of the fourth act Amneris is the heroine, and a royal creature she is. Ai'da has escaped. Amonasro was killed. Radames awaits sentence as a traitor, though Amneris knows well that a traitor he is not. Never- theless, he had planned flight with Aida, and in the eyes of the proud and passionate princess this is a crime more fearful than any of which the hero stands accused. 65 THE LURE OF MUSIC Weeping, she addresses Radames as guards lead him past to judgment. "If you wish to save yourself, look on Amneris! Is not life with her a lovelier thing than the shameful death of the condemned?" Radames is fearless. A proud woman and a strong man face each other, and the spirit of them both is in Verdi's music. One searches the literature of music drama for a nobler, more touching passage than this. It is Italian in its fervor and eloquence, it is almost Greek in the nobility and the inherent repose of its art. As the drama pro- ceeds the sympathy of the hearer grows for Amneris. Ai'da is a captive maiden in a romantic situation. Amneris is a figure of destiny, half a goddess, and doomed at last, in her repentance, to a fate far more tragic than that of the beings in her power. She must now watch the workings of the revenge she has invoked, helpless to avert its culmination. The unrelenting priests pass Amneris on their way to the hall of judgment. The distracted woman, too late, implores the gods to intervene. Nowhere has Verdi delved deeper in the human heart, in no page of any master-work has he produced a character who excites our emotions and sympathies so much as the tragic figure of the Egyptian princess imploring, supplicating, and answered only by the dark and inexorable pronouncements of the tribunal. The double stage of the last act of "Aida" was the idea of Verdi. The upper half of the stage shows the interior of the temple of Vulcan as it was in the first act. Again the tripods are giving forth the fumes of burning incense, again the priestesses are performing the sacred dances, again is heard the music of the in- vocation to Phtha. Underneath is the vault in which Radames is entombed. Two priests are in the act of nailing down the * stone which imprisons him forever. 66 THE LURE OF MUSIC Radames discovers Ai'da, who has preceded him. Noth- ing is more touching than the final song that Verdi has given his lovers, the sensuous song of love for which the world and life itself are well lost. The two voices, issuing from the darkness of the crypt, mingle with the ancient chant of the priestesses invoking Phtha. It is the music of the lighted temple and the triumphant enemies of Ai'da and Radames which appears dark in mood and color, while from underneath, where all is shadow, there rise harmonies radiant and ecstatic. " O terra, addio " (" Farewell, oh, earth ") Sung by Rosa Ponselle and Charles Hackett Columbia Record 49734 Sung by Emmy Destinn and Giovanni Zenatello Columbia Record A 5399 After the death of Rossini in 1868 Verdi suggested that thirteen Italian composers write as many different numbers of a requiem mass in his memory. Verdi composed only the last number the "Libera me." As might be supposed, the various numbers were so dis- similar in style and value that there was no harmonious relation or proportion between them. The musician and critic, Alberto Mazzucato, was so struck with Verdi's music that he wrote him begging him to compose the complete mass. Soon after this Alessandro Manzoni died. Verdi composed in his memory the requiem for chorus, soloists, and orchestra which concluded with the number originally written in honor of Rossini. A single excerpt from this work, the impressive "Con- futatis maledictus," will imply the grandeur, the color, the dramatic feeling of a stupendous composition, which solemnly chants the repose and salvation of death, the terrors of the Judgment Day. "Confutatis maledictus" is from the "Dies irse" ("Day of wrath") of the mass. "From the fate of the accursed," sings the bass, "O God, deliver me." 67 THE LURE OF MUSIC " Confutatis maledictus " (" From the fate of the accursed ") Sung by Henri Scott Columbia Record A 5442 For the operas "Otello" and "Falstaff " Arrigo Boito, the poet and musician, of whom we say more in another chapter, was the librettist, and never had composer a stronger and finer text than he gave Verdi. For fifteen years Boito had dreamed of writing a libretto on the basis of "Otello," and himself composing the music, but his reverence for Verdi was so great that he effaced himself with an affection and devotion of which a lesser man would have been incapable. "Otello" was produced at La Scala, Milan, February 5, 1887. The premiere was the occasion for demonstra- tions of enthusiasm, intense even for an Italian audience. For weeks before the performance cab -drivers and loungers in cafes read the libretto, as they did when "Falstaff" was performed six years later, and discussed it passionately. When the event came off Boito feared for Verdi at the hands of the wildly joyous mob. Boito begins with the second act of Shakespeare's play, and the storm with which the opera opens is not only the grandest imaginable evocation of the elements, but is also the fitting symbol of the destructive passions which rage in Otello's breast. Characters of the drama and their motives are set forth with masterly skill and condensation. The virility of the music, its concen- tration and intensity of feeling, are matched by the con- summate dramatic technic of the composer. Uncanny is the atmosphere established by Verdi at the beginning of the last act, when the gentle Desdemona, filled with premonitions she cannot explain, sings the "Willow song" and breathes her prayer. " Canzone di salice " (" Willow song ") and " Ave Maria " from " Otello " Sung by G. Delia Rizza, soprano Columbia Record E 1895 THE LURE OF MUSIC Otello, filled with remorse when he knows the hor- rible injustice of his crime, cries out, as he stabs himself : " I kissed thee ere I killed thee: no way but this; Killing myself, to die upon a kiss." " Morte d'Otello " (" Death of Othello ") Sung by Giovanni Zenatello Columbia Record A 5359 Sung by Florencio Constantino Columbia Record A 5113 Though often, in his later years, depressed and melancholy, Verdi gave the world as his last creation not a tragedy, but a comedy, a miracle of laughter and song. Boito wove the libretto of "Falstaff" (produced at La Scala, February 9, 1893) from several of Shake- speare's dramas, drawing principally on "The Merry Wives of Windsor.' Shakespeare is said to have written this drama in fourteen days for Elizabeth of England, when the Virgin Queen expressed a wish "to see Falstaff in love." The opera is all too seldom per- formed, partly because of the difficulty of securing in one cast the number of great singers the score demands. It was composed when Verdi was eighty years old. "Genius," according to Mr. Edgar Lee Masters, "is wisdom and youth." The music which Verdi created in his eightieth year was surpassingly young. Verdi was a strong, simple man, like his music. He spent the later years of his life on his farm at Sant' Agata, where there was not even a good piano, where he rose at five, inspected the work being done about the estate, raised horses, and gave extensively and anony- mously to those in need. Disliking ceremony, a demo- crat to the backbone, a lover of people who were sim- ple and unassuming like himself, he preferred the Italian peasants and the nature about him to great cities and applauding throngs. THE LURE OF MUSIC In the course of his career, Verdi summarized practi- cally the entire development of Italian opera. This form first came into definite shape at about the beginning of the seventeenth century. The ideals of the early Italian pioneers of the music-drama were those which obtain to-day with the greatest opera composers: that the music must be throughout dependent upon and expres- sive of the dramatic situation. But the invention of music-drama led in turn to the appearance of a type of melody so beautiful in itself that the Italians forgot to compose with dramatic truth and consistency, and con- tented themselves with writing brilliant, melodious show- pieces for favorite singers. The ideals of the first opera composers were forgotten, and the singer reigned. Before Verdi, the bright star of Italian opera was Rossini. His genius triumphed over the conventions of his day. He had a number of brilliant satellites, among whom we now recognize two as being pre-eminent, Bel- lini and Donizetti. Their best music still charms by its grace and beauty, but it is music of a time that is past. Verdi, starting where the gifted Rossini and his colleagues had stopped, was the strong man, the prophet of the new era. He was a master who summed up in his works the labors and dreams of a thousand lesser men, a patriot who grew like a great tree from the ever-fruitful soil of his native land. His last three operas contain the essence of all dramatic music which has since come from Italy. Yet they are inimitable and of unapproach- able perfection in themselves. Verdi was a man of passionate convictions, enduring attachments, unswerv- ing ideals in life and art. The homage of the world was his when, on the 27th of January, 1901, he passed away. There are impressive pages in operas of Verdi not specified in the preceding chapter. Records of selections from these works will afford much good music and a 70 THE LURE OF MUSIC more detailed survey of his development as a composer. Why have these operas, with the occasional exception of "The Masked Ball" ("Ballo in Maschera") and "The Power of Destiny" ("Forza del Destino") failed to hold the stage? The answer lies, no doubt, largely in the flimsy and melodramatic character of the libretti. No composer could have built masterpieces of such materials. It appears as if the melodic genius and the dramatic passion of Verdi had sometimes defeated them- selves by the impulsiveness and impatience of the man to spill blood and notes in the theater. His genius, like that of Handel, seems to have been prodigal, almost wasteful, like nature; to have produced with a kindred fecundity and carelessness of the result. Consider the dates on which these different works appeared: "Luisa Miller," an orgy of jealousy, poison, and murder, is produced in Naples in 1849. It is on the whole a poorer work than "Ernani," mounted five years before. Only two years after "Luisa Miller" comes "Rigoletto," in 1851, the first of Verdi's operas to hold a place in the repertory of to-day, a work much more modern in certain passages, and better knit than "II Trovatore," which appeared in 1853. It was after "Rigoletto," "Trova- tore," and "Traviata" six years after, in 1859 that the first public performance of "The Masked Ball," an arrant hodgepodge of the great and the ridiculous, was given. And so with other works. Genius is not an orderly, pedestrian thing. It is a thing of ebb and flood, calm and storm, like the sea. "SiMON BOCCANEGEA" (Venice, 1857) Although both prologue and final act of this opera are reputed to have much distinction, the work as a whole has not kept the stage probably because of a weak and confused libretto. In Cologne in 1875 Verdi saw a per- formance of Schiller's drama, from which the plot was 71 THE LURE OF MUSIC drawn, and cried out, "Ah, what a fine poem Piave might have made for me!" "II lacerato spirito" is the lament of Simon Boccanegra, who, returning to the city from which he has been absent for twenty-five years, encounters a funeral cortege, headed by the body of a girl he had loved and betrayed. In the opera, the solo voice is answered by a chorus of grief. " II lacerato spirito " (" The wounded spirit ") Sung by Jose Mardones Columbia Record A 5201 "BALLO IN MASCHERA" ("THE MASKED BALL") (Rome, 1859) Many tributes have been paid that city facetiously known as "the hub of the universe," but few have been so astonishing as the placing of the scene of Verdi's opera, "Ballo in Maschera," in Boston, Massachusetts. The original title of the opera, the libretto by Somma, was "Gustavus III." An episode was the assassination of the Swedish monarch. While the rehearsals were in progress occurred the attempted assassination of Na- poleon III by Orsini. It was dangerous to excite the Italian public of that day by dwelling too heavily on the killing of monarchs. The Austrian censor ordered Verdi to change his plot. This the composer refused to do. The manager of the theater sued Verdi for not delivering his opera on time. Crowds assembled under Verdi's window and cheered him. The war for Italian independence had begun. Verdi's name had patriotic significance. Thus V. E. R. D. I. came to mean "Viva Vittorio Emanuele, Re D 'Italia" ("Long live Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy"). Finally the name of "Richard, governor of Boston," was substituted for Gustavus, and in costumes of our Puritan forefathers the opera was performed. When Mario, the tenor, sang in the opera, he refused to wear the sober garb of the Puritans and was allowed to appear in the costume of 72 THE LURE OF MUSIC a Spanish grandee! In late productions the scenes of the opera have been changed to "A northern country." Riccardo loves Amelia, wife of his secretary, Renato. He consults a negro sorceress to decipher the future and overhears Amelia, who has come to the same place for a love-cure, declare that she loves him. Amelia, veiled, meets Riccardo in a lonely spot. The devoted Renato hurries thither, to save his chief from approaching con- spirators. He discovers his wife's identity and later stabs Riccardo at a masked ball. Riccardo, falling, swears that Amelia is innocent. A very tuneful aria is that of the faithful Renato, in the first act, when he warns Riccardo that his life is not safe in the palace. There are enemies whose hatred is swifter than the love of Riccardo's subjects, who wait the opportunity to strike. " Alia vita che t'arride " (" The life thou dost cherish ") Sung by Riccardo Stracciari Columbia Record 77085 "Eri tu" is Renato' s denunciation of Amelia, when he believes her to have betrayed his honor. The in- troductory trumpet blast, the dramatic fervor of the music, make a very effective baritone aria in the old style. " Eri tu macchiavi " (" Thou didst sully that spirit pure ") Sung by Riccardo Stracciari Columbia Record 49221 "LA FORZA DEL DESTINO" ("THE POWER OF DESTINY") (Petrograd, 1862) The libretto is by Piave, after a drama by the Duke of Rivas. Alvaro is about to elope with Leonora when her father, the Marquis de Calatrava, enters the room. Alvaro' s pistol accidentally goes off, killing the marquis. Alvaro and Leonora flee to escape the consequences of this deed. Leonora knocks at the door of a monastery, asking leave to take refuge in an abandoned hermitage " 73 THE LURE OF MUSIC near by. The monks promise to keep her secret. Leonora's brother, Don Carlos, swears to avenge his father's death and kill his sister's lover. But he and Alvaro become brother officers and firm friends in the army, neither knowing the identity of the other. When this is disclosed they fight, and Carlos is wounded. Alvaro retires to a monstery the same near which Leonora lives. Carlos follows him. They fight again and Carlos is again wounded. Leonora rushes from her hut, and stumbles over the body of her brother, who recognizes and stabs her before he dies. The book of the opera was revised when it was produced in Milan in 1869. Thus there is more than one ending. The prevailing one is that in which, Don Carlos and his sister dying, Alvaro goes insane and leaps from a preci- pice. Verdi composed this work in grim earnest, and there are scenes of gripping intensity and musical power. One of the most celebrated passages of the opera is the overture, which contains many of the musical motives that appear later in the work, and which, with that tumultuous eloquence that the orchestra, greatest of all musical instruments, possesses, foretells the tragedy that is to come. Overture and selections from " Forza del Destine " Columbia Symphony Orchestra Columbia Record A 6113 The scene in which Leonora implores the aid of Heaven and blesses the monks of Hornacuelos for the protection they give her is extremely impressive. It takes place before the monastery, and the voices of the chanting monks are heard as a musical background of the desperate appeal of Leonora. " La vergine degli angeli " (" The angelic virgin ") Sung by Rosa Ponselle, with Chorus Columbia Record 49558 74 THE LURE OF MUSIC It is while Carlo and Alvaro are as brothers, fighting side by side, and before their insane enmity has de- veloped, that they sing the great duet, vowing eternal trust and friendship. " Solenne in quest ora " (" Solemnly in this hour ") Sung by Charles Hackett and Riccardo Stracciari Columbia Record 49666 "DoN CARLOS" (Paris, 1867) In "Don Carlos" Verdi anticipated the grand pro- portions, the elevated style, of "Aida." The libretto, based on Schiller's drama, is the work of Mery and Camille du Locle, and is far superior in matter and in style to those of the operas immediately preceding. Don Carlos, son of Philip II of Spain, is betrothed to Elizabeth of Valois, daughter of Henry IV of France. The French king, for reasons of state, sets aside the en- gagement and gives Elizabeth to King Philip. The youthful lovers, though torn apart, cannot restrain their affection. Their secret is discovered by the jeal- ous Princess Eboli, who informs the king. Don Carlos, on the advice of the Grand Inquisitor, is imprisoned. He is visited in his cell by his friend, Roderigo. The suspicions of the Grand Inquisitor being aroused, Roderigo, popular with the people, as well as a former favorite of the king, is shot. Because of a revolt of the populace, afterward quelled, Carlos is released. At night, under the shadow of deserted cloisters, he meets the queen to say farewell. The two are discovered by the king and Carlos is delivered into the hands of the Inquisitor. "Ella giammai m'amo 1 " Sung by Leon Rothier Columbia Record A 5812 "Ella giammai m'amo'" is the dramatic soliloquy 7 75 THE LURE OF MUSIC of the king, sung at the beginning of the fourth act. He knows now that Elizabeth can never love him, that kings can command, but there is a realm where their mandates are helpless. In the use of the orchestra, in the expressively written accompaniment and the force of declaration, this air is a significant predecessor of the music of "Ai'da." LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN HISTORY plays strange tricks. There is some- thing very near the spirit of America in the career of Ludwig van Beethoven. He appears in music as the supreme prophet of democracy. He was born (1770-1827) in the period of the American War for Independence and a quarter of a century before the French Revolution, waged in the names of "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity." The forces which were reshaping society fashioned his soul. Of common stock, Beethoven rose to the heights through sheer greatness and force of will. He was contemptuous of rank or precedent, and had that in him which compelled respect, even homage, from the high- born. His life, though not without honors and suc- cesses, was tragic. The affliction of deafness added indescribably to his burdens. Yet he could toil and fight on. He could roar with laughter, he could adore liberty, he could preserve to the end an utter absorption in his art and a passionate adherence to the noblest ideals. Other music than his haunts us because of its sheer loveliness, or eloquence, or color, or poetry what you will. But the music of Beethoven is nearer and farther than that. It is first of all the music of a strong man, a brother, passionately human. It has a deeply emotional quality which no other music had in like degree before Beethoven appeared. It is clean and heroic, a proclamation for all time of the great destiny of humanity, the loving-kindness of God, and the god- hood of man. 77 THE LURE OF MUSIC Beethoven's mother was a cook, his father a court singer and a drunkard. A portion of the father's salary was soon paid direct to Ludwig, who shouldered in a considerable degree the responsibilities of the family. There were three brothers, one of whom died in infancy. The other two, Carl and Johann, petty souls, helped to make Beethoven's life wretched by secret traffic and profiting in his compositions. (It was one of these in- dividuals, purse-proud at some paltry gain, who sent Ludwig his card, with the additional title, "land-owner," and w T ho received in exchange the signature, "Ludwig van Beethoven, Brain-owner.") The father's family came from Louvain in Belgium. Hence the "van" in Beethoven's name, which was probably of social assist- ance to him, but which was not a certificate of nobility like the "von" in Germany. Beethoven, despite his surroundings, was fortunate in the training of his talent and the friends he made in high places. He was rather cruelty subjected to the education of the child prodigy. He had his first lessons at four, and played in concert at eight. He composed a set of variations at ten, and was pianist and conductor at the theater when he was thirteen. In the following year he made his first pay as organist. In 1787 he con- trived to visit Vienna, where he played to Mozart, who tiptoed from the room and whispered, "That young man will make a noise in the world." Of equal or greater importance in Beethoven's early development is the broadening of his mental horizon, through his acquaintance with aristocracy and people of the great world, his reading, considerably more extensive than that of the average musician of the day, and his acquaint- ance with several languages. Haydn, too, encouraged him in his studies they had not yet become the enemies they became in later years and in 1792 Beethoven went to Vienna, where he passed the remainder of his life. 78 THE LURE OF MUSIC Almost from the beginning he annoyed his teachers by what they could only construe as a scoffing disrespect for things known and done. Beethoven one day re- marked that it was "good occasionally to learn what was according to rule, in order that one may later arrive at what is contrary to rule." But he never made a new rule until he had mastered the old one. The self- restraint he exercised when his youthful genius was urging him to smash conventions to smithereens and go on his way is as remarkable, and as characteristic of his mind, as the audacious originality discovered in his later scores. He was learning, and biding his time. When that time came, knowing his power, certain of his destiny, Beethoven struck out music to ring through the cen- turies. He freed his art forever from the shackles of formalism and conventionality. He gave music an energy and a revolutionary impulse it has never lost. He seemed to his contemporaries, even to other com- posers, an anarchist of tones. Actually he was the prophet of the new era. Compare any well-known masterpiece of Beethoven with the comparatively polite and polished music of his predecessors, not excepting the two immortals, Haydn and Mozart, of the eighteenth century. Take the best of the Haydn symphonies, or even the C major or G minor symphonies of Mozart, and put them by Beetho- ven's Fifth. In the symphonies of Haydn and Mozart there is music of heavenly grace and transparency. In the music of Beethoven there is a depth of meaning, a grandeur of utterance, and a fiery spirit which sweeps everything before it. On the manuscript of his Fifth Symphony, according to Schindler, Beethoven wrote, "Thus fate knocks at the door." At once, without classic preamble, like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, sounds the fate motive. Four tones only. Four hammer strokes of destiny! 79 THE LURE OF MUSIC The last tone is prolonged and vibrated with the whole strength of the orchestra, as if the irresistible force had met the immovable body, and the two were to strive together for eternity. The motive is driven home by immediate repetition, after which it begins to whisper and mutter and thunder through, the registers of the orchestra. It is nearly always present, in one form or another, throughout the movement, and it is a wonderful example, in addition to its dramatic meaning, of the way in which Beethoven could take an acorn of a musical idea and make from it a vast forest of sound. Even when the second theme, a short, pleading melody, appears, the fate motive is heard softly, as an accom- paniment, in the bass. It soon overwhelms the gentle song, swallowed in the orchestral fury. Theme shatters against theme. There are moments of exhaustion, sighs of weariness and dejection, but the music quickly gathers fresh energy and rage, and in this mood the movement comes to an end. No wonder that such rugged and virile art annoyed the conservatives of Beethoven's day. But could any- one have failed to respond to the slow movement which follows? It opens with an instrumental song which might well have inspired the verse of Henley: "It matters not how straight the gate, How charged with punishment the scroll, I am the captain of my fate: I am the master of my soul." With his sure instinct for the right expression, Beetho- ven is no longer complex or dramatic. He weaves a series of masterly variations about the main melody, first given to the violoncellos of the orchestra. This melody has two long principal phrases. The first phrase is peaceful and contemplative in spirit, the second partakes more of the character of heroic resolve. The 80 THE LURE OF MUSIC ending is the expression of a man who has found fresh strength to face the battle of life. Andante from Fifth Symphony Played by New York Philharmonic Orchestra Columbia Record A 5954 The Fifth Symphony is in four movements. Most unprecedented of them all, in some respects, is the third movement, the "Scherzo," which Beethoven substituted for the "Minuet" established as part of the symphony by his forerunners. There is music of restless foreboding, then a sudden outburst of Beethovenish laughter. Mys- terious pluckings and whisperings of the strings are interrupted by the trumpet, which, full-voiced, raps out a new version of the Fate theme. Later on the orchestra subsides, sustaining softly a certain chord. Little is heard for many measures save a drum which marks the rhythm, like the heartbeat of one in a trance. At last the drumbeat quickens and swells, and with one mighty crescendo the instruments launch into a finale made of fanfares and shouts of victory paens, salutations, to the dauntless human soul. That is the kind of music that Beethoven liked to write. Not that he failed to take pleasure in many lighter moods and smaller forms. See, for example, the Minuet of his piano sonata, Opus 31, No. 3, with the flowing, Mo- zartean melody of its first part, and the sly humor of the middle section, in which Beethoven jests and digs us in the ribs (Minuet of sonata, Opus 31, No. 3, arranged for orchestra: Columbia Record A 5952). But it was in the romantic, prophetic vein that he stood highest above all others. It is from this height that his spirit broods to-day over the world. And what of Beethoven, the man? He was under average height, but of powerful and stocky build. He was ugly, yet fascinated everyone he met, if he did not 61 THE LURE OF MUSIC first make him a mortal enemy ! The forehead was high and broad, the eyes dark, the lips somewhat protruding, with an effect of fierceness. Everything about the man betokened force, impetuousness, and an iron will. His hands were broad and strong, covered with coarse black hair bear's paws. Beethoven was a hairy man. He had to shave to the eyes! At first, newly come to Vienna, and astonishingly well received by the aristocracy, he dressed pretentiously and sparked it with the best of them. "It is good to be with the aristocracy," he said, "but one must impress them." Nothing is more striking than the position he immediately took in this society, where a musician was ranked a little lower than a butler. Bui as his deafness increased Beethoven drew T the more into himself and became continually less attentive to conventions. He would be seen w r alking in the country, of which he was a passionate lover, gesticulating, shouting like a maniac, singing at the top of his voice the melodies which were pressing for utterance. In striking contrast to his disregard of exterior detail are his system and industry as a composer. No idea was too trivial for Beethoven to put down immediately in his notebook. Then the idea commenced to grow. It would be altered, polished, revised any number of tiroes until it had the strength, beauty, and significance the composer demanded of his musical material before he transformed it into a sonata, a string quartet, or a symphony. His music was produced with pain and travail, but he was indefatigable in his labors, and the longer he worked at a composition, the more spontaneous it appeared to be. Much of Beethoven's irritableness and suspicion of even his best friends has been laid to his deafness. Un- doubtedly this did embitter his disposition, but he would in any event have been a terrible fellow. His rage when 82 THE LURE OF MUSIC he found or suspected he had been imposed upon was often comical, and always beyond restraint. A waiter who displeased him in a restaurant was grasped firmly by the collar and the stew poured over his head. He pelted a cook with bad eggs which had been served him. He would fling dishes, books, articles of furniture at servants, even when they were servants of noble friends who entertained him. And milord would suffer no condescension! Lichnowsky, as Beethoven's host, gave orders that Beethoven's bell should be answered before his. Beethoven, hearing of this, at once engaged a servant to wait only on himself. He detested sycoph- ancy, and once changed his lodgings because the land- lord, a baron, insisted on taking off his hat every time they met. He w T as a most objectionable tenant, and for reasons which can easily be imagined was always changing his lodgings. He loved to pour water over his hands and would not notice that the basin had over- flowed and the floor was flooded. On a fine morning he stood before a window in his nightshirt, forgetful of that fact and in genuine wonderment as to "what those d d boys were hooting at." In a temper he was quick to insolence and sarcasm. He was always fond of horseplay and practical jokes, but only when they were on the other fellow. No man was safe from his ire, commoner or aristocrat though he might be. At a rehearsal Prince Lobkowitz made an entirely logical and friendly remark. Beethoven promptly took offense, and could hardly wait for the rehearsal to come to an end to follow Lobkowitz to the gateway of his palace, where the composer stood for some time, telling the world, in no uncertain terms, that Lobkowitz was an ass an ass. The sober truth is that Beethoven in certain moods was boorish, offensive, and overbearing. It is to the infinite credit, not only of himself, but his fine friends, that in spite of everything they esteemed him for what 83 THE LURE OF MUSIC he was, and in most cases remained loyal to the end. Beethoven was always in love, and this in the most high-minded manner. He adored quixotically the beauty of women, which he exalted to the skies. The letters to Theresa von Breuning, and those to the "unknown beloved," are but a few of many in the same tenor. Among innumerable Beethoven legends are those which tell of his being unable to marry certain noble dames because of differences in rank. One doubts very much whether this was the reason for his loneliness. The true causes lay in all probability in his capricious temper, in the deafness which grew upon him, and in his unsettled circumstances. Nothing in his letters, not even the communication addressed to his brothers and known as the "Will," seems more pathetic than his outcry, "O God, let me at last find her who is destined to be mine and who shall strengthen me in virtue!" Beethoven, worshiping the genius of Mozart, nevertheless regretted that Mozart's greatest operas, "Don Giovanni" and "The Marriage of Figaro," were based on licentious plots, and Beethoven's one opera, "Fidelio" (produced at the Theater an der Wien, November 20, 1806), is among the few music-dramas which glorify conjugal love. This great opera, for reasons which need not detain us, has never had a widespread success, but if the theater has thereby suffered a loss, the concert room is incalcu- lably the gainer. Beethoven has compressed in one of the most brilliant and dramatic of all overtures the very essence of his situations. Listening to the music, one should understand the motives of the drama. Florestan has been cast into prison by his enemy, Pizarro. Flores- tan's loving wife, Leonore, disguises herself as a jail- er's assistant. She secures entrance to the dungeon. When Pizarro descends to murder his victim she flings herself in front of the assassin's pistol, at the moment 84 THE LURE OF MUSIC that the trumpet call 01 their deliverers sounds from the ramparts above. This is the moment anticipated in the Third "Leonore" Overture, usually played as a prelude to the last act of the opera in which the climactic situation occurs. Four overtures were composed for this opera, of which the original title was "Leonore." A dreamy introduc- tion leads to the main body of the overture. Strings intone a joyous melody of deliverance. Group after group of instruments catch fire with this motive until it is hymned tumultuously by the full orchestra. Later, following two chords of the horns, comes the second theme, "made of sobs and sighs." These motives develop with agitation, until the orchestra, with an imper- ious flourish, leads up to the trumpet call which is the dramatic climax of the opera. It is answered softly by the song of thanksgiving which Leonore sings in the third act. Again the trumpet sounds, this time nearer; again the song of thankfulness; and the overture ends with frantic rejoicing. Thus Beethoven imagined the love that never became his. Beethoven's creative life has been roughly divided, for purposes of classification, into three "periods." The first is his formative period, up to about 1800, a period partly of imitation and partly of original and romantic expression, as exemplified in the so-called "Moonlight Sonata," the poetic piano concerto in G major, the First and Second symphonies, and the famous Kreutzer sonata for piano and violin, which inspired the singular tale of Tolstoi. To the second period, the beginning of which coincides with the time of Beethoven's realization that his deafness was incurable, belong the "Waldstein" and " Appasionata " sonatas, the " Rasoumowsky " string quartets, the opera "Fidelio," the violin con- certo, and the last piano concerto, called the "Em- peror." This period, it will be observed, is also co- 85 THE LURE OF MUSIC incident with the rapid growth of democratic ideals hi Europe, following the French Revolution. It is the time of equi-balance, in Beethoven's art, between the early imitative compositions and the late mystical works in which he communes alone with -his God. To the final period belong the last great quartets and piano sonatas, the Eighth and Ninth symphonies. This period in Beethoven's life was accompanied by complete deaf- ness and by the infinite vexations and miseries brought upon him by his rascally nephew, whom Carl, dying in 1815, had bequeathed him as a final tribulation of his life. In spite of the dark clouds that had gathered about him, in spite of the endless complications and worries occasioned by his nephew's peccadillos, Beethoven never expressed more purely and nobly his love of his fellow- man, his worship of God, than in the Ninth symphony. As if he had exhausted the expressive capacities of in- struments, he employs here a chorus and solo voices to intone the words of Schiller's "Ode to Joy": "Let millions of beings embrace. May this kiss reach the entire world! Brethren, beyond the stars there must dwell a dear Father. Millions, do ye prostrate your- selves? World, dost thou recognize the Creator? Seek Him above the canopy of the stars! There is His dwelling-place." When this work was produced Beethoven stood in the orchestra. He could not hear a sound. Deep in thought, he remained motionless, his head sunk on his breast, unaware when the last note had been played. One of the singers took his arm and gently turned him about. There stood the multitude, risen to its feet, cheering, waving hats and canes, while many burst into tears at the pitifulness of the figure before them. This was May 7, 1824. In 1827, racked by bodily ills and by mental suffering more terrible, Beethoven awaited 86 THE LURE OF MUSIC his end. Dropsy developed. "Better water from my body," he said, grimly, "than from my pen." Nature elected that he should die with fitting ceremony. He lay in a coma as an electric storm burst overhead. There was a lightning flash, a clap of thunder, and the uncon- scious man raised his fist and shook it at the heavens. So the spirit passed, in the storm. FRANZ PETER SCHUBERT, a shy, fat-backed, bespectacled little man, came into a restaurant one morning in July, 1826. He had been walking through villages and fields all sun and dew. He joined a friend at breakfast, and there on the table lay open a copy of Shakespeare's "Cymbeline." Schubert's eye fell on the lines which begin: "Hark! hark! the lark at heav'n's gate sings, And Phoebus 'gins arise . . ." "Ah!" he cried, "such a lovely melody has come into my head, had I but some music paper." His friend quickly ruled some staves on the back of a menu, and in a trice the lovely immortal song was com- posed. This song has made its way over the whole world and has been variously arranged for different instruments. The transcription made by Liszt for the piano preserves remarkably the morning mood and the suggestion of the lark rising in the skies. " Hark! Hark! The Lark " (Schubert-Liszt) Played by Leopold Godowsky Columbia Record A 5484 That was the way in which Schubert created his music. He could not write it down fast enough. What was no less wonderful was the perfect form in which most of his melodies came to him. He seldom revised them, and the song we have just mentioned is only one of many composed in similar fashion. For music was 88 THE LURE OF MUSIC Schubert's natural speech. He was in the habit of expressing himself in the tones of gods and angels, as if that were the most ordinary thing to do. Schumann said that Schubert could have written music to an advertisement. The appearance of such a figure is at once tragic and tormenting to those foolish enough to ponder over the unsolvable. How is such genius made? Why should it appear in such a body? Why should its possessor suf- fer? Schubert asked very little of the world. A few boon companions who understood him, a jaunt in the country, a romp with a not too formal crowd, when he would make his iat little fingers fly over the keyboard in waltzes of his own improvising, or play his favorite version of the "Erl-King" on a comb, and poems to turn into wonderful songs, and enough music paper to compose these were his simple needs. He had a right to live and be happy. He lived in poverty, and died overworked, penniless, at an early age. His possessions, including literally bushels of masterpieces, were valued by the appraiser at a little more than ten dollars. Beethoven had passed away, a few months before, with great men about him, with funeral ceremonies in many cities. Schubert lived all his life in or near that same Vienna in which Beethoven made himself a power, and few in the city knew or cared when he disappeared. Schubert never heard many of his masterpieces, and nothing seems more strangely symbolic of his career than the fate of his "Unfinished" symphony. He began this symphony in 18 2 2 as the only return he could make for the overwhelming honor of having been elected a member of a local music society. Two movements are extant, and there are nine measures of a third. Whether Schubert tucked the music away in a drawer and then forgot about it, as he often did with his compositions, or became busy with another project, no one knows. The 89 THE LURE OF MUSIC fragments of the "Unfinished" symphony which came to light thirty-two years after Schubert had died are precious beyond price, and so acknowledged by audiences the world over. Anselm Huttenbrenner, a friend of Schubert's youth, prided himself on being also something of a composer. In 1860 the conductor Herbeck was informed that Anselm possessed some Schubert manuscripts, including a symphony. It was hinted that if Herbeck would per- form a work of Anselm's he might also have the sym- phony of Schubert for his program. Perhaps Herbeck thought the price too high, even for a Schubert compo- sition, but after an interval of five years he visited old Anselm, awaiting his end in a tumble-down cottage at Graz, and said to him, "I think of presenting to the pub- lic three contemporaries, Huttenbrenner, Schubert, and Lachner. What have you that I can play?" Anselm brightened up; they selected one of his over- tures, then rummaged around among the manuscripts of Schubert. Herbeck's eye fell on the score of the "Un- finished" symphony. Concealing his excitement, he said, carelessly: "This will do. May I take it along and have it copied at my expense?" "Go ahead," said Anselm ; " there's no hurry." And thus it befell that the "Unfinished" symphony of Schubert was first heard between a composition by one Huttenbrenner and a composition by one Lachner, in Vienna, December 17, 1865. This symphony is Schubert, "the most poetical musician that ever was," at the height of his powers. The first movement expresses passionate melancholy, but Schubert has taken us to a realm where the most bitter sorrows are transmuted into exquisite sounds. The symphony begins with a somber motive deep down in the double basses. The oboe intones its lament over an agitated accompaniment of the violins, which has 90 THE LURE OF MUSIC suggested to some commentators the restlessness of the sea. After the sustained tone of a horn, the violoncel- los take up one of the loveliest melodies in orchestral music. All this material is treated with a mastery and economy of means which brings Schubert as a symphon- ist very near to Beethoven. First and Second Movements of " Unfinished " Symphony Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 5748 What can be said of the movement which follows? It is music such as only Schubert and no other human being could conceive. He speaks to us from another realm in which he habitually lived, a realm unknown to the great number, or vaguely perceived by other com- posers, who recall what they have heard as clearly as they may and put it ^down as best they can. Schubert speaks to us, in the words of Sir George Grove, with a magic, a romance, a sweet naturalness which no one has yet approached. Edmonstoune Duncan speaks of the "strange blending of peace and passion." There is vista after vista of beauty. A hymnlike progression for horns and bassoons is accompanied by a descending "pizzi- cato" passage for the strings. Later the clarinet enters with a melody of haunting pathos. A transformation of this motive, in tragic vein, is given the brass under whirl- ing figures for the strings. The conclusion is rapturous, wistful, but remote from earthly struggle or striving. There was little of the dramatic in the life of Schubert. There was much that speaks of the piteous meagerness of his existence and the typical care-free Viennese tem- perament which carried him through his youth with little thought for the morrow, and much happiness, despite his circumstances, in his art and his friends. He was born in 1797, the son of a poor schoolmaster of the Lichtenthal district, near Vienna, and one of a 8 91 THE LURE OF MUSIC family of fourteen. Long before he knew the formulas of harmony he began to compose. Soon he was playing the violin at quartet performances with his father and two brothers. Having a fine soprano voice, he was sent in his eleventh year to the school where singers for the Imperial Choir were trained. There he was miserable. He almost starved. He could not afford even n-usic paper to compose on. Nevertheless, he acquired there a knowledge of piano, organ, and thorough-bass, and a generous friend, learning of the shortness of music paper, came to his aid. Leaving this institution, Schubert himself taught school in order to avoid the military conscription, com- posing indefatigably in intervals of his drudgery. A generous and lively young man, Schober, came to Vienna to study, and invited Schubert to share lodgings with him. From that time on it was farewell to the school- room and every other form of official labor. It is dif- ficult to tell how Schubert supported himself, but hence- forth he lived only for music. He gathered about him a circle of Bohemians, among thejn the tenor Vogl, the inspired interpreter of his songs. Schubert composed in one year 1815 two symphonies, eight light operas, sacred music, numerous compositions for piano and string quartet, and a total of one hundred forty -six songs ! Among these was the "Erl-King," which he composed in a fit of inspiration in less than an hour after reading Goethe's ballad. The days flew by swiftly, the manuscripts increased hourly in their numbers, and still Schubert was unknown, unhonored, unsung, by all but a few associates. He lived in music, poetry, and dreams. In 1818 he secured an engagement as music master for the household of Count Esterhazy. For the first and only time in his life he was secure, comfortable, and well paid. He secretly tired of it all and longed to be back in Vienna. THE LURE OF MUSIC Tradition says that he loved Caroline, the count's seventeen-year-old daughter. Tradition is to be sus- pected. Schubert wrote home. the most enthusiastic praise of the charms of the ladies' maid, adding that the butler was his rival, and showing rather plainly that he was happier in the servants' quarter than in the presence of his noble patrons, who were not too serious in their love of music. "So I am left alone with my beloved" (meaning his music, not the ladies' maid) "and have to hide her in my room, or in my piano, or in my bosom." He was happier when he got back to town and went into lodgings with the poet Mayrhofer, a grand and gloomy fellow, who kept alive by means of a government job. It was a damp, dismal old house, with a drooping ceiling, with old ragged furniture, poor light, and general poverty. Mayrhofer got out early in the morning. Schubert slept in his spectacles, so that he could get to work immediately on arising from bed. He worked some seven hours, till two in the afternoon. Then he dined for a Zwanziger (seventeen cents) if he had it, and spent the evening with his friends. He was never safe from inspiration, however, and sometimes the dinner hour would fly by while he was composing. He was happier still when he left Mayrhofer at home and wandered with Vogl and one or two other com- panions in the mountains of upper Austria. It was Yogi's home place, and whenever they went they were welcomed, honored, and entertained. On the occasion of a second trip, in 1825, Schubert composed his "Ave Maria," one of seven settings for lines from Scott's "Lady of the Lake." Vogl sang the song to various gatherings as they went along the road, and always it had a great effect. Schubert himself recounts his experience: "All were much impressed, especially by the 'Ave Maria.' . . . My new songs from Walter Scott's 'Lady of the Lake' have been very successful. People 93 THE LURE OF MUSIC were greatly astonished at the devotion which I have thrown into the hymn to the Blessed Virgin, and it seems to have seized and impressed everybody. I think that the reason of this is that I never force myself into devo- tions, or compose hymns or prayers unless I am really overpowered by the feelings; that alone is real, true devotion." The "Ave Maria" is played to-day as often as it is sung. The melody hardly needs words to express its feeling. " Ave Maria " Played by Eugen Ysaye Columbia Record 36907 A thing often remarked about Schubert was his care- lessness in the choice of poems for musical setting. It is as if he were compelled to seize whatever lay nearest him as a vehicle for the melodies which he had to pour out as long as he lived. By the side of songs to poems by Goethe, Schiller, Heine, Mayrhofer he puts twelve or twenty songs inspired by such obscurities as Holtz and Kosegarten. And it was the same with his operas. He always yearned to write for the stage. He usually chose for this purpose impossible libretti. Sometimes, in spite of the book, the music survived, and this is the case with the music of "Rosamunde." "Rosamunde, Princess of Cyprus" was the title of an extravagant plot by Madame von Chezy. Schubert completed the music to this play in five days and it was performed December 23, 1823. The drama quickly killed itself and was for- gotten. The music was lost, and only discovered in Vienna in 1867 by two English travelers. One of the themes from the "Rosamunde" music Schubert turned later into the piano "Impromptu" in B flat with the variations. Other excerpts from this score, which is be- witchingly beautiful, survive in arrangements for or- chestra and for various instruments. Among these are parts of the music for the ballet. 94 THE LURE OF MUSIC Ballet music from " Rosamunde " Played by Raoul Vidas Columbia Record A 3313 Schubert was much discouraged by the failure of "Rosamunde." These and other circumstances af- fected his health. But a second visit to the home of the Esterhazys, and the second tour he took in the Austrian mountains with Vogl, restored his spirits. He was en- chanted by the fact that he received one hundred dollars for the seven songs from "The Lady of the Lake." Harder days, however, were upon him, and he was too generous to keep a penny. Then came the death of Beethoven, which greatly saddened the younger man. Schubert had adored Beethoven for many years before they met. He often sat at another table in Beethoven's favorite restaurant and worshipped him from afar. At last a meeting was arranged. Schubert stood, confused, helpless, in the presence of the master. He was handed the carpenter's pencil and paper, on which everyone who wished to communicate with the deaf Beethoven had to write. Beethoven examined some variations which Schubert had written and dedicated fulsomely to him. His eye fell on a chord which surprised him. He pointed it out and turned an inquiring eye on the young composer. Schubert, frightened out of his wits, ran out of the room. Beethoven, reading Schubert's songs on his deathbed, was deeply concerned that he had remained so long in ignorance of their contents. There was a last meeting, when Beethoven could not talk, and Schubert, choking with grief, again fled from the room. Outside he drank two healths, the first to the soul de- parting, the second to that one of Schubert's circle who should be the first to follow. That one was Schubert, who had less than a year to live. His last year was one of feverish production. Fourteen of the last songs Schubert composed were issued after his death under 95 THE LURE OF MUSIC the title of "Swan Songs." Among these was the beloved "Serenade," one of the purest and most poetic expressions of a lover's devotion. Schubert's Serenade Sung by Patterson and Jell Columbia Record A 5274 Schubert had burned himself out, not in dissipation, but in hard work, in irregular hours, in festivities inno- cent enough, but not calculated to add to his strength and endurance. He wanted to go again into the moun- tains, which might well have prolonged his days. But there was no money. A friend sold six of Schubert's finest songs for twenty cents apiece, and hurried to the composer with the proceeds. Schubert lay on his bed, his mind affected, with the name of Beethoven on his lips. Most of his friends had forgotten him. Only his brother Ferdinand cared for him devoutly, and the great world passed by, indifferent to the end of "the sweetest of all singers, the simplest of all souls" we again quote from Sir George Grove. What Schubert might have done had he lived one can only conjecture. He was the originator of the modern romantic song, the founder of a whole school of great German song writers. He it was who made the accom- paniment as expressive a part of the song as the voice, and who found for the words of the great romantic poets of his day the melodies which cleaved to them like a twin soul. He wrote six hundred and three songs in all. To classify them is not the purpose of this chapter. To enumerate the greatest of them would be to lose one's way among masterpieces. Where Schubert had most room to grow was in the matter of musical structure. In his symphonic compo- sitions the* "Unfinished" symphony being the exception he is prone to repetitions, to pour his ideas too hastily 96 THE LURE OF MUSIC and thoughtlessly into the classic molds which lie ready for them. As an instrumentalist he expressed himself with especial felicity in those charming and romantic pieces for piano which he called "Impromptus" and \Musical Moments." The "Moment Musical" in F minor is one of those elusive, fanciful visions which came so wonderfully to the homely, awkward little fellow who w T as the most lovable of comrades, the most unassuming of artists, and who would deserve immortality if only for the fact that he did not consider himself the greatest musician who ever lived. (Columbia record A 2121). Schubert asked little of life, and gave all. He was no match for the world. He cared nothing for it. He had no sense of injury, because he never imagined his own greatness. It is given to some to gain honors and riches, to others to find their souls. "My music," said Schu- bert, "is the product of my genius and my misery, and that which I have written in my greatest distress is that which seems best to the world." FELIX MENDELSSOHN FELIX MENDELSSOHN (Jacob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn-Bertholdy) was the one great com- poser who enjoyed riches and affluence from the cradle to the grave. He had every advantage of educa- tion. His career was successful from beginning to end. He has been spoken of with condescension as a gentleman composer. The wonder is that in spite of it all Men- delssohn produced so much good music. He was descended of a remarkable Jewish family. His grandfather was Moses Mendelssohn, a philosopher, widely known as "the modern Plato." The father, Abraham Mendelssohn, a banker and a man of brilliant culture, laid the foundations of his fortune in Paris. There he met and married the beautiful Leah Salomon. They moved to Berlin, where the Mendelssohn home became the headquarters of the leading musicians, painters, writers, and philosophers of the day. As the genius of Felix became known Abraham was wont laughingly to say that "whereas he formerly was known as the son of his father, he was now known as the father of his son." It would be hard to imagine a boyhood happier than Mendelssohn's. In 1825, when he was in his sixteenth year, the family moved from the center of Berlin to what was then known as No. 3, Leipsic Street, an estate of some acres with a large mansion, fine old trees, gar- dens, and a pavilion where there was music every Sunday afternoon. Of the four children, Fanny, the eldest, was herself a gifted pianist and composer. Felix was the 98 THE LURE OF MUSIC second child. Felix and a friend edited a journal known in summer as The Garden Times and in winter as The Snow and Tea Times. Writing materials lay always at hand in the summerhouses, and often distinguished visitors contributed to the journal. In this place in his seventeenth year Mendelssohn produced the greatest work of his lifetime, the Over- ture to Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Through the summer of 1826 he read Shakespeare in translation with Fanny, and it could not have been hard, as the sinking sun shone through the branches of the old trees and every hour tinged the scene with fresh beauty, to enter the poet's realm. In every measure the music breathes its witchery and spell. Four chords, at the beginning of the Overture, transport us to the forest of Oberon and Titania. We hear the scamper of Puck, the accents of young lovers astray with midsummer madness, and the comical antics of Bottom and his fellow-clowns. The musical ideas are developed with the most delightful fancy, and the same four chords which open the Overture bring its ending, as if the curtain had risen and fallen on Shakespeare's fantasy. Years later, at the command of King Friedrich IV of Prussia, Mendelssohn added to his Overture other pieces to be played while Shakespeare's drama was performed. In writing these new pieces he was fortunate in recaptur- ing the mood of his early Overture. Several excerpts from the music incidental to the drama have been ar- ranged for concert use. The first of these is the Scherzo played in the theater after the first act. It is the sprightly music of the elves, the flight of Puck "through brake and brier." Scherzo from incidental music to " A Midsummer Night's Dream " Played by Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Columbia Record A 6190 99 THE LURE OF MUSIC Another passage of exquisite beauty is the Nocturne played after the third act, music inspired by the sleep of Titania. The third composition of a group which has long been a feature of orchestral programs is the cele- brated Wedding March, which rivals Wagner's wedding music from "Lohengrin" in its popularity at marriage ceremonies. This march preserves in its brilliant and festal measures much of the glamour and atmosphere of Shakespeare's poetry. It remains, in a sense, music of another world; a march for a royal pair, with fairies in their train. Wedding March from incidental music to " A Midsummer Night's Dream " Played by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Columbia Record A 5844 By the time Mendelssohn had produced his Overture to "A Midsummer Night's Dream" he was fairly launched on his career. He had made his first public appearance at ten, composed his first music of account at twelve, and astonished and delighted the poet Goethe by his playing at the age of thirteen. This was the be- ginning of a warm friendship which existed between Goethe and Mendelssohn until the death of the aged poet in 1832. In 1829 Mendelssohn set off on his travels, like other young men of means and social station of the day. He visited, in three years, France, Britain, and Italy, and the multitude of new impressions had an important effect on his music. In London he was well received in society, eventually establishing friendly relations with Queen Victoria. He traveled by foot and diligence in Scotland. There he saw a procession of bagpipers pass before the castle where Mary Queen of Scots had mourned for Rizzio slain. He visited the Hebrides and heard the lament of many waters. These things went 1 loo THE LURE OF MUSIC into the pages of his "Scotch" symphony, finest of all his works in that form, and the "Hebrides" overture, second only in originality and inspiration to the music from "A Midsummer Night's Dream." He remained always the genial Mendelssohn. His music reflected with passing somberness of color certain impressive scenes, but he was no man for tragedy, and he was not a revolutionist in his art. There are people who will travel all the world, and see many strange things, but not change very much because of their experiences. Mendelssohn took with him everywhere the handsome, intelligent, vivacious Mendelssohn. His "Songs Without \Vcrds" are like pages from a rather naive diary. They seem to be saying "a nice letter from sister Fanny this morning," or, "a delightful ride in a gondola as we came through Venice," or, "I wonder what Miss This-that-or-the-other is thinking of me now" for he philandered pleasantly and harmlessly with many young ladies. The first of the "Songs Without Words" appeared in 1828 or 1829. As they came from the presses they were eagerly taken up, particularly by the English people, with whom Mendelssohn was as popular as Handel had been a century before. These compositions have become household music in England and America. The names by which they are known have usually been bestowed by publishers, as, for ex- ample, the name of one of the shortest and most pleas- ing of them all, "Consolation." On the other hand, it is impossible not to hear in the "Spinning Song" the whir of the spinning-wheel, an effect which in the hands of a virtuoso pianist is always successful. " Consolation " (Prince's Orchestra) Columbia Record A5932 " Spinning Song " (Josef Hofmann, pianist) Columbia Record A2434 Mendelssohn's philandering came to an end in due course when he fell in love in 1836 with Cecile Jean- 101 UNIVERSITY 07 OALIF SANTA BARBARA GOLLE< THE LURE OF MUSIC renaud, daughter of the pastor of the French Reformed Church at Frankfort. Falling in love with her, he did a thing quite natural to him. He went away for a month to the seaside to test his feelings. Satisfied that he had not been mistaken, he returned, proposed, and was accepted. The bride was a beautiful girl and the mar- riage was very happy, but Mendelssohn had become so famous and so much immersed in his work, that even his honeymoon was cut short by musical engagements. He appears, however, to have composed at this time one of his most delightful piano pieces, the "Rondo Capric- cioso." In his piano music he has seldom equaled the beauty of the twilight introduction, or the mercurial humor of the flashing, elusive passages which follow, when he is again, in fancy, the companion of forest sprites. " Rondo Capriccioso " Played by Josef Hofmann Columbia Record A 6078 A work which in spite of Mendelssohn himself became a favorite of concert audiences is the Overture to "Ruy Bias." Mendelssohn composed it between a Tuesday evening and a Friday morning, for the fiftieth anniver- sary concert of the Theatrical Pension Fund at Leipsic in 1839. He detested Hugo's play. He had little esteem for his own music. When he was conducting a rehearsal of the London Philharmonic Society in 1844 he tried the Overture through, and liked it no better than before. George . Andersen, a violinist of the orchestra and director of the Royal Private Band, complimented Mendelssohn on his work. Mendelssohn replied angrily that he intended to burn it. Andersen begged him to reconsider, and asked if he might not play it to their Majesties. This he did. Their Majesties, Queen Vic- toria and the Prince of Wales, were delighted. There- 102 THE LURE OF MUSIC after Mendelssohn played to the Queen and the Queen sang for Mendelssohn (who was more a Victorian than he?), and whatever the merits of opposing opinions, the Overture, published after Mendelssohn's death, found a highly appreciative public. MacFarren, the Irish composer, finds in the "slow, , imperious chords" of the introduction, which more than once recur in the course of the work, "the thought of the iron-minded minister who, offended at the neglect of his royal mistress, avenges this by the advancement of his minion to the highest state offices, in order that the romantic menial may win the Queen's affection, and she be disgraced by the exposure of her lowly passion. The wild ardor with which the allegro begins must figure the extravagant passion of the servitor hero. The pas- sionate cantabile, with its gorgeously rich orchestration" (referring to the melodious second theme of the Over- ture) "suggests the idea of the guileless lady who is the victim of her minister's machinations. And the sequel tells of the rapture of Ruy Bias, when, in his strange exaltation, the object which he scarcely durst desire is within his reach nay, in his very possession the reciprocation of his love." " Ruy Bias " Overture Played by H. M. Grenadier Guards Columbia Record A 5773 Mendelssohn had been thinking for some time of a violin concerto. As far back as 1838 he had written the violinist David: "I should like to write a violin concerto for you next winter. One in E minor is running through my head, and the beginning does not leave me in peace." Seven years later David played this work, on the 13th of March, 1845. Mendelssohn had seldom taken so long with a composition, even allowing for interruptions and delays caused by other engagements. 103 THE LURE OF MUSIC He wished it not only to sound well, but to "lie well" for the violinist. He was rewarded by the success of the concerto, which has stood ever since as a model of its kind. The song of the violin in the slow movement is one of the most poetic melodies he ever penned. It is also very typical of Mendelssohn's talent. Compared with the almost religious mood of the slow movement of Beethoven's violin concerto, it is somewhat light, but it has "atmosphere." It is as if, when evening fell, we traversed with friend Felix the grounds of his beautiful estate. Shadows fall athwart the lawns and gardens; there is the scent that certain flowers distil in the night; the wind soughs in the trees. As the violin and orchestra converse, one feels a gentle and not disa- greeable melancholy. Andante from Violin Concerto Played by Kathleen Parlow Columbia Record A 5843 To play the finale a violinist must have fleetness. Mendelssohn wrote David, "You demand that it should be brilliant, and how is such a one as I to do this?" He need not have depreciated himself. As a composer and a conductor he was the man for a lively pace. He wrote for David a virtuoso finale, which always "brings down the house." Finale from Violin Concerto Played by Eugen Ysaye Columbia Record 36520 Friedrich Wilhelm IV had had his eye on Mendelssohn for a long time. He wanted him to fill several official positions, which Mendelssohn, wise in his generation, had no wish to occupy. To be general musical director of a new Cathedral choir, or director of music in the new Academy of Arts, meant staying in Berlin, and he no 104 THE LURE OF MUSIC longer liked Berlin. There was jealousy among the musicians of that city, interminable red tape in all things connected with music for royalty. The spirit of Leipsic, where Mendelssohn spent much of the later part of his life and where he successfully founded the famous Leipsic Conservatory, was far more artistic. Mendelssohn did succeed in evading or re- signing from several of the royal appointments, but Friedrich's heart was set on music for a number of dramas, not only "A Midsummer Night's Dream," but dramas by Sophocles and Racine. Mendelssohn set to, despite other exhausting labor. How much he needed and welcomed a respite is shown by a letter of July, 1844, describing a few days' vacation with his family, "Eating and sleeping without dress coat, without piano, without visiting cards, without carriage and horses; but with donkeys, with wild flowers, with music paper and sketch books, with Cecile and the children." He nevertheless succeeded this year in composing the Overture and the War March of the Priests for "Athalie." The story of Athalia is told in II Kings and II Chroni- cles. The march is that of the fanatical priests who go to defeat the ungodly queen, and place again on the throne the rightful ruler of Judea. This march has a sonority and pomp which fit it well for the theater. "War March of the Priests" Played by Prince's Band Columbia Record A 7502 The remainder of Mendelssohn's life was only different from the occasions we have described in the new compo- sitions which he brought forth and in his constant ef- forts in behalf of other composers and the cause of music. His industry was extraordinary, and, what was more, every pen stroke told, whether it was in composing or in tending personally to an ever increasing correspond- 105 THE LURE OF MUSIC ence. He was the most industrious, systematic, and methodical of men. He wrote music with such mastery of his ideas that instead of preliminary sketches he could frequently put down the notes at the first attempt in their final form. The idea seldom became unruly, as great ideas often do. This very fact is an important indication of the quality of Mendelssohn's talent. It was a talent of the second rather than the first rank. As we have inferred at the beginning of this chapter, Mendelssohn's career was too secure and happy for him to have produced the greatest music. If poverty or tragedy had fertilized his genius, who knows what he would have done? As it was, he produced his greatest work at seventeen, from which time his talent be- gan to lose instead of gain in originality. His technic constantly improved while his ideas became less striking. He died practically of overwork, and much saddened by the death of his sister Fanny, hi his thirty-ninth year. This was not the tragedy of Schubert, cut off at the full- ness of his powers. Mendelssohn had completely ex- pressed himself in his Scotch and Italian symphonies; his overtures to "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "The Hebrides," "The Fair Melusina," and lesser works of the same kind; his choral works, including the choral setting of the "First Walpurgis Night" from Goethe's "Faust," the oratorios "St. Paul" and "Elijah," and the "Hymn of Praise"; in compositions of piano and chamber music which have lived virtually one hundred years and given pleasure and solace to millions of people. If in these works Mendelssohn was not an innovator, he was some- thing else of almost equal value. His sanity, good taste, and consummate workmanship redounded to the ever- lasting good fortune of the musical art. He became a balance-wheel for the generally radical musical ten- dencies of his period, and in music as well as in politics 106 THE LURE OF MUSIC it is necessary for the radical to be balanced by the conservative. Mendelssohn's genius was the flower of generations of culture and refinement. Cut off from the common soil of life, the flower withered, the plant died. He was an example for all time of what education can and cannot do. He was, nevertheless, a wonderfully gifted musician who labored with infinite zeal and a high conscience for his ideals. He had a deep sense of his obligation to his own talent and his duty to develop it to the utmost. Not the least of his laurels is the part he played in help- ing other musicians, and notably in reviving the music of Bach. A majority of men produce in order to live. This man, who had no material cares, lived to produce. He made the most of his gifts, and this should merit him the gratitude and respect of succeeding generations. FREDERIC FRANQOIS CHOPIN ONE of the most mysterious and poetic appearances in the history of music is that of Frederic Fran- gois Chopin, born on the 22d of February, 1810, in the village of Zelazowa-Wola, Poland. How explain the haunting perfume, the astonishing perfection of his art? It seems like an improvisation, until you examine it and find under the surface a structure, delicate but logical, and durable as tempered steel. It is difficult to believe it was made by the hand of man. Other composers show you how they worked. You hear them laboring mightily at the forge. You observe where edges, rough-hewn, were joined together. Chopin, ap- parently without an effort, achieves a masterpiece. He seems to stand a little aloof from his brethren, as might a favored being from another world. The father of Chopin was French professor at the University of Warsaw. His mother was a Pole. Fre- deric grew up a delicate child, whose morbid sensi- tiveness to impressions was tempered by the society of charming sisters, the frequent presence at his home of many of the most interesting people of his district, and by the nature about him. His talent was manifested very early and he had to beware of the hallucinations which music frequently caused him visions, sometimes beautiful, at others terrible and painfully distinct. He often frightened the servants at night-time by jumping up in his room at the top of the house, going to the piano, and noting down ideas which he was afraid of forgetting if he waited till the morrow. He began to 108 CHOPIN, 1810-1849 THE LURE OF MUSIC compose before he knew enough of the art to write out the ideas that came to him, and his teacher, Zwyny, an excellent pedagogue who gave Chopin his first lessons when he was about seven years old, had to take down his improvisations for him. Chopin commenced the study of composition with Ellsner, who called himself, in a letter written his pupil in 1834, "your teacher of harmony and counterpoint, of little merit but fortu- nate." Liszt put it happily when he said that Chopin's teachers taught him those things which are most diffi- cult and valuable to learn "to be exacting with one's self and to feel the advantages that are only obtained by dint of patience and labor." It is interesting to consider the manner in which Chopin displayed his remarkable originality in his music. Other composers explored unknown paths. He kept almost entirely to forms already fixed, particularly dance forms, such as the polonaise and the mazurka, and within their limits did entirely new things. It was as if a jeweler should put a different jewel in an old setting. The waltzes are not dances for the ballroom, but the emotions of the waltz the waltz spiritualized. The one in E flat, with its brilliant opening, its gaiety and caprice, its sentimental dialogues, is surely a ballroom scene. The conclusion is very poetic, when the initial melody is heard once more, as in a dream. Valse Brilliante, Opus 34, No. 1 Played by Josef Hofmann Columbia Record A 6045 Each of the waltzes has a distinct individuality. No two are alike. The variety of style and expression is astonishing. Chopin only composed when he had some- thing to say, and was never satisfied until he had found the one inevitable form for his idea. In this he was as scrupulous as Beethoven. 109 THE LURE OP MUSIC Greatest of all the waltzes is the one in A flat major, Op. 42. Again in the glitter and whirl of the opening is the thought of a brilliant throng. It is a very piquant passage. Later the waltz becomes more melancholy in mood and more personal in sentiment. Measures of strong feeling alternate with those which convey the swing of the dance. Now occurs a simple but very strange effect. The waltz suddenly stops, there is a phrase, laconic, unemotional, but arresting because of its very lack of expression a passage of six notes, played "in octave" without harmony to support the theme, which appears for a moment like a ghost in the midst of the festivity. Indeed, this curious moment, no sooner come than it is gone, has always reminded the writer of the fantastical tale of Edgar Allan Poe, "The Mask of the Red Death," in which, at midnight, the Red Death suddenly confronts a mot- ley gathering of revelers, who flee from his presence in dismay; and so, in this waltz, the effect just referred to is followed by a wild conclusion in which the music crashes recklessly to its end. Waltz in A Flat, Op. 42 Played by Leopold Godowsky Columbia Record A 5791 Played by Percy Grainger Columbia Record A 6027 The poetic style of Chopin is most gracefully dis- played in these waltzes, and in the nocturnes, which express the dreamy side of his genius. The nocturne in E flat is in the manner of a serenade, a simple melody, ornamented profusely with varieties of delicate ara- besques which are woven about the principal theme. Nothing is more indicative of the manner in which Chopin turned everything that he touched to gold than a consideration of these musical ornamentations which have a refinement, an originality, a poetry, that no other composer achieved in the same way. Further- no THE LURE OF MUSIC more, this melodic style of Chopin's, this manner of singing on the piano as though some brilliant coloratura soprano with the soul of a poet were improvising, as no human throat ever could improvise, was undoubtedly derived from the music of the old Italian school. No wonder that Chopin so loved the music of Bellini. Nocturne in E Flat Played by Kathleen Parlow, violinist Columbia Record A 5431 A Chopin nocturne which is peculiarly well adapted for performance on the violin indeed, one of the very few compositions of Chopin which sound well on any instrument other than the piano is the nocturne in E minor, published after his death, and one of the most poetic of all his works in this form. Nocturne in E Minor Played by Eddy Brown Columbia Record A 5810 Chopin, more particularly when he played the noc- turnes, was what some robust souls would call a "deli- cate ' ' performer. He persuaded rather than commanded the instrument. He drew from it secrets which no one else had realized it possessed. His system of fingering was so original that, like the majority of his innova- tions, it greatly annoyed his contemporaries. Without this fingering the performance of a piece such as the exquisite "Berceuse" (cradle-song) would be an im- possibility. The "Berceuse" is the treatment by an in- spired master of a very simple melody of a few notes, accompanied by a bass which is practically unchanging throughout the entire piece. Over the gentle rocking motion of this bass is woven a series of variations of extraordinary originality and charm, until the theme is buried, as it were, under beautiful tonal ornamenta- 111 THE LURE OF MUSIC tion. Slower and slower rocks the cradle, and the child sleeps. " Berceuse ' ' Played by Josef Hofmann Columbia Record A 6078 Let no one think, however, because Chopin lacked physical strength, and explored confidently the realms that lie on the borderland of the human consciousness, that he was incapable of dramatic intensity and epic greatness of utterance. The body was weak, but the spirit was strong, and the composer dipped his pen in his heart's blood. So it was when Chopin, who in 1831 settled in Paris, received the news of Poland's downfall at the hands of treacherous foes. The stricken man vacillated miserably between the impulse to take a musket and the consciousness of his physical inability for warfare. The time for action soon passed. Poland was ruined; her poet and prophet was saved. In the polonaises, the great B minor sonata, and kindred compositions, he chanted her fame. The A major, or "Military Polonaise," is a picture of the pomp and panoply, the gallantry and heroism of a chivalrous people going forth to war. A Major Polonaise Played by Josef Hofmann Columbia Record A 5419 Played by Philharmonic Orchestra of N. Y. Columbia Record A 6171 On a grander scale is the polonaise in A flat major. This is in itself a complete drama of war. It opens with crashing chords and defiant challenges, after which the polonaise proper enters with a lordly swing. The middle portion is a moment in which Chopin draws him- self up to his full height as a patriot, where, inspired, he smites the lyre like a bard of old chanting the glories of his native land. Six mighty chords, the invocation of the heroic past, and the tale begins. The left hand, 112 THE LURE OF MUSIC playing octaves, suggests the tread of armed legions springing from the earth at Poland's call. This effect is repeated and is followed by a passage in which some have found a mood of indecision, hesitation. If this is so, it quickly passes. Little by little, the rhythm of the polonaise gathers force and fury, and the work comes to an end in a mood of passionate defiance. It is said that Chopin, composing this heroic music, was terrified by the vision of a procession of knights and warriors advancing upon him. Polonaise in A Flat Major Played by Percy Grainger Columbia Record A 6027 It is from the testimony of his friends and com- mentators rather than from the composer that we know what he intended to say when he wrote the B flat minor sonata, which contains the great "Funeral March." This sonata is really an elegy on Poland's downfall at the hands of her enemies. The "Funeral March" needs no description. It has been heard at a thousand ceremonies for the dead, on a thousand occasions when the fate not only of men, but of nations, hung in the balance. " Funeral March " from B Flat Minor Sonata Played by Prince's Band Columbia Record A 5150 In 1836 Chopin was introduced to the novelist George Sand some say, by Liszt. She was a theorist before her time, an extravagant and romantic writer who rode horseback astride, at times wore trousers, and even smoked cigars, which used to disgust Chopin to the bottom of his soul. She was not accounted an excep- tionally beautiful woman, but she had an arresting per- sonality and almost masculine assertiveness. At her 113 house were such men as the poet De Musset, one of her many admirers, the artist Delacroix, the poet Heine, Balzac, Gautier, the Goncourt brothers, the great Liszt, and other lesser figures of a feverish artistic epoch. George Sand, the indefatigable, often wrote her affairs into her novels. Chopin was fascinated. There were times when he turned away in despair; but back he came. In the summer of 1838 he was ill, and George Sand, who was going with her family to the island of Majorca, suggested that Chopin accompany them. He knew a few moments of happiness on an island that was full of flowers, under a blue sky, with a thermometer at 74. Unfortunately, the thermometer changed. When the skies grew gray, and the temperature was 36, and the wind howled at night in a dismal and terrifying manner, and the plaster gave way in the walls, it was Chopin who shivered and complained, and George Sand and her son who built the fires, which smoked. Chopin's cough troubled him and he again saw strange visions. In this place he wrote some of his most dramatic and imaginative compositions. Among them were the greater number of the short pieces which he called "preludes." George Sand said that in these pieces Chopin compressed into a page more feeling than many a composer succeeded in putting into an act of an opera. One can imagine what one likes as the pre- ludes are being played. The one in A flat is idyllic, a dream-picture of a far-off, wondrous land. It might be a memory of Majorca with its glowing skies and gor- geous flowers. At the last a deep bass tone reverberates through upper harmonies that seem suspended in mid- air. Perhaps Chopin, contemplating a peaceful scene, heard the ringing of the bell of a nearby convent. Prelude in A Flat Played by Percy Grainger Columbia Record A 6060 114 THE LURE OF MUSIC The scherzi are among the most powerful and fan- tastic of Chopin's compositions. The scherzo in B flat minor is one of the most frequently one might say too frequently played of the four pieces in this form, yet it seems strangely misunderstood by audiences and even by many concert pianists; for it is anything but a gay and brilliant concert piece, as many performers seem to think. The music is possessed of a restless, driving energy, an inner demon of discontent, which will not allow it to rest. The scherzo in B minor alternates pages of lashing fury with a trio of twilight beauty. The scherzo in C sharp minor contrasts driving, whirling octaves with a choral of sonorous grandeur, which, at last, becomes the war chant of a nation. The scherzo in E major is as a troubled memory of the homeland. Much more could be said of them and also of the extraordinary mazurkas. In these mazurkas, all based, as the polonaises are based, on national dance rhythms, the individual and transforming genius of Chopin rises like a flower from its native soil. And he became constantly greater, to the day of his untimely tak- ing off. The concluding years of his life were not happy. They were marked by increasing artistic mastery and increas- ing bitterness with life. The visit to Majorca with Madame Sand was not, as we have seen, over-successful. Chopin was not the man to exalt love in a cottage. If he had one supreme weakness, it was not his desire, but his actual need of luxury. In discomfort he could not exist, much less compose. Both he and George Sand were happier when they found themselves back in Paris. Relations became strained between the two; hi 1844 there were bitter quarrels; in 1847 they parted. George Sand promptly "wrote up" Chopin as the Prince Karol in her novel, Lucre~ia Floriani. She dissected him as she had previously dissected the disillusioned 115 THE LURE OF MUSIC De Musset. Chopin never spoke to Madame Sand again, though they had mutually sworn that he should die only in her arms. "Dying! He was dying all his life!" said the impetuous Hector Berlioz, who could not tolerate the melancholy Chopin. In 1848 and 1849 he visited England and Scotland, attended devotedly by an English girl who had come to love him. A characteristic picture of him is drawn by an eye-witness, who watched the little man (this under- size was his most sensitive point) as he moved about from group to group of charming, chattering women, consulting occasionally a tiny jeweled watch as ex- quisitely fashioned as himself. He had wavy hair of a chestnut color, delicately penciled eyebrows, a nose with a distinguished crook, a sensitive mouth. He was always attired with scrupu- lous respect to the prevailing mode. His hands and feet were small and perfectly formed. He was the incarna- tion of that which was poetical and distinguished. This was Frederic Francois Chopin. The following year he died of lung disease. He died surrounded by friends, pupils, and one or two women who loved him, among whom was not George Sand. Of her he complained to the last hour, and so passed the supreme poet of the piano. Chopin left behind him a few compositions which he did not consider good enough to publish. As a rule he was an excellent judge of his own work. Nevertheless, his "Fantasie-Impromptu," a posthumous composition, has become a favorite piece with the musical public. It is a striking example of the poetry of Chopin's piano style, in which the instrument becomes a veritable seolian harp of glittering tones and delicate interweaving sonorities. A topical song writer has recently lined his pockets by putting the melody of the middle part into "ragtime" ryhthm. 116 THE LURE OF MUSIC Fantasia-Impromptu Played by Josef Hofmann Columbia Record A 6174 A hard fate for Chopin, for the man who came into the world like a fairy prince that is what he was, a fairy prince of a composer from another sphere, and found life a troubled, yea, a tragic dream, and left imperishable records of his dreams and his sufferings in his poignant, supremely beautiful music. FRANZ LISZT ONCE in a long while, and not invariably in royal families, a king is born. Franz Liszt was such a king among men. His career was like the passage of some great flaming meteor across the heavens. Every- thing was thrown at his feet. Not one of the good fairies was absent at his cradle. The story of his life reads more like an extravagant romance than actual fact. Yet the man did exist. Some, now living, remem- ber him, and they look about them, dazed, still be- wildered by the passage of the comet. Liszt, happening to possess a prodigious capacity for music, became one of the most important of modern composers, and beyond doubt the greatest pianist in the history of his art. But he would have been astonish- ing in any sphere. When some one asked him what he would have been were he not a musician, he replied, "The greatest diplomat in Europe." As it was, he created a new epoch in the history of the piano. Few dreamed before he appeared that the cold-looking instru- ment of keys and wires could pour forth such floods of color and beauty, such thunder and lightning, such dramatic proclamation or seductive song. Liszt had no rivals. Others were pianists. He was a magician a god who had given the machine capacities it had not previously possessed, a Piper of Hamelin who drew the whole wondering world after his footsteps! Because the man and his music were one, it was dif- ficult to separate them. Liszt played as he looked, and looked as he played. He bore himself with the pride 118 LISZT. 1811-1886 THE LURE OF MUSIC and the grace of a monarch. His face changed at the piano sometimes noble and tender, sometimes stormy and defiant, sometimes sardonic, Mephistophelian, and always, underlying everything, an expression of infinite knowledge and power. All adored him. It is a fact that men followed him in the streets and treasured his cigar stubs, and as for the gentler sex the com- poser Grieg, after visiting Liszt at Weimar, remarked that ladies eyed him as if they would like to eat the last shred of his abbe's robe. For Liszt in later life became an abbe. It has often been said that he took orders just in time to balk the pursuit of the proud but amorous Princess of Sayn- Wittgenstein. He had no ob- jection to her adulation. He was far from insensible to feminine charm, but after one unhappy love-affair of his youth he ceased to care for the bonds of mar- riage, and was fully enough of a courtier to find more than one way of saying "no." Liszt was born at Raiding, Hungary, October 22, 1811. From the beginning he showed phenomenal gifts for the piano. His teachers seemed to be merely reminding him of what he already knew. Naturally he was impatient of pedagogic formulas, sometimes rebellious, but quick to own his fault and listen to reason. So that for once a Heaven-sent genius was thoroughly schooled! The good Czerny, of the "Finger- Dexterity" known to all perspiring piano pupils, took him in hand, and made him play yards of studies. At twelve he was already famous in a number of European capitals. At this age also he received a consecra- tion to his art which he never forgot. For the great Beethoven, sitting in an audience, came to him after the concert and kissed his brow. Liszt worked the harder. He was now a petted youth in Paris. Favored by the aristocracy, he was supporting his poor father and mother with his already considerable earnings as vir- 10 119 THE LURE OF MUSIC tuoso and teacher when he had his first sorrow. He fell in love with a nobly born pupil, and she with him. As society was constituted in those days, such an affair could have at best but an unhappy ending. The girl's parents intervened. The young Liszt, like many an- other lover of those days, became more and more en- grossed in religion. It was a romantic period more so than any other that modern society has known. Ro- mantic attachments, monastic seclusions, lingering deaths through disappointed passion, defiance of rulers, dabblings in theology all this was in the air. How seriously Liszt took his repulse in love we shall never know. He was a typical young man of the thirties, a little theatrical, as all the youth of that period, but deeply in earnest as well. But we do know that from that time on Liszt seldom, if ever, considered matrimony seriously, and that, with all his generosity and idealism, he was disposed during the remainder of his life to be a trifle cynical about human relationships. In 1835 Liszt was the most formidable virtuoso in the world. He had successfully put all of his rivals, among them the really admirable artist of the old school, Thalberg, behind him. But now came on the stage one of the most picturesque and romantic per- sonalities of the early nineteenth century, the violinist, Paganini. He had already done for the violin what Liszt was about to do for the piano: invented a new and special technic for the instrument which revealed all kinds of unheard-of possibilities of its mechanism. Paganini, tall, gaunt, pale, satanic, if a man ever was, in his appearance, took all Europe by storm. Liszt, fired by this new art, which in many respects reflected his own temperament, resolved to emulate it. He locked himself in his studio and emerged the Paganini of his instrument! As if to beard Paganini himself in his den, Liszt took 120 THE LURE OF MUSIC some of the master-violinist's own compositions and bedeviled them in ways bewildering and well-nigh in- surmountable to other pianists of the day. Such a com- position is the study based on Paganini's "Campanella," a work in which Paganini had intended to suggest the ringing of bells. Liszt carried out the effect much farther in one of his most celebrated pieces for the piano. " Campanella " Etude Played by Leopold Godowsky Columbia Record A 5484 Liszt's technic was the result, not only of his fingers, but his imagination. Color and fantasy characterized everything that he did. He made arrangements of the music of other composers, and as a rule glorified instead of cheapening it in the process. A work which displays very characteristically Liszt's originality and brilliancy in this field is the fantasy on airs from Verdi's "Rigoletto." " Rigoletto " Paraphrase Played by Leopold Godowsky Columbia Record A 5896 Other pianists developed a style associated with their "school" or peculiar only to themselves. Liszt was a master of all styles. The story is told of an evening at George Sand's, when Chopin sat at the piano, and the lights were turned out. Chopin, as every one believed, kept on playing, but when lights were brought it was seen that Liszt had taken his place. Liszt bowed. "Liszt," he said, "can imitate Chopin, but can Chopin imitate Liszt?" Liszt has more than once been accused of a certain theatricalism. Doubtless there was a trace of this in his character. It shows here and there in his art as well as his life; yet at heart he was noble, sincere, and supremely gifted man. 121 It was in 1833 that Liszt met the Countess d'Agoult. She was a woman of uncommon intellect and personality, one to understand such a man as Liszt, one to rebel against conventions when her affections were involved, and set the world at naught in her rebellion. There was a long and devoted intimacy between the two. They traveled over much of Europe together. The man, who was never known to unburden himself of his own sorrow, while always helping and consoling those who laid their troubles on his broad shoulders; the man who rescued Richard Wagner and scores of others from absolute penury, and nobly gave of his best in the cause of their immortal creations, as did Liszt this man found a companion in whom he could, in whom he did, confide. Was it in memory of the D'Agoult or some other epi- sode that Liszt wrote the sentimental piano pieces, the "Liebestraume," of which the one in A flat is the most famous? She was but one of the hundred eager women who pursued that amiable and fascinating man over hill and dale. Liszt supplied pianists with a very popular composition which begins dreamily, mounts to a pas- sionate climax, and after a brilliant display passage subsides with peaceful echoes of the initial song. " Liebestraum " (" Dream of Love ") Played by Xaver Scharwenka Columbia Record A 5467 To understand fully the complex character of this man and his art we must remember that he was a Hungarian with the passionate and electrical tempera- ment of his countrymen. Liszt grew up with the sound of the music of the Hungarian gipsies in his ears. The excitement of the national dances was in his veins, also the languor, the rhythmic capriciousness, the pulsing fire of his race. It is generally agreed that in his com- 122 THE LURE OF MUSIC positions for the piano he seldom surpassed the original- ity and fascination of the Hungarian rhapsodies. Of these there are in all fourteen. The second Hungarian Rhapsody is perhaps the most famous of the entire group , a gorgeous piece, with a proud, somber introduction, then flourishes and cadenzas such as a wandering gipsy might make with his bow, then a gradual quickening of the pace, sudden, capricious alternations of tenderness and frenzy, and an ending which is one mad whirl of tone. Second Hungarian Rhapsody Played by Percy Grainger (pianist) Columbia Record A 6000 Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 5230 Another of the rhapsodies which seems never to pall is the Twelfth. It has a leading motive of great, crashing chords. They are part of the customary slow intro- duction which is found in so many of these composi- tions, and has its analogy in the Hungarian folk-dances themselves. Then come typical dance tunes, faster and faster, now and again interrupted by a return of the reverberating chords of the opening. Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12 Played by Percy Grainger Columbia Record A 6161 A work of the same description as the foregoing piece, but even more effective because it combines the resources of the orchestra with those of the piano, is the Hungarian Fantasy for piano solo and orchestra. One of the very few records successfully made of this style of composition displays not only the breath-taking virtuosity of the pianist, but also the wonderful way in which Liszt could combine his instruments. A very old, ancestral Hun- garian melody, a noble, melancholy call, resounds from the brass instruments. The piano ornaments this strain 123 THE LURE OF MUSIC with all kinds of florid passage-work. Effects of strange pulsatile instruments are suggested in the quicker dance rhythms that follow. The main motive returns the old Hungarian song while the pianist sweeps wildly the entire range of the keyboard. Thereafter it is give and take between soloist and orchestra, that vie with each other in speed, in power, and quickly changing rhythms. The rhapsodies w r ere only one of the offenses the great Liszt committed against the musical pedants of his and of later days. These amazing pieces still disturb the purists, still seem to them "exaggerated" in their color and pomp, in the dreamy, caressing quality of the melo- dies and the frenzy of the finales. But the great public has rightly taken them to heart. Hungarian Fantasy (with Orchestra) Played by Percy Grainger Columbia Record A 6115 Great though Liszt was as a pianist, he was far from content with the career of a public performer, however alluring its rewards. He was the composer of music which looked far toward the future, and anticipated some of the most modern compositions of to-day. His home at Weimar became the Mecca of all the musicians of the world. He knew them all, understood them all, and helped them all. Grieg, Berlioz, Saint-Saens, Smetana, Cesar Franck the list is endless in the num- ber and importance of the men whom he inspired. He died at Bayreuth, July 31, 1886. It was a wonderful thing to have been such a musician. It was not less wonderful to have been so loved as a man. HECTOR BERLIOZ /CERTAIN names shine out in an age, but they y^y are seldom the names that were greeted most enthusiastically by contemporary judgment. The man who dares to think too far in advance of his period pays dearly for it, and comparatively seldom lives to reap his reward. This was the fate of the founder of French instrumental composition, Hector Berlioz. He was one of the most original composers who ever lived. No creative artist owed less to teachers, precepts, or traditions. His compositions grow greater with every year that passes. An understanding of the music of to-day is impossible without him. What do not the young Russians, many of the modern Frenchmen, in- deed all great composers of to-day owe to this daring pioneer of modern music? Berlioz was one of the most splendid and heroic figures of the romantic period following the Napoleonic wars in France, when Paris was a hotbed of genius, when many of the glorious artists of the day died young, burned out, as it were, by the intensity of their own flame. Tall, of a spare but powerful frame, red-haired, eagle-eyed, defiant of circumstances, contemptuous of the commonplace, he was born for conflict. Being as fear- less in the expression of his opinions as he was individual in his ideas, he made enemies by the score and created a new epoch in French music. Berlioz's father, a physician of C6te-Saint-Andr, a small town located about halfway between Lyons and Grenoble, wished his son also to study medicine. Hector, 125 THE LURE OF MUSIC born December 11, 1803, grew up with little or no knowl- edge of musical composition, although he learned to sing anything at sight and to play the flageolet and guitar. He wandered the hills of Cote-Saint-Andre, succeeded poorly in his routine studies, and devoured certain poems and books of travel which appealed to his ad- venturous spirit. His father complained that his son *'knew every island in the South Sea, but could not tell how many departments there were in France." In place of lessons in harmony, Hector read Virgil, and burst into tears at the sublime pathos of a passage . of the "^Eneid." Instead of writing counterpoint he fell in- stantly and miserably in love, at the age of twelve years, with Estelle Fournier, an exquisitely beautiful girl of eighteen, whose eyes and pink slippers were ever in his dreams, and who, through all his tempestuous career, his mad love-affairs, his triumphs and disasters, remained the serene and glorious star of his soul. Even Beatrice was doubtless far more commonplace than Dante imagined her. Estelle, as she showed later, had less sensibility and quixotic great-heartedness than her adorer. But she ennobled him. Glorifying her, he glorified himself and wrote great music. Singularly enough, it was Estelle who inspired the most beautiful melody in that astounding symphony, the "Symphonic Fantastique," which Berlioz wrote to gain the attention and the favor of another woman! Berlioz, sincerely desirous of obeying his father's wishes, went to Paris in 1822, when he was eighteen years old, and undertook a medical course. After a certain experience in the dissecting-rooms, he jumped through the window and wrote his father that he in- tended to become a musician. He devoured the musi- cal scores of the free library of the Conservatoire, con- trived to get himself a harmony-teacher, and put some early and puerile compositions before the public. He 126 BERLIOZ. THE LURE OF MUSIC had boundless energy and a will that was indomitable. He tried three times to gain the Prix de Rome. A fourth effort, "Sardanapale," composed while the guns of the July Revolution were reverberating through the streets of Paris, won him the coveted reward. Char- acteristically, he did not like Rome very much when he got there at least, he did not like the rather aca- demic atmosphere of the Institute. But who could re- sist Italy! Above all, how could so romantic and im- pressionable a youth as Berlioz withstand her charm? Italy was the cause of one of the gayest and most brilliant of all orchestral overtures, the "Carnaval Romain" ("Roman Carnival"). This is a musical pict- ure of Rome in carnival time. Only Berlioz could have written of this scene with such mad vigor, such electri- cal esprit. Like all other great composers, his con- temporaries frequently accused him of having no melody. But listen to the song of the slow introduction, played by the English horn just after the first shout of joyous abandon with which the overture opens. Is not that dreamy song the very voice of the sunniest and most beautiful of all lands? After it has been sung, first by the English horn, and then by stringed instruments, the orchestra rushes into the Salterello, a mad dance. At the end, through the wild tumult of the orchestra, there sounds again the beautiful melody of the introduction. In this piece all s life and gaiety. A hundred strokes of genius have flashed by before the last chord sounds. Such was Berlioz, glorious artist, in his youth! " Carnaval Romain " (" Roman Carnival ") Columbia Symphony Orchestra Columbia Record A 6080 Berlioz saw Miss Smithson, an Irish actress, in Shakespearean drama. It was his first acquaintance with Shakespeare, whose fascination, combined with that of 127 THE LURE OF MUSIC Miss Smithson, was too much for him. After the most fantastic courtship, and following the performance of the " Symphonic Fantastique" in her honor (it was said that Berlioz sat in the orchestra playing the kettle- drums, and that every time he caught the eye of Miss Smithson he gave a furious roll on the instruments), Berlioz married the actress and they were thoroughly unhappy. Accusations, denials, reconciliations at last the wife an invalid, and the poor composer forced to make money by any and all means to care for her. A son, Louis, born of this union, lived to be the affection and the despair of his father's old age. Occasionally a miracle occurred which kept the family from starving, as when the violinist Paganini, hearing Berlioz's "Childe Harold" symphony, appeared after the performance, dumb with a cold, making frantic signs of approval and the next day sent Berlioz a check for twenty thousand francs. The gift was not due to the generosity of Paga- nini, a notorious miser, but was from another man, who wished to remain unknown. In 1845 the composer left his wife in tears and in bitterness to undertake an orchestral tour in Hungary which would give him funds to keep the invalid from privation. It was at this time, under the most dis- tracting conditions, that he composed his "Faust," a dramatic cantata for chorus, orchestra, and solo voices. In trains, in steamboats, on the backs of bills in restau- rants, in a shop lighted by a single candle, on a night in Budapest, in a hundred other like situations, he wrote this music. At Budapest it was proposed that Berlioz write a march on a Hungarian tune. He chose one from an old album of national airs. He was apprehensive, and so were his friends, about the performance, because this was an air very dear to the Hungarians, and if the com- poser's treatment of it did not suit them the audience 128 THE LURE OF MUSIC would be quite capable of making trouble. The day of the performance came on and Berlioz had all he could do to conceal his nervousness as he ascended the conductor's stand. The march commenced with utter silence in the audience. The Hungarians were probably surprised, for their custom was to begin a march with a bang and a blare, whereas Berlioz's version commenced softly and gradually swelled to a cataclysm of fury. There was no sign of approval until that dramatic pass- age in which the orchestra, suddenly hushed, begins a long "crescendo," while under the tremolo of the violins the beating of the bass drums is heard, like the booming of distant cannon. The audience went mad. "A strange, restless movement was perceptible among them," says Berlioz in his memoirs, and when the or- chestra let loose its fury "they could contain themselves no longer. Their overcharged souls burst with a tre- mendous explosion of feeling that raised my hair with terror." This is indeed one of the most stirring of marches, with its irresistible rhythms, its constantly accumulating excitement, its thrill and fury of battle. Hungarian March from " Damnation of Faust " New York Philharmonic Orchestra Columbia Record A 6171 Berlioz did not originally think of this march as a part of "Faust." It was an independent effort, a piece inspired by an occasion. But he found the march so good that he transported his "Faust" to a plain in Hungary, in order that a Hungarian regiment be sup- posed to march by in the distance, playing the "Rakoczy March"! A German critic found fault with this high- handed proceeding, to which Berlioz replied that he would have transported "Faust" to any other part of the world if it would have given him the opportunity to introduce so good a march. So would we. 129 THE LURE OF MUSIC By the time "Faust" was completed Berlioz's fame had been well established. In addition to other methods of making a living, he had become a music critic and had contributed some of the most witty and penetrating musical criticisms ever written to the columns of the Journal des Debats and other papers. He flayed merci- lessly the money-changers in the temple of art. He knew whereof he spoke, and his wit felled like a mace. Thus his remark at a concert, when he rose from his seat and, making a gesture as of one who bids at auction, cried, "Twenty francs, forty francs, one hundred francs, for an idea!" Fascinating beyond description are his feuilletons and his "memoirs," now translated and published, with many of his letters, in Everyman's Library. But his most important literary creation, musically speaking, is the great Treatise of Instrumentation, which is not merely a treatise, but a poem about the orchestra, at once so imaginative, so prophetic, so scientific in its outlining of modern orchestral principles, that it remains to-day the backbone of orchestral theory. Berlioz's first wife died in 1854. A second marriage, with a Mme. Marie Recio, with whom he was no hap- pier, and who was far less worthy of him than Henriette, took place some months later. She lived but a short time. Berlioz was working at his last opera, "The Trojans." He was in ill health, a daily sufferer, and embittered by continual misfortune. Then he again met Estelle. Most pathetic of all the incidents of his late days, it often seems, was the letter he wrote her after their meeting. Never, O hero and madman, were you nobler, more credulous, more divinely a child, than in that letter, which might have been the impassioned avowal indeed, it was the impassioned avowal of the boy of twelve instead of the disillusioned man of sixty- one. Berlioz, alone, heart-hungry, implored Estelle to 130 THE LURE OF MUSIC let him visit her often and try to gain that love which was his first and his last passion. She sent him a kind and sensible reply, which must have wounded him more, in its relentless logic and lack of response, than sharp repulse. "The Trojans," produced in 1863, failed, and soon after came the news of the death of his son, Louis, a sea-captain, in a foreign port. Berlioz strug- gled on, the ghost of himself. But he laid about him lustily, as in the old days. He had a brave smile, if his heart was dead. Only occasionally did a cry of anguish escape him, as when he wrote a friend, "I am past hope, past visions, past high thoughts I am alone; my scorn for the dishonesty and imbecility of men, my hatred of their insane malignity, are at their height; and every day I say unto death: 'When thou wilt! Why does he tarry?' ' A banquet was held at Grenoble, in 1869, at which Berlioz was the honored guest. Like a tall pine riven by the tempest, he came, erect, but shaking, into the hall. A terrific storm broke outside, the wind play- ing havoc with the window-curtains and the candles on the tables, many of which were extinguished. The thunder roared and the lightning flashed, as though Nature had determined to greet the old hero with her grandest music. It was the last that all save his most intimate friends were to see of Hector Berlioz. He died a few days later, on the 8th of March. On his coffin were flowers from a few who still loved him; some wreaths from Russia, where he was adored; from the townspeople at Grenoble; from the youths of Hun- gary, who had not forgotten the battle music of the "Rakoczy March." "Life: War" is an inscription on an Egyptian tomb- stone. This inscription might well have served as the epitaph of Hector Berlioz. 131 RICHARD WAGNER T 1 1HE beauty Richard Wagner could not find in his X life he created for himself in his art. There was never a man or an artist like him. Erratic, imaginative, idealistic, of an extremely energetic and impressionable temperament, he dreamed impossible dreams, and made these dreams come true. He became from a starving conductor of an insignificant opera company the most powerful figure in the music of the later nineteenth century. As a man he was very great and very small. In other words, very human. He was adored, despised, and hated. Who shall judge? Nature gave Wagner the force and the egotism necessary to impose on the world ideas a century ahead of his time. From the struggles, the miseries, the visions of his rash and headlong career came the wondrous "music- dramas." Wagner was born in 1813, the year of the battle of Leipsic. Napoleon, hatless, fled by the house of his birth. In the same year the man mentioned on the register as Wagner's father died. He was a police- sergeant. According to certain investigators, Rich- ard's father was Ludwig Geyer, an actor, portrait- painter, and lover of letters, who married the police- man's widow soon after his death. What we know is that Geyer exerted a considerable influence on Richard's early development, if only by bringing him into close contact with the theatre. One of Wagner's earliest recollections was of Geyer as a villain of melodrama, and in due course Richard himself knew the ineffable 132 THE LURE OF MUSIC thrill of being sewed up in canvas wings and suspended as an angel in mid-air. He took other child parts. With only one exception his brothers and sisters attached themselves to the stage. Thus Wagner grew up in the play-house, which had a very important influence on his art. W T agner as a boy was a puzzle to himself and the community. His mental activity was without a paral- lel. At a time in life when the youth of our land play baseball he was already dipping into Goethe, Shake- speare, and Greek tragedy. But he seemed to lack definite objective, and the last thing of which he was suspected was talent for music. He was an impossible piano pupil. He whacked out a few cheap waltzes and one or two overtures in a way all his own, but showed no signs of the composer to come until, as a boy of fourteen, he began to write a drama. This was a bloody affair. All the characters were killed before the last act, and it was necessary for them to reappear as ghosts to finish the play. There were passages of unconscious humor, as when one personage informs another that if he advances a step his nose will be ground to powder. Absorbed in this creative effort, Wagner neglected to attend school. He was madden- ingly calm and uncommunicative when questioned by his elders. The explanation of this came years later jn his autobiography, and it is significant of what was happen- ing to him as an artist. "I was still conscious," he says, "of a wonderful secret solace in the midst of the calamity that had befallen me. I knew, what no one else could know that my work could only be judged when set to music which I had resolved to write for it, and which I intended to start composing immediately" He could have made no more momentous discovery. Then and there, with that early preposterous attempt at dramatic writing, he took the initial step which led 11 133 THE LURE OF MUSIC to the "music of the future" music indissolubly wedded to drama, to express in new forms of power and beauty the deepest emotions and the loftiest ideals of the race. Wagner arrived at years of indiscretion. The July revolution of 1830 greatly stirred the imagination of German youth. He mingled uproariously with students whose main occupations were drinking and dueling. Anxious to emulate his companions, our composer chal- lenged five of the boldest cocks of the walk to fight him. Wagner himself knew little of swordsmanship or the punctilio of combat, but was preparing light-heartedly for his doom, when that Providence which protects lunatics stepped in and saved him. Opponent number one was effectually disabled in a duel with another man; opponents numbers two and three fled from the city to escape their creditors; opponent number four was killed in a, duel previously scheduled, and opponent number five was detected in misdemeanors and rusticated. Wagner became a confirmed gambler. One night, at a low ebb of his fortunes and his morals, he threw his mother's pension, of which he was a trustee, on the table. And won! He crept home in the gray dawn, regarding himself as miraculously saved. He turned to his work in a fury of remorse. In dreams the ghosts of Weber and Beethoven appeared, urging him on. He succeeded in getting some early compositions per- formed, in mastering odd musical jobs and trying his hand at conducting, an art which he was soon to revolu- tionize. Finally he was offered an opening as conductor ~f a little opera company in Magdeburg. There fate lay wait for him. He was about to decline the position, .hen his eye fell on Miss Minna Planer, a comely young actress of the organization, and he was done for. He signed his contract almost on the spot. He labored gigan- 134 THE LURE OF MUSIC tically in the face of every discouragement, and wooed Minna. After months of poverty and love and jealousy and misgivings they married to become acquainted later. \Vagner feel deeper and deeper into debt. A proposed benefit concert was a financial failure, resulting only in a long double file of creditors outside his door. In 1837, when his life could hardly have been more sordid and miserable, he read a translation of Bulwer Lytton's "Rienzi," decided to write an opera on the subject and forget his unhappy lot in the contemplation of the heroic figure of the Last of the Tribunes. He was the one person not struck dumb with amaze- ment when this opera was accepted for performance at the Royal Saxon Court Theatre of Dresden. And what is more, it was a howling success ! This, despite the fact that the performance, which started at six, lasted until after twelve. "Rienzi" remains the longest opera Wagner ever wrote. Watching the performance the composer, who had previously refused to consent to a single cut, became alarmed and confused. That he was called out enthusiastically after each curtain meant nothing in his frightened frame of mind. They were being polite, or else mocking him! Long before the end he fled. Early the next morning, before any of the management should be afoot, he made his way to the theatre, overhauled and virtually cut hi half his score, left directions for the copyists to follow, and sneaked home again. But he could not keep away from the second performance. He then found that his cuts had been absolutely forbidden by the management, while the tenor, urged to make excisions in his part, answered hotly that he would not give up a note. "It is too heavenly," he cried. Wagner, unable to believe his ears, hid himself in a corner of a box, whence he was dragged and acclaimed a rising composer of Germany. The "Rienzi" Overture is an extremely brilliant piece 135 THE LURE OF MUSIC of music, enlisting a very large orchestra and anticipating dramatically the exciting developments of the plot. It opens with a long-sustained "A" of a trumpet. This is the signal, in the opera, for the outbreak of the people against the nobles. In response there rises from the strings Rienzi's prayer from the fifth act. The trumpet again sounds the "A," beginning softly, then swelling the tone like an imperious summons from afar, after which agitated passages lead to the principal part, in quicker movement, of the overture. It is woven of different passages from the scenes which follow. The brass choir takes up the battle hymn, "Santo spirito cavaliere," heard in the third act. A quick version of Rienzi's prayer is given the strings. The music rushes tumultuously and with growing force and brilliancy to its end. In it, in spite of a musical style far from that of the later Wagner, is much of the flaming temperament, the instinct for gorgeous orchestral color, the revolu- tionary fever that ran quick and hot in Wagner's veins, and later sent him forth, an exile, from his native land. Overture to Rienzi Played by Columbia Symphony Orchestra Columbia Record A 6006 The truth of the matter, which Wagner later realized, was that Rienzi was brilliant, melodious, and conven- tional enough not to be over the heads of the local public. It was not, however, sufficiently successful to rescue the composer from his debts. Gradually every- thing he owned, including his traveling passports, was impounded. Another man would have been discouraged by these disasters, perhaps for life. Wagner became more combative and defiant than ever, He decided to get to Paris, somehow, and try his fortunes in the artistic capital of the world. This involved flight over the Prussian border. Rich- 136 THE LURE OF MUSIC ard and Minna raised the last possible cent and started by stage-coach for freedom. With their beloved dog, "Robber," they hid in a smuggler's den, then crept between lines of sentries at the risk of their lives, and boarded ship to cross the Baltic to London. The journey proved hazardous in the extreme*. They encountered first high winds, then a long calm, then a terrific storm. The ship was driven far from its course. The sailors, super- stitious, believed that the mysterious passengers they had taken on board were accursed. Minna implored her husband to tie her to him with a rope, that they might be united in death. At last the vessel took refuge in a Norwegian fjord as the sailors called to those on shore with a curious rhythmic fragment of song which im- bedded itself in Wagner's memory and became a leading motive of his opera, "The Flying Dutchman," which he was to write as a result of this terrifying experience on the sea. In this opera Wagner took a further step in the development of his original theories of the music drama. Whereas in "Rienzi" he had followed the current style of grand opera as established by Meyerbeer, in "The Flying Dutchman" we discover the germs of his entire future development as a composer. The story, derived in part from the poem of Heine, is of the mariner who, having cursed God, is condemned to wander the seas forever, unless he can be redeemed by the love of a faithful maiden, willing to give her life that his soul may be saved. Wagner employs in his musical score various representative themes, or "leading motives," associated with the personages or principals of the drama, as, for example, the typical motive of the Dutch- man, already alluded to, the motive of the faithful Senta, and the motive of redemption, hymned by the orchestra as the faithful maiden, to redeem her lover, casts herself into the sea. "The Flying Dutchman" 137 THE LURE OF MUSIC ("Der Flieglinde Hollander"), which Wagner could not get anyone to perform while he was in Paris, was finally produced under his own direction on the 20th of October, 1842, in Dresden. In Paris Wagner starved, shivered, and wrote "pot boilers" for music publishers while Minna managed the household and pawned even their wedding presents to keep the wolf from the door. The chronicle of these days is a sad one, and it is noteworthy that one of Wag- ner's most grievous complaints occurs when he describes the loss of his dog. The unfortunate composer was on his way, a metronome under his arm, to beg of a cheese- monger the extension of one of the notes which were perpetually falling due, when "Robber," whom he had not seen for some time, confronted him in a narrow street. Unfortunately Wagner was so eager to recover the animal that he frightened it by the vehemence of his gestures, and so, in a scene worthy of the Dostoievsky of "Poor Folk," we see the wretched musician, his coat tails flying hi the air, the metronome under his arm, pursuing with incoherent cries his "Robber." "Robber" vanished around a corner, and was never seen again. Incidentally it may be said here that Wagner's love of animals was one of his most characteristic traits. "Rob- ber" was replaced by other pets, and they were fed, even when the larder was very bare. There was, for example, the parrot which soon learned to whistle themes from "Rienzi," from Beethoven's Eighth Symphony and other important works, and we have it on Wagner's own authority that more than once in hours of depression he was greatly cheered by these animals. It was in Paris, nevertheless, that Wagner, turning from the drudgery and disappointment of his daily life, discovered and explored with passionate enthusiasm the inexhaustible treasures of Germanic myth. There he laid the foundations of his "Tannhauser" and "Lohen- 138 THE LURE OF MUSIC grin," the works of his artistic maturity, and even looked farther, to the old sagas from which he eventually created the "Ring of the Nibelungen." All the time that he was laboring and fighting these great works kept growing, perfecting themselves within him. As he pro- ceeded, each step took him farther ahead of and away from the operatic fashions of the day. Hence, each opera became more difficult to produce. It was a battle royal between tradition and Richard Wagner. For him there was no way out but achievement. "Tannhauser," conceived in Paris, was completed in Dresden. The day came when, having sucked money, as he could do with marvelous art, from friends and relatives, Wagner found he could return to Ger- many. There was an anguished parting with a few faithful friends and the composer, with profound emo- tion, set out for his native land. As if Nature herself were conspiring to aid him, Wagner saw the very hillside on which, he was certain, Tannhauser knelt hi repentance for the delirious days in the underground realm of Venus. And as he thought this, there fell on his ears the sound of a shepherd's pipe. Shepherd and hill were reproduced in his opera, the scene which he per- ceived as he re-entered Germany remaining so graven in his memory that he was able to describe it in the smallest detail to the artist who, years later, in 1860, painted the scenery for the production of "Tann- hauser" in Paris. We need not trace here the various Tannhauser legends which Wagner sifted, altered, and re-assembled in writing his libretto. He went through this same process in the writing of all his poerns for his operas, and the history of his studies and the development of his poetic conceptions would provide a volume in itself. Suffice it here to say that the basic thought of "Tann- hauser" is that of the erring knight who, having forsaken 139 THE LURE OF MUSIC the paths of righteousness and become a willing slave of Venus, is only saved from perdition by the sacrificial love of the maiden Elizabeth. Her prayers for the man she loves at last cause leaves to bud from the staff of the Pope at Rome, the sign of heavenly pardon and for- giveness of the sinner. It will be noted that the pre- dominating motive in this opera, as in "The Flying Dutchman," and also in the much later "Ring of the Nibelungen," is the redeeming power of woman's love. All of Wagner's overtures or preludes to his operas are intimately connected with the dramatic developments that follow. Thus the "Tannhauser" overture opens with the prayerful chant of the Pilgrims as they wend their way over hill and dale to Rome the procession joined in the first act by the repentant Tannhauser. This is interrupted by the sensuous, exciting music of Venus and her train. A solo clarinet intones the song of the goddess. There is music of emotional struggle, conflict, aspiration, until the Pilgrims' hymn is heard again, approaching from the distance, dispersing the music of the Venusberg, gathering grandeur and sonority as it comes nearer, bringing to a solemn and triumphant conclusion this epitome of a man's spiritual redemption. " Tannhauser " Overture Played by Prince's Symphony Orchestra Columbia Record A 5829 Almost as well known as the overture is Wolfram's romance from the third act, "O Thou Sublime. Sweet Evening Star." Evening has fallen and Elizabeth prays for the salvation of her knight. Wolfram, the faithful friend of Tannhauser and the unrewarded lover of Elizabeth, sings of the sadness of destiny and the greatness of nature. "O Thou Sublime, Sweet Evening Star" Sung by Frank Croxton Columbia Record A 5471 Played by Pablo Casals Columbia Record A 5953 140 "Tannhauser" was first performed under the com- poser's direction in Dresden, October 19, 1845. There- after Wagner occupied himself entirely with "Lohen- grin." He was now in very poor physical condition. His physician had ordered him to take certain baths and remain immersed in the waters for an hour every day. In the mornings Wagner wandered in the woods, reading the old poetry of Wolfram von Eschen- bach the minstrel of medieval times, whom he had presented as a dramatic figure in "Tannha'user." "Pitching my tent by the brook," he says in his memoirs, "I lost myself in Wolfram's strange, yet irresistibly fascinating poem." This mental absorption induced a state of ever-increasing excitement, much to the doctor's consternation. Nor could Wagner be dissuaded from his reading and creating. The climax came when one day, while soaking in his bath, the complete plan of "Lohengrin" came into his head. He leaped from the water and rushed to his manuscript. The baths were discontinued; Wagner could not sleep; the physician retired in disgust; the composition of "Lohengrin" proceeded with feverish rapidity. The "Lohengrin" prelude is not concerned, as are the overtures of "Tannhauser" and "The Flying Dutch- man," with musical story-telling, but is intended to give the hearer the vision of the descent of the Grail from on high and the return of the sacred vessel to its home in the heavens. The opening is famous for its mysterious beauty and was a revolutionary idea in orchestration when Wagner composed it. It consists of high ethereal "harmonics" for the violins, which then intone, very tenderly, the theme of the Grail. Wagner's treatment of this theme is one of the wonders of modern music. The short motive serves as the musical substance of the whole composition, and exemplifies very wonderfully the composer's theory of "endless melody" i.e., melody 141 THE LURE OF MUSIC which does not come to a definite end after a few meas- ured phrases, but which continues, a steady stream of music, without a stop, from one end of an act or an instrumental movement to the other. Observe, then, how the theme draws itself out like a telescope; how, in turn, the various instruments of the orchestra take it up, weaving it in and out in one continuous musical fabric. Gradually the Grail descends. The music gathers to its climax. A mighty chord of the brass, and it is as though the shining vessel were before our eyes. Thereafter the music grows softer and still softer, until finally one hears only the high, mystical tones the violin harmonics of the opening, as though the vision had disappeared in the skies. Prelude to "Lohengrin " Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 5894 Robert Schumann, when Wagner read him the libretto of "Lohengrin," thought at first that such a poem could not be successfully set to music. It has proved the most popular of all Wagner's operas this notwithstanding the fact that in a sense it is the least human of them all. It is poetic legend. In the music is the atmosphere of that which is mysterious and re- motely beautiful. Lohengrin is a figure of mystical romance. Elsa, his uncomprehending bride, has little character of any kind. The most real personages are the plotters, Ortrud and Telramund, but they are protrayed in Wagner's score rather as "dark forces" than as human beings. Over all is the glamour of a more ethereal loveliness than had yet been known in music. Elsa of Brabant has been falsely accused by Telra- mund and his wife, Ortrud, of the murder of her young brother, Gottfried, who has disappeared. According to the custom of the tune, a trial is announced, when it 142 THE LURE OF MUSIC shall be seen if a champion will arise who will prove by trial of arms the innocence of the young princess. Trumpets sound the summons, but no champion ap- pears. Elsa is questioned. Her answers are vague and incomprehensible. She speaks, as one in a trance, of a knight, seen in her dreams, who is coming to protect her. When the trumpets call for the last time a skiff is seen floating down the river, drawn by a swan. It carries a knight clad in shining mail. Lohengrin, the deliverer, asks permission to champion Elsa. He defeats Telramund, and Elsa is saved. He is not able, however, to overcome the influence that Ortrud exerts on Elsa's mind. Affecting remorse for her evil deeds, she awakens in Elsa a growing distrust of him who has rescued her. Lohengrin and Elsa are wedded. The festive orches- tral introduction to the third act, in which this event takes place, and the Bridal Chorus, are among the most popular pages Wagner ever wrote. Introduction to Third Act of " Lohengrin " Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 5665 A mysterious condition had been made by Lohengrin when he interceded for Elsa that she should never ask him his name or antecedents. Now, her happiness otherwise complete, Elsa cannot refrain from putting the question. Lohengrin answers, sorrowfully enough, in his beautiful "Narrative" of his home at Montsalvat, of the services the knights of the Grail are bound to per- form, anonymously, reverently, as guardians of the sacred vessel of the blood of Christ. Now, alas! he must part forever from his newly won bride. Telramund is slain as he attempts, at this moment, to kill Lohen- grin. In the last scene the identity of the swan is revealed when Ortrud confesses that she has enchanted 143 THE LURE OF MUSIC the bird, and confidently claims that Lohengrin is unable to deliver it from her spell. Lohengrin kneels in prayer, a dove descends from heaven, and in place of the swan stands the long-lost Gottfried. The dove, replacing the swan, guides the skiff of Lohengrin up the river. The Knight of the Grail sorrowfully farewells the weeping Elsa. Mr. Runciman believes that Elsa is Minna, that this was Wagner's way of having the last word with his wife. "Lohengrin" was first performed under the direc- tion of Liszt, Wagner's friend, in Weimar in 1850. But Wagner was not to hear his own opera until eleven years later. Other adventures awaited him. In 1849, the year of the Saxony Rebellion, he became intimate with the Russian, Bakunin, a true precursor of Lenin and Trotzky, and not popular with the authorities. Wagner also made a rash speech before a political club, which made a tremendous sensation. He was further guilty of giving free tickets to revolutionists who applauded frantically his appearances at the opera. Then the revolution came to a head; Prussianism triumphed; three of Wagner's friends, including Bakunin, were sen- tenced to death; he, aroused with difficulty to his position, was persuaded in the nick of time to make his way over the border. Thus was Wagner again flung, homeless and friendless, on the world. Nature has her own plans for her great men. The only kind of a catastrophe which would have sufficed to pry the composer loose forever from a deadening security had occurred. Lacking that crisis, who knows what Wagner might have sunk to at the hands of convention and routine. He was entering on the freest, most intensively creative period of his career, ancj cir- cumstances pushed him forward. This point also marked the beginning of the end of his relations with his first wife. 144 THE LURE OF MUSIC It is not hard to understand the fearful shock that Wagner's part in the events of 1849 was to Minna. Her lot, as the partner of one of the most incorrigible egotists in all history, could never have been over- comfortable. Of course she did not understand her husband. Of course she had the mind and the stand- ards of women of her place hi life. But she did her best, and she endured an unspeakable deal. Both of them did. They were mismated. They suffered intensely from it. Wagner, too, endured and forgave, but he was not the only one who deserved sympathy. Then, too, while Wagner remained at his post in Dresden, there was more than an even chance that some day would find them out of debt. True, he was in cer- tain things extravagant, determined to have at any cost what he needed, or thought he needed, to compose. He paid heavy sums to have his scores published, and forgotten creditors of the Magdeburg and Riga days kept turning up, until the composer exclaimed wildly that he expected to get a bill from the nurse who had suckled him. They were gaining, nevertheless. Minna was the happy and respectable wife of a musician with various official titles, and they had achieved an un- precedented measure of security and comfort when a madman's folly blew the whole thing up in smoke. There were more stormy years, until, tempest-tossed, Wagner and the well-meaning woman who was now his wife in name only, found a refuge. They found it at the hands of the Wesendoncks, in Zurich, Switzerland. Mathilde Wesendonck was a woman of education and intellectuality. Her husband was a silk merchant with extensive interests in America. Mathilde persuaded her husband to build for Wagner an idyllic retreat, over- looking lake and valleys of the Alps, where he could compose in happiness and peace. All would have been well had it not been for the attraction which developed 145 THE LURE OF MUSIC between Wagner and Frau Wesendonck. The day came when he read her the poem of "Tristan and Isolde," and that day, like Paolo and Francesca, they read no more. Minna, who could be jealous if she could no longer love, discovered a letter. It was one of renuncia- tion, but this did not help matters. For Wagner there was nothing but to leave his asylum forever. He went to Venice. There, in a frenzy of inspiration, he com- pleted what is perhaps his greatest work. Strange man ! he carried on for some time a correspondence with Mathilde Wesendonck, and in this correspondence he shows himself more and more forgetful of their tragedy and more and more exultant over the opera to which, according to sentimentalists, their love had given birth. We say "according to sentimentalists," because Wagner had thought of "Tristan and Isolde" before he fell in love with Mathilde Wesendonck. He called "Tristan and Isolde" "the child of sorrow." Perhaps, in the impersonal eye of destiny, Mathilde Wesendonck had herself to congratulate for having fulfilled her mission in aiding Wagner to complete his masterpiece. But Mathilde did not attend the first performance of "Tris- tan and Isolde " (" Tristan und Isolde"), which took place in Munich, June 10, 1867. Tristan and Isolde are fated to love. They are united not only by the passion which came unbidden to them, but by the love potion prepared by Brangaene, Isolde's serving-maid, in place of the death draught which the desperate Isolde had ordered, that she and Tristan might together meet destruction. This thought of inescapable destiny is emphasized by Wagner in a manner akin to that of the old masters of Greek tragedy. From the moment of the drinking of the potion, which takes place while Tristan is escorting Isolde to Cornwall as the prospective bride of old King Mark, the end is determined. Only in death will the lovers find surcease 146 THE LURE OF MUSIC from sorrow. Tristan and Isolde meet at night in the garden of Mark's castle. There they sing passionately of their love, unheeding of Brangaene's warning from the watch-tower, until they are surprised by Mark and his courtiers, and Tristan is mortally wounded by his treacherous friend, Melot. At last Tristan lies dying, praying that Isolde may heed the message he has sent her, and come to him. Isolde's ship arrives too late. Tristan expires in her arms. Will she follow him to that kingdom where day gives place to night, where life gives place to eternity? Isolde, surrounded by Mark and his followers Mark who, understanding at last, has come not to slay, but to forgive and unite sings her incom- parable death song, that rises, shaking out its wings, for the spirit's flight. "Do you not see," she cries, looking on the body of Tristan, "how he smiles? Do you not hear the music that sweeps through the skies?" As she falls on Tristan's body the orchestra echoes, like a parting sigh, the motive of insatiable longing which united the lovers in life, which unites them in death, even as the laurel and the vine, which, according to ancient legend, entwine over their graves. Isolde's " Love-Death " (" Liebestod ") Played by Columbia Symphony Orchestra (Felix Weingartner, conductor) Columbia Record A 5464 Wagner was pardoned and returned to Germany in 1861. Despite the fact that his operas were beginning to win recognition, his fortunes were at a lower point than ever, and, while the public was favorable, the critics were extraordinarily hostile and abusive. The artist has his own methods of revenge. It was in this year that Wagner finished his immortal comedy, "The Mastersingers of Nuremberg" ("Die Meistersinger von Niirnberg"). The hero of this opera is young Walther 147 THE LURE OF MUSIC von Stolzing, a knight and a poet, who craves entrance to the guild of tradesmen and musicians known as the Mastersingers. The requirements for entrance to this guild are very strict. The applicant must compose and sing a prize song which must conform to an incredible number of stiff, pedantic, meaningless rules. It is not hard to discern in the person of Walther, Wagner himself, the singer of a new art, and in the pedantic Meister- singers Wagner's crabbed and uncomprehending critics. One of the Meistersingers, yclept Beckmesser, opposes Walther's entrance to the guild, and also becomes his rival for the prize of the approaching contest of song the hand of the fair Eva, daughter of Hans Sachs, one of the noblest, as he is one of the most human, of Wag- ner's characters. Beckmesser, who can criticize plenti- fully, but who cannot create, steals the song composed by Walther, intending to forestall him at the tournament. But he is not equal to his project. He makes a fool of himself before a concourse of the people. Wagner evi- dently means to say here that pedantry cannot ape genius. W T alther rises to sing and the populace are spellbound by his song of youth, genius, and love, a song as fresh as the morning dew. Walther's " Prize Song " Arranged for Violin and Played by Eugen Ysaye Columbia Record 36513 In the midst of the gloom occasioned by his material difficulties, Wagner completed the glorious, laughing music of this, his one operatic comedy. But thereafter inspiration seemed to depart. The fight was knocked out of him. Disheartened by artistic and financial dis- appointments, he was on his way to Lucerne when a most dramatic incident saved the day. Young Ludwig II of Bavaria came to the throne. Wagner's poem of "The Ring of the Nibelungen" had fallen into the king's 148 THE LURE OF MUSIC hands. He had heard "Lohengrin" in his eighteenth year. Ludwig's secretary was dispatched posthaste after the fleeing composer, whom he caught up with at Stuttgart, and to whom he gave a purse, the assurance of a royal pension, and the king's message, which read, "Come here and finish your work." The battle was won ; the wolf driven forever from the door. The king, who was undoubtedly half a madman, and one of many whom the composer dominated in the name of his art, financed Wagner's projects with a generosity which added to his unpopularity in certain circles. In due course the Bayreuth project came to flower. This consisted in the erection of a theatre especially designed for the production of Wagner's operas at Bayreuth. Here the four operas which com- prise the cycle, "The Ring of the Nibelungen" ("Der Ring des Nibelungen"), were performed in their colossal entirety at the first Bayreuth festival of 1876. In this vast work, of which "the lines," in the lan- guage of Debussy, "stretch out into infinity," Wagner took the rough ore of the ancient Nibelungen sagas and made it into gold. Singular to relate, there is the com- plete prophecy, in this work, of the downfall of the monarchistic civilization being reared at that time by western Europe and by no nation more assiduously, with more definitely selfish and materialistic purpose, than by the Germany which rose up after 1870. From the moment when the misshapen dwarf, Al- berich, turns from Love, as personified for him by the nymphs of the Rhine, to desire of Gold and Power, there commences the destruction of the established order. The high gods themselves, caught in the toils of greed and fear, lie, thieve, and compromise with evil in order to gain their ends. Wotan is seen, aware of the dis- aster he himself has provoked, trying by every means to avert the catastrophe which he well knows will arrive. 12 149 THE LURE OF MUSIC His own children, Siegfried and Briinnhilde, are sacri- ficed to the evil which has been wrought, but at last their love redeems the world. Siegfried is murdered. Briinnhilde, mourning him, mounts the funeral pyre. The waters of the great river rise, to cleanse away the shame of the world. Walhalla, home of the futile old gods who ruled from strongholds of power and privilege, goes up in flames. It is impossible in the limits of a short chapter to tell in detail the picturesque and legendary incidents of "The Rhinegold" ("Das Rheingold"), "The Valkyrie" ("Die Walkure"), "Seigfried," and "The Twilight of the Gods" ("Gotterdammerung"). Each of these works takes an evening to perform. In each of them are passages of Wagner at his very greatest. If there is the occasional place where the .action sags a little, where the philosopher gets the better of the dramatist and the musician, the proportions of the task the com- poser set himself is the explanation. Two passages of nature-music, in which Wagner was always great, often sublime, are the "Ride of the Valkyries" and the "Magic Fire" music from the second of these operas. The "Ride of the Valkyries" ("Walkiirenritt") is heard at the opening to the second act. Storm clouds form a background as the Valkyries, riding their war steeds through the air, assemble with wild cries and narrate the death of Siegmund in battle. " Ride of the Valkyries " Played by Chicago Symphony Orchestra Columbia Record A 5903 The wonderful music of Briinnhilde's sleep makes the final scene. She, the Valkyrie, having disobeyed the commands of Wotan, is condemned by her father to an age-long slumber, and surrounded by flames to guard her safely until Siegfried, the hero who does not know 150 THE LURE OF MUSIC fear, shall waken her and make her his mate. Here Wagner's capacity for scene-painting in tones is su- perbly displayed as Wotan strides majestically forward and, striking the rocks with his spear, summons Loki, god of fire, to do his bidding. The flames hiss and roar and flicker as Wotan bids his daughter a noble and melancholy farewell. In the orchestral arrangement of this music the song of Wotan is heard, played by the brass underneath the scintillating effects of strings, wood, and harp. Combined with these figures is the lullaby, the music of Briinnhilde's sleep. "Magic Fire" Scene from " The Valkyrie" Played by Columbia Symphony Orchestra (Felix Weingartner, Conductor) Columbia Record A 5594 Wagner's name, by the time Bayreuth had been established, and the "Ring of the Nibelungen" mounted on the stage, was one to conjure with. He was a born propagandist, a vigorous, if involved and controversial writer. Wagner societies were established everywhere to collect funds for Bayreuth. Wagner was accused of lining his pockets, until it was announced that Bayreuth faced deficits. Minna, who had previously parted from her husband, had died, in 1866. In 1870 Wagner married Cosima von Billow. She was the daughter of Liszt and the wife of the composer's previous friend, disciple, and supporter, Hans von Billow. Wagner took the woman to himself ruthlessly, as he had helped himself ruthlessly to every- thing he wanted all his life. The union was a happy one. A far more beautiful composition than anything in Wagner's last opera, "Parsifal," is the orchestral piece, the "Siegfried Idyll," in which are incorporated a num- ber of the themes from the opera "Siegfried." It was composed when Wagner's son, named after the hero of 151 THE LURE OF MUSIC the "Ring," was born. To-day Cosima and Seigfried reign over what the war has left of Bayreuth. A word concerning "Parsifal." Before Wagner com- posed this work he had in mind two other subjects for operas. One was a Christian and the other an Oriental theme. Christianity and Buddhism mingle curiously in "Parsifal." The story is that of Parsifal, the Guile- less Fool, descendant of Sir Galahad, whose innocence and purity save the accursed Kundry from the power of Klingsor, the magician, and restore the Grail to its rightful home on Monsalvat. In place of the sweeping passion of "Tristan," of the open-air feeling and the pulse of the good common folk in "The Mastersingers," or the grandeur of the dramas of the Ring, in which men and gods contend together, we have here a doctrine of philosophic renunciation. In "Parsifal" some see the most mystical and inspired of all Wagner's creations. Con- temporaneous critics, in a majority, find the music less convincing than that of earlier works, and it is pointed out that two of the most beautiful passages, the "Good Friday" music and the music for the Flower Maidens who tempt Parsifal in Klingsor's gardens, were composed earlier than other parts of the opera. "Parsifal" or no "Parsifal," Wagner had done his work. He had created a music as new as anything under the sun could be, of a nervous power, intensity, and splendor before undreamed of. This music, at first unpopular and incomprehensible, is to-day accepted everywhere, and we are moved past words by its beauty and poignancy. Wagner had many theories of opera. His principal ideas were these: the combination, not only of music and drama, but of all the arts which naturally assemble in the theater; the choice of mythical and legendary subjects as the best material for the poet -musician; the abolition of set operatic forms, such as the solo, duet, or ensemble number, in favor of the' 152 THE LURE OF MUSIC free flight of the music and the logical, unimpeded development of the drama; the use of "leading-motives," already described, developed in a symphonic manner by the orchestra, accentuating the situations on the stage. Wagner also wanted his actors to assume attitudes suggestive of sculpture. As has been ob- served, such actions on the part of an actor would create the strong impression that he was sick or in pain ! After all, what are an artist's theories? More often than not they are pegs on which he can hang his art. Wagner music is the overwhelming thing that lives after him. He died in 1883, full of honors. We have spoken plainly of his life, as well as of his art. An artist's life is like a cathedral. At first there is grubbing in the soil, apparent aimlessness, disorder, confusion. Years may pass before clear outlines appear, years more before these outlines assume relation to one another. The day comes when the structure is complete. Scaffolding and rubbish are taken away. We suddenly catch our breath. Lo! in place of the dirt, the turmoil, the con- fusion, there stands a towering monument to God. AMBROISE THOMAS ESUEUR, the teacher of Ambroise Thomas at the Paris Conservatoire, called his talented pupil his "note sensible" (the "sensitive" or "leading" tone of the scale), because of Thomas's musical sensitiveness and because he was the seventh of Lesueur's pupils to win the Grand Prix de Rome. The son of a musician, Ambroise Thomas, born at Metz, August 5, 1811, learned notes with his alphabet and soon played the piano and violin. A man of ex- ceptional quickness and sensibility, as the phrase of Lesueur implied, he was impatient of pretense or plati- tude, and did not miscalculate the value of academic honors. He knew that it was one thing to please his teachers and another to gain the ear of the world. He returned to Paris as soon as he had spent the three years of the Grand Prix scholarship in travel and at Rome, and began producing operettas. His early works gained considerable temporary success. Thomas, like most French composers, had the inborn talent for the stage, a knack of driving home a situation, a captivating gaiety and lightness of touch, agreeable then as now. There ensued a short period, however, when the public seemed to tire of his works. Then descended upon Paris the distracting political events of the Revolution of 1848. In that year art was relegated to the background. Thomas, in the uniform of the National Guard, passed under a friend's window brandishing a gun: "This is the instrument upon which I must compose to-day, and the music it produces re- quires no words." 154 X \~ THOMAS, 1811-1896 THE LURE OF MUSIC In 1849 he recovered and strengthened his position with the public with his opera bouffe, "Le Cai'd," pro- duced at the Opera Comique, January 3d of that year. "Le Cai'd" ("The Cadi") is a satire, as witty and diverting a piece as Thomas ever produced, on musical conditions of his day. He is heard here in his most Gallic vein. In this comedy his jests scintillate, and delightful melodies drop from his sleeve. The scene is Algiers. The "hero," if so he can be called, is the fat and cowardly Cadi. There are foolish men, scheming women, and various Oriental characters. Michel, the drum major, addicted to the bottle, compares its charms to those of the Mohammedan paradise in a lively, funny air. " Air du tambour-major " (" Song of the drum-major ") Sung by Leon Rothier Columbia Record A 5876 The two greatest works of Thomas were "Mignon," produced at the Opera Comique, November 17, 1866, and "Hamlet," first performed at the Opera, March 9, 1868. The success of "Mignon," an opera full of melody and beautiful orchestration, was immediate and overwhelming. Within six months it had one hundred performances, and the composer was presented with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor. Thomas lived to attend the one-thousandth performance of the work. The libretto, by Jules Barbier and Michel Carre, pre- sents incidents from the plot of Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister" arranged in conformance with the prevailing French operatic style. A great poem or story may be treated in different ways by a composer of opera. The composer will have to change the literary form to make it fit the requirements of music and spectacle, but in doing this he may retain the fundamental meanings and scope of his subject-matter. Or the composer 155 THE LURE OF MUSIC may select from an over-richness of material some single episode that has emotional and pictorial interest, and make of it a stage spectacle. Mignon, the daughter of noble parents, was stolen from her home in Italy by gipsies. Her mother died of grief. Her father, half-crazed with sorrow, wandered from land to land, seeking his child. In the courtyard of an inn (Act I) Mignon is ordered by the gipsy chief to dance for the entertainment of a troupe of actors on their way to the castle of a nobleman, where they are to take part in a festival. Because of fatigue, Mignon refuses to do this, and the chief is about to beat her when an aged harper, the half-demented Lothario, pro- tects the girl, and the student, Wilhelm, also advances to her relief. Questioning Mignon about herself, Wilhelm receives as his answer the wistful, dreamy song of the first act, "Know'st thou the land?" in which the girl seems as one in a dream to behold the distant home of her childhood. "Do you know the land," she sings, "where the orange-blossom grows, where spring reigns eternal, where the skies are ever blue? It is there I would fain return; it is there I would live and die." This represents one of Thomas's highest flights as a composer. "Connais tu le pays? " (" Know'st thou the land? ") Sung by Bettina Freeman Columbia Record 30475 Wilhelm purchases Mignon's freedom of the gipsies. The actors proceed to the castle. Filina, beautiful and selfish, looks with a favoring eye on the student, who is invited to accompany the troupe. Mignon, full of gratitude, asks to go with Wilhelm disguised as his servant. At the castle Wilhelm is deep in the toils of Filina. Meanwhile Mignon has come to love her rescuer. 156 THE LURE OF MUSIC Wilhelm is oblivious of her charms. He quarrels with Frederic, Filina's admirer, and Filina is cruelly amused at the simple tactics of Mignon. It was at the begin- ning of this scene (Act II) that Thomas inserted for the benefit of Madame Trebelli, who took the part of Frederic in the London production, the piquant Rondo Gavotte, one of the show pieces of the ooera. It is sung by Frederic as he waits in Filina's boudoir. Rondo Gavotte, " Me void " (" I am here ") Sung by Margaret Romaine Columbia Record A 2846 The troupe gives a performance of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and Filina is radiant in the costume of Titania. Flushed by her triumph and by the homage paid her beauty, she sings her polonaise, a brilliant and effective air appropriate to Filina's character. Polacca, " lo son Titania " ("I am Titania ") Sung by Maria Barrientos Columbia Record 49598 Filina sends Mignon to the castle. Suddenly the edifice is in flames. Lothario has applied the torch, believing this to be Mignon's wish. Wilhelm emerges from the building with the unconscious Mignon in his arms. In the last act Mignon is recovering from a long illness, while Wilhelm and Lothario watch over her. Lothario has brought the girl to the home of his youth, where long- forgotten scenes help to restore his mind. Wilhelm knows at last that he loves Mignon, and while she sleeps sings of his devotion. Mignon, waking, repeats the words of a prayer taught her in infancy by her mother. By this means, and by the discover} 7 of a girdle worn by her in childhood, the 157 Count Lothario recognizes his daughter and all ends well. There were several versions of this opera. In one Mig- non married Wilhelm; in the other she died. The public preferred the wedding, and M. Thomas had no objections. It was Messrs. Barbier and Carre who again obliged Thomas when they gave him a libretto ostensibly based on Shakespeare's "Hamlet." Some scenes of the play and part of the text of Shakespeare, notably the solilo- quy of Hamlet, "To be or not to be," are reproduced, but we recognize the characters more often than we recog- nize the sequences of Shakespeare's drama. The form is that of the conventional French grand opera. There are five acts. In the second act Hamlet engages the players, and discovers beyond doubt the guilt of his step- father. This is the scene in which, with forced gaiety, Hamlet sings the well-known drinking-song. "Chanson Bachique " (Drinking-song) Sung by Oscar Seagle Columbia Record A 5547 The finale of this opera was doubtless conceived as a Gallic antidote for Shakespearean gloom. Hamlet mourns over Ophelia's grave and determines to kill him- self. The king approaches, at the head of a cortege. The ghost rises again and looks reproachfully at Hamlet, who, at last, turns about and stabs the king. The populace, easily convinced that the man was a mur- derer, will not hear of Hamlet's suicide, and acclaim him as their ruler. After all, opera is opera, and musicians are the last to be troubled by any trifling little changes of plot or story. There are still Italian provinces that know "Othello" only through the opera of Rossini, which has a happy ending. As for "Hamlet," witness the re- 158 THE LURE OF MUSIC mark of a not uncelebrated conductor who had the birthplace of Shakespeare at Stratford-on-Avon pointed out to him: "Shakespeare? Who was he?" "Why, you know! He wrote 'Romeo and Juliet,' 'Othello,' and 'Hamlet." 1 "All, yes! Of course! Of course! The librettist !" Thomas was a man of broad culture, a brilliant con- versationalist, and a favorite at the court of Napoleon III. He was successively chevalier (1845), officer (1858), and commander (1868) of the Legion of Honor and a member of the Institute (1851). His tastes, however, were simple. Feted everywhere, enjoying most of the honors that his country could shower upon him, he loved nature, and when not engaged in Paris was most often found on a quiet island in Brittany, where he es- caped from the turmoil of the city. His music has a distinction, refinement, and polish of its own. He was deeply versed in the traditions of the French stage. He wrote admirably for the voice. He understood the art of instrumentation, and his later scores abound in delicate, pleasing effects. His talent did not run as deep as that of Gounod, but he had style and charm. His aims were serious, perhaps too serious for the quality of his art, yet he was a modest man. He often remarked that the most gratifying experience of his career was the free performance of "Mignon" given on the day following the gala celebration in May, 1894. "It gave an imprint," said he, "of a national character to my work." He was an ardent patriot. In 1870 he saw his birthplace in the hands of the enemy, an event which saddened his later years. He died in Paris, February 12, 1896. CHARLES FRANCOIS GOUNOD EMOTIONAL, impressionable, devout, Charles Fran- (jois Gounod vacillated all his life between the the- ater and the cloister. This is reflected in his art. His dramatic music seldom lacks the religious element. His religious music is music of amorous emotion as well as worship. Listening to it, it is as though one heard, beyond the prayer, the rustle of silken skirts in the gallery. Gounod was born in Paris, June 17, 1818. His grand- mother knew music and poetry and was an accomplished actress. His father was a painter, and it was thought for some time that Charles would follow in his footsteps. His mother, who had the charm, the thrift, the culture of a Frenchwoman of good birth, taught drawing and music, and by this means supported her family after the death of her husband in 1823. When Gounod was six he was taken to the opera, nearly perishing with excitement. He could neither eat nor drink. The mother said: "You know if you do not eat you do not go to the theater." "Before such a threat," wrote Gounod, "I would have heroically swallowed anything they could put before me. I dined, therefore, with exemplary obedi- ence, and . . . there we were, mother and I, starting out for the promised land. It seemed as if I was about to enter a sanctuary. ... I was filled with a sort of sacred terror, as at the approach of some mystery, imposing and redoubtable. I experienced emotions as profound 160 GOUNOD, 1818-1893 THE LURE OF MUSIC as they were unknown; the desire and fear of that which was to pass before me." The boy was obviously so stirred by this experience that his mother, who did not wish him to study music, was uneasy. She went to Gounod's school and asked the professor "for Heaven's sake" to "get that musical idea out of his head." "Aha! little Charles," said the professor next day, "so you wish to become ft musician?" "Yes." "Ah! but you do not think what that means! To be a musician amounts to nothing in the world." "Nothing!" said the child, astonished. "Is it noth- ing to be a Mozart, Weber, Meyerbeer, Rossini?" "Peste! mon gargon! But at your age Mozart had done some great things. What have you done? What can you do? Here! show me what you can do" as he scribbled on a piece of paper the words of the romance of Joseph from Mehul's opera, then famous, of that name. "Put music to that," said the professor. "See if you can do as well as Mehul. As for Mozart there's still time." The song was written during the recreation period. Gounod took it to the principal. "What is it, my child?" "Mv song is finished." "What, already?" "Yes, sir." "Let us see. Sing it to me." "I sang," says Gounod in his memoirs, "and when I had finished I turned timidly about to face my judge. His eyes were full of tears. He drew me to his heart and said, 'It is beautiful, beautiful, my boy. ... Be a musician, then, since the devil pushes you to it. It's no use to fight against that ! ' ' Gounod entered the Paris Conservatoire, where he 13 161 THE LURE OF MUSIC studied with a number of the best teachers of the day, and where Cherubim directed his attention to sacred composition and the music of Palestrina. Gounod's mother was fearful when the time came for the drawing of lots for the military conscription. Gounod comforted her. "Never fear, I will secure exemption by winning the Prix de Rome." He won the second prize in 1837. His cantata, "Fernand," brought him the Grand Prize two years later. In Rome Gounod encountered two women who were to be potent influences in his life. One was the great singer, Pauline Viardot-Garcia, an artist whose nature and intellectual gifts drew about her the greatest minds of the day. She was so taken with Gounod's talent and personality that she promised to remember and help him whenever she could. It was, in fact, Madame Garcia who at a later day introduced Gounod as an opera-composer to the world. The other woman was Mrs. Henselt, who had been, before she married, Fanny Mendelssohn, sister of the composer, and the unnamed creator of a number of the "Songs Without Words." A warm friendship grew up between the two which developed on Gounod's side, at least, into a sentiment more intense. The parting for him was bitter. It was at this time that he turned to religion. The arrival of an ecclesiast who had also been a personal friend of Gounod's in Paris strengthened him in his determination to enter the Church. He talked of little else. He studied in monasteries and missions. His letter-heads were those of the Missions des Strangers, engraved with two bleeding hearts surmounted by a crown of thorns. It was not until Madame Garcia was approached by a manager of a Parisian theater who de- sired her to appear a number of times in opera that Gounod came from his retirement. This new opera, known as "Sapho," was not over-successful, either in 162 THE LURE OF MUSIC 1851 or when it was revised thirty years later, but it launched Gounod on his career. It Was followed by two unsuccessful grand operas, and then by an opera comique, "Le Medecin Malgre Lui" (1858), which is full of charming music and too little known to-day. Then came "Faust," the libretto by Barbier and Carre, first performed at the Theatre Lyrique, March 19, 1859. The opera presents but one episode of Goethe's master- piece the episode of the love of Faust and Marguerite, which is the most human and least philosophic aspect of the work. The scenes of this opera are so familiar that they need not be described in detail. Those with a passion for statistics there are such even in music have reckoned that the musical score contains more melody to the square inch than that of any other opera. In the air sung by Valentine (Act II), departing for war, he commends his sister, Marguerite, to the care of the boy Siebel, who adores her. This air was not in the original score, but was composed by Gounod for the barytone, Charles Santley, when "Faust" was first per- formed in London, June 11, 1863. " Dio Possente " (" Even bravest heart ") Sung by Riccardo Stracciari Columbia Record 49214 Sung by Henri Scott Columbia Record A 5877 Mephistopheles, who appears as Faust's traveling-com- panion in the market-place, sings the sardonic couplets, "The Caff of Gold" that calf, he says, before which all men, the great and the lowly, bow in abject servility. " Dio dell' or " (" The Calf of Gold ") Sung by Jose Mardones Columbia Record A 847 The same record (A 847) has on its reverse side the music of one of the most dramatic scenes in the opera 163 THE LURE OF MUSIC that in which Marguerite, kneeling in the cathedral imploring pardon from on high, is taunted by the ter- rible voice of the invisible fiend, threatening her with eternal torment. In an ardent song Faust (Act III, Scene 1), led by Mephistopheles into the garden of Marguerite, salutes reverently the chaste dwelling of her whom he adores. This is one of Gounod's most celebrated arias. "Salve! dimora " ("Hail, chaste dwelling!") Sung by Hipolito Lazaro Columbia Record 48782 Sung by Florencio Constantino Columbia Record A 5204 The Soldiers' Chorus (Act IV, Scene 1) is heard when Valentine returns at the head of his troops from the wars. This chorus was not composed as a part of the score of "Faust," but was taken from an earlier and uncompleted opera of Gounod's, "Ivan, the Terrible." Soldiers' Chorus from " Faust " Played by Prince's Band Columbia Record A 1493 The ballet-music, considered in Gounod's time one of the finest pages of the opera, displays effectively Gou- nod's melodious style and his effective use of the or- chestra. This ballet occurs between the fourth and fifth acts. The scene is the Vale of Tempe (the only refer- ence to the second part of Goethe's poem made in the opera). Faust, Mephistopheles, Helen of Troy, and many figures of Greek myth are seen. Faust is startled by a vision of Marguerite. Ballet Music from " Faust " Played by Metropolitan Opera Orchestra Columbia Record A 6041 Mephistopheles insolently tunes his guitar before the dwelling of Marguerite and mockingly hints at her ruin. 164 THE LURE OF MUSIC His satanic laughter is one of the notable effects of this song. Mephistopheles' Serenade Sung by Jose Mardones Columbia Record A 5200 The manner in which "Faust" has kept the stage for over half a century is testimony to the solid value as well as the melodic beauty of the opera. Not only in France, but in every land, with every public, educated and uneducated, rich and poor, it has held its own. Gounod, French to the pith, nevertheless studied care- fully many operas of different periods and schools. "Faust" was created when he had grown to his full height as a composer and learned, through many fail- ures, how to write in a finished and effective manner for the stage. The workmanship and inspiration shown in certain scenes are really past praise for example, the garden scene, with its sweeping climax, as Marguerite cries out her love to the stars, then throws herself into Faust's arms! The writing for the voices, the richness and refinement of the instrumentation, are still models to be studied with the utmost care. Yet there was dis- trust of this work in rehearsal and on the part of pub- lishers, and when Gounod lay dying there was a long- haired melomaniac who, being refused admittance, beat frantically on the door, anxious to assure the man whose life was ebbing that "Faust" was a poor thing which would not outlive its day! "Mireille" (1864), originally a tragedy in five acts, later reduced to three acts, with a happy ending, was based on a poem of Frederic Mistral, written in the Pro- vengal dialect. The joyous waltz song was not in the original version of the opera, but was interpolated in the later edition. It is found in the first act. Its rather silly text is set to a charming melody. 165 THE LURE OF MUSIC " Waltz Song (' Rondinella Leggiera ') from ' Mireille ' " Sung by Maria Barrientos Columbia Record 48650 Gounod's most popular opera, after "Faust," was undoubtedly "Romeo and Juliet," the libretto by Bar- bier and Carre from Shakespeare's tragedy. This work was produced at the Theatre Lyrique, Paris, April 27, 1867. The music has less depth and originality than that of "Faust," but certain airs have a pleasing gaiety or lyrical fervor typical of Gounod's talent. Thus the brilliant song of Juliet, as she enters the ball- room of the Capulets. The lights, the company, the festivities of the occasion, excite her. She has not yet seen Romeo. She knows only that she is young and beautiful, that life is full of wonder, that every to-morrow has a promise more thrilling than the wonder of to-day. That is the theme of Gounod's gay music. Waltz Song, " Je veux vivre " (" I would live ") Sung by Florence Macbeth .Columbia Record A 6163 In his later years Gounod turned almost entirely to the composition of religious music. His most famous production in this vein, indeed one of the most popular melodies he composed, is his "Ave Maria." An inter- esting peculiarity of this work is that only the melody is original with Gounod. The accompaniment is note for note the first prelude of J. S. Bach's (1685-1750) "Well- tempered Clavichord." Hence the saying that Bach, more than a hundred years before Gounod, wrote the accompaniment for the latter's "Ave Maria"! " Ave Maria " Sung by Lucy Gates Columbia Record A 5981 When the Franco-Prussian War broke out Gounod, far beyond military age, went to London. It was there 166 THE LURE OF MUSIC that he composed his very popular piece, "Funeral March of a Marionette." It is said that the piece was suggested to him by the eccentric gait of the English critic Chorley, a frequent visitor at Gounod's house; that Gounod's pupils, delighted with the burlesque, besought the composer to put it on paper. This fanciful program has been attached to the composition: A marionette has been killed in a duel. The funeral procession sets forth. The troupe converse about the vicissitudes of life and reflect sadly that it required but one fairly hard knock on the nose to end the career of so talented an artist. It is midsummer. Some of the troupe begin to find the way long and wearisome. They stop to slake their thirst at a roadside tavern. The refreshment-takers enter into various details touch- ing the qualities of the defunct. They forget that the funeral procession has nearly reached the gates of the cemetery. They resolve to rejoin it, avoiding, however, all appearance of undignified haste. They fall into their places and enter the cemetery to the same phrase as the one at the beginning of the march. " Funeral March of a Marionette " Columbia Symphony Orchestra Columbia Record A 6052 Other compositions of Gounod which have found wide popularity are his charming song to words of Victor Hugo bearing the English title, "Sing, smile, slumber," and various compositions of sacred music. " Sing, smile, slumber " Sung by Lucy Gates Columbia Record A 5981 Among his sacred compositions in larger forms are the cantata, "Gallia," a biblical elegy for the country defeated in 1870, performed at the International Exhibi- 167 THE LURE OF MUSIC tion held in England in 1871, when composers of England, Italy, and Germany were also represented; "The Redemption," sacred trilogy composed for the Birming- ham Festival of 1882, and dedicated to Queen Victoria; and a second sacred trilogy, "Mors et Vita," composed for the Birmingham Festival of 1885. Both these lat- ter works were sold to Novello for twenty thousand dollars each. Thus Gounod was successful in a worldly as well as an artistic sense. Gounod was very popular in London. It was there that he formed the historic friendship for Mrs. Weldon, a fashionable woman who inhabited a house in Tavistock Square. Some said she was beautiful, others that she was the worst-dressed woman in town. After a long and intimate acquaintance the two suddenly parted and Gounod returned to Paris. Mrs. Weldon separated from her husband, lost her money, and became a music- teacher. No doubt she boasted that she knew the traditions of Gounod's music. In want, she presented a board bill for the three years during which she had entertained Gounod as the lion of her receptions, and in 1884 an English jury awarded her the amount of fifty thousand dollars for her services "as secretary, business agent, and landlady"! May Byron paid Gounod a visit in his apartments at Paris. He lived in a corner of the Boulevard Male- sherbes in a three-story building inhabited by himself, his married daughter, his sister-in-law, and his son Jean with his family. Gounod wore a black- velvet jacket and skullcap, talked delightfully, was obviously and unaffectedly fond of praise, and very sensitive to "ad- verse criticism." His workroom, study, library, recep- tion-room they were all in one was paneled and vaulted in oak, lighted by stained-glass windows, and fitted with Persian rugs, "small antique tables, divans and sofas in abundance." The composer was hospitality 168 THE LURE OF MUSIC itself. There was felt "an indefinable atmosphere of warmth, tenderness, and trust." The old man was de- voted to his grandchildren. Gounod warmly espoused the works of some contemporaries, while for men like Berlioz and Wagner he had little praise. He said of Berlioz that he was "a musical nature that lost its balance"; of Bizet, "a charming musician"; of Wagner, "a wonderful prodigy, an aberration of genius; a vision- ary, haunted by all that is colossal." Gounod could not have been sincere and have said anything else. He was not a revolutionist in the radical sense of the word. He was rather one to invest with fresh interest the forms ready to his hand. He was far from content, however, with recognized and estab- lished traditions, and there were not lacking those who saw dangerous things in his music. "Faust," one of the best constructed operas in existence, impresses us, above all, by its personal quality. It is not a composer on dress parade before an audience who is talking, but Gounod, and none other. Faust, Valentine, Marguerite they all sing with the same voice; they all express the senti- mental soul of the celebrated Frenchman. "Faust" is the most enduring expression of a talent which stands out significantly in the history of French music. Gounod lived to see the five-hundredth performance of his master-work, and to be decorated with the Cross of the Legion of Honor. He died October 18, 1893. JACQUES OFFENBACH FEW of us, as we watch the diverting scenes and listen to the sparkling melodies of " The Tales of Hoff- man," realize that this work is the expression of a life's tragedy. Jacques Offenbach, the son of a Jewish cantor, came to Paris in 1833, aged seventeen, lugging under his arm a violoncello as big as himself, and determined to make his fortune in the glittering capital. When he had sat in the 'cello class of Professor Vaslin, at the Conserva- toire, for one year, he decided to move on; for he was impatient of restraint, of the gradual acquirement of knowledge, and felt in his heart that he had in him the material of success. Offenbach, darting about, found a position as 'cellist in the orchestra of the Opera Comique. There he learned more about opera and composing for the theater than his teachers could ever have taught him. They were in- tent on making a respectable musician of him. But respectability was not a part of Offenbach's make-up. It was, in fact, the butt of all those indescribable jokes with which he sprinkled the pages of the dozens of operettas he was to compose. The years flew by, and he mounted and was thrown forward on a wave of popu- larity which constantly grew in its proportions and the momentum with which it advanced. Offenbach ac- quired a theater for himself, a cozy little theater of charming and somewhat indiscreet decorations in the Champs-Elysees, which he named the Bouffes Parisiens. And there he did his worst! To that little theater 170 OFFENBACH, 1819-1880 THE LURE OF MUSIC came all the world, to laugh with unbuttoned laughter at things which no one should have laughed at, to hear the latest of those wonderful melodies that Offenbach had but to shake from his sleeve. These tunes had this quality in common with our "popular music" of to-day that they immediately "caught on." They were on every tongue, and even little children lisped airs and words of which, in the majority of cases and fortu- nately they seldom realized the full meaning. But unlike our popular music, there was in most of these airs a real art quality, a grace, a spirit the French word esprit is a more truly descriptive adjective which caused them to live as well as to sing. So it went on! A veritable madness, says the present dean of French composers, Camille Saint-Saens, seemed to have come over the human race. Monarchs on their way to Paris wired ahead for a box at the Bouffes Parisiens. The society of the day was lax and its ideals low. The populace asked only to be amused. The jaded boulevardiers of the period, the politicians in the intervals of their plotting, sat at the feet of Offenbach, who, alas! too often debased his God-given talent for the sake of the moment and its gold. In the space of thirty years he produced some ninety operettas. Many of them, still popular in Europe, won favor in part deserved by their real beauties, their touches of humor, tenderness, or dramatic characteriza- tion, and most emphatically undeserved by their super- ficialities and the mad haste of the opportunist by whom they were composed. Both these characteristics are present in the melo- dJous and lively overture to "Orpheus in Hades" (1858). Overture to " Orpheus in Hades " (" Orphee aux Enfers ") Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Columbia Record A 6140 171 THE LURE OF MUSIC There were singers in those days, and Offenbach had the devil's own nose for finding the man or woman who would set an audience on fire. But at the bottom a tender-hearted and idealistic man, with a desire for the better as well as the more showy things of life, he knew that he was not fulfilling his destiny. He was amusing a frivolous people for whose approval he cared little or nothing. He owed it to himself to be great. As the years sped by and the gold rolled in, one ambi- tion grew up in his heart. He longed to be taken seri- ously. He longed to produce one work which would assure him a lasting position in the Hall of Fame. That work was "The Tales of Hoffmann" ("Contes d'Hoffmann ") . The sketches of the new opera were com- plete, in the musical shorthand that Offenbach employed when his ideas came faster than he could write them down, and he was coaching the singers, with some of whom he had difficulty because they suspected him of having the evil eye, when he was forced to take to his bed. He had with him his dog, whom he had named, after a song in "The Tales of Hoffmann," Kleinzach. "Alas, poor Kleinzach," he said, "I'd give all I have if you and I could be at the first performance." On his death-bed Offenbach gave the last directions about the orchestration of his master- work to his friend, Ernst Guiraud, and thus enjoining him passed away. The story of this opera is one of the most curious and original in the literature of music-drama, and most strangely symbolic of Offenbach's career. For Hoff- mann, too, is a man who chases delusions and whose footsteps, throughout tys life, are dogged by a mys- terious and unkind fate. Pursuing the ideal woman the opera is a recital of his loves he fancies he sees her in different forms, only to draw back after each of his experiences, crushed by the disillusionment of reality. At last the Muse of art speaks to Hoffmann, of the one 172 THE LURE OF MUSIC love that will bring him happiness love of that which his genius was given him to serve. The librettists pieced their story together out of the fantastical tales of E. T. A. Hoffmann. The opera, unusually constructed, is in a prologue, three acts, and an epilogue. Hoffmann is first seen sitting among fellow- students. Distrait, melancholy, he answers their raillery by offering to tell the story of the women whom he has loved. "The name of the first," he says, "was Olympia." Olympia' was a dancing-doll whom Hoffmann, an in- experienced and credulous youth, believed to be a real woman. The doll says, "Yes," "No," dances and sings. Her arms move rigidly up and down. There is in- tentional stiffness in her sparkling, melodious, mechan- ical song the doll, warbling her pretty but meaningless lay, with its fixed rhythm, its angular intervals; a most ingenious and effective bit of musical characterization. Doll's Song, from " Tales of Hoffmann " Sung by Lucy Gates Columbia Record A 3326 Hoffmann only comes to his senses when Coppelius, the evil -eyed inventor of the doll that has played such havoc with his heart, smashes the automaton in a rage. His dream of youth and love has also been shattered. In the second act Hoffmann, with the passions of an older man, woos the superb Giulietta, courtesan of Venice. This situation inspired the celebrated barca- rolle, a melody of the simplest kind, made of the soft Venetian night, the magic of the moonlight on the lagoons, the poetry and romance of the hour. The barcarolle is sung as a duet by Giulietta and Hoffmann's servant, Nicklausse (the part taken by a woman in man's costume), as the scene a terrace, with Hoffmann at the feet of Giulietta is disclosed. 173 THE LURE OF MUSIC Barcarolle: "Radiant Night" from ''Tales of Hoffmann" Sung by Rosa and Carmela Ponselle Columbia Record 78846 Played by Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Columbia Record A 5966 Played by Mery Zentay, violinist Columbia Record A 2503 This is not the only appearance of the barcarolle. At the beginning of the act it provides what is called in artistic phraseology "atmosphere." At the end it is heard again, but with a terrible and tragic significance. Behind Giulietta, in her shadow, as it were, stands a silent and ominous figure in a black costume, felt as a presence, rather than perceived, at first, as a man. This is Dapertutto, the magician, who is spoken of as "a soldier of fortune." Giulietta is his slave. She is to secure for him the soul of Hoffman by imprisoning his image in a magic mirror. Dapertutto voices his malevolent thoughts in the following air: " Tourne, tourne, miroir " ("Turn, mirror, turn **) Sung by Hector Ehifranne Columbia Record A 5444 At Giulietta's instigation, Hoffman fights and kills her lover, Schlemil. Victorious, he seeks Giulietta. only to see her reclining in the arms of another. To the ironical lilt of the barcarolle, and the laughter of the faithless woman, the curtain falls. Most pathetic and disheartening of all these strange incidents of Hoffman's career is his third and last love- affair. Antonia, the beautiful daughter of Crespel, is under a sinister fate. Her mother, a singer, died of consumption. Antonia's lungs are impaired, and Crespel, her father, knows that if she sings she, too, will die. Crespel is hostile to the love of Hoffman for his daughter. He has fled with her from city to city. He has been pursued, not only by Hoffman, but also by the fiendish Doctor Miracle. A singular being! His face is like a death's head. His attire, in Offen- 174 THE LURE OF MUSIC bach's original conception sometimes altered on the stage to-day is that of a greasy quack doctor. If you met him on the street, you would dismiss him as a crafty and dishonest patent -medicine man. But look a little closer, and you will recoil from the evil that leaps from those eyes ! Miracle professes concern for Antonia. In a terrifying scene he grasps a fiddle, saws on it wildly, and commands the girl to sing. As she obeys, she dies. In the epilogue the students who surround Hoffman remark on the strangeness of his adventures, and depart to drink elsewhere. Hoffman, who is awaiting Stella, a singer in a neighboring theater, falls a prey to curious fancies. Is it not strange that the inventor Copelius, the magician Dapertutto, and Doctor Miracle seem in retrospect to have had very much the same type of features? Was it one or was it many who pur- sued him to his ruin? Were any of these people real men? Did the women actually live? Did he love them, or was it all but a troubled dream? And what is life it- self? Is it a dream? A truce to thought, and another drink! Stella, entering, finds Hoffman in a stupor with his head on the table. Hoffman's rival, the crafty Lin- dorf , has been watching like a spider in his corner. Singu- lar to relate, his face seems to bear a resemblance to the faces of Coppelius, Dapertutto, and Miracle! With a sigh and a backward glance, the frail Stella departs on the arm of Lindorf, and with this final betrayal of the unfortunate dreamer, who is nevertheless, in his slumber, possessed of a fairer vision than any mortal woman could embody, the curtain falls. Such was the opera in which Offenbach, consciously or otherwise, epitomized his own career. 14 LEO DELIBES A GREAT composer dawns on the world. His art is attacked by many, supported by a few. Lesser lights gather about his standard or flock to the opposition. Critics quarrel The gutters run with ink. The public looks on with wonder and delight, and goes its way. By and by the dust of the battle settles and from the cloud certain figures emerge to remain with us and smile through the years. Among these are fre- quently composers not of the first, but of the second rank; men of true talent, but not deceived about them- selves, not hitching their wagons to too high a star; anxious to give the best that is in them to their art; humble in its presence; happy in its service, A com- poser of this kind and rank is that master of delicious ballet music, Leo Delibes. To Delibes the ballet was not a series of hackneyed evolutions, but a poem, a dream of the most delicate beauty. He was a musical descendant of a long line of ballet-composers whose art in France had antedated the opera itself. He could trace his inheritance far back to Lulli of the sixteenth century, with his powder and his pomp, his stately, formal music which amused an idle king. Delibes learned much in turn from his master in composition, Adolph Adam, composer of such exquisite scores as that of the ballet, "Ghiselle," and from other men of Adam's period Herold, Auber, Boieldieu all masters in miniature, men who held, rightly or wrongly, that the mission of music was not to instruct or edify, but to delight. 176 DELIBES, 1836-1891 THE LURE OF MUSIC Delibes, born at St.-Germain-du-Val, February 21, 1836, came to Paris in his tenth year. He was succes- sively choir-boy at the Madeleine, a pupil of many honors at the Conservatoire, accompanist at the Theatre Lyrique, and second chorus-master at the Opera. Per- rin, the stage-director, convinced of his talent, com- missioned him to compose music for a ballet, "La Source," in collaboration with a Polish composer, Minkous. The second and third tableaux of this ballet were composed by Delibes. It was performed at the Opera, November 12, 1866. Later it was given in Vienna under the title of "Naila, die Quellen Fee" ("Naila, the Water Nymph"). In this early music the delicate beauty and the fanciful charm of Delibes's com- posing are already shown. " Circassian Dance " from " La Source " (" The Spring ") Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 1227 Intermezzo from " Naila " (" La Source ") Played by the Cincinnati Orchestra Columbia Record A 6189 The audience preferred the music of Delibes to that of Minkous, with whom he had been associated as a favor, and Delibes was finally intrusted with the setting of an entire ballet, "Coppelia," which proved one of his greatest works. The scenario of this ballet was dis- tantly derived from the story of old Coppelius, the toy- maker, the magician, who figures in the tales of the romantic writer, E. T. A. Hoffmann, and also hi the first act of Offenbach's celebrated opera. The ballet has two acts. The story is a tiny thread which serves to introduce many graceful and diverting dances. " Waltz of the Hours " from " Coppelia " Played by the Cincinnati Orchestra Columbia Record A 5943 177 THE LURE OF MUSIC "Sylvia," or "The Nymph of Diana," was performed on the same stage on the 14th of June, 1876. The scenario of the old pastoral kind, which had years ago delighted the gay courts of French kings, was based on Tasso's poem, "Aminta," a poem of Arcadia, an im- possible land where nymphs, shepherdesses, fauns, satyrs, and goddesses run about in engaging attire. Characteristic of the grace and charming instrumenta- tion of Delibes are the piquant "Les Chasseuresses " ("The Huntresses") and the festive "Cortege de Bacchus" ("Procession of Bacchus"). " Les Chasseuresses " and " Cortege de Bacchus " Played by the French Symphony Orchestra (Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire) Columbia Record A 6090 It was truly remarked by contemporaneous critics that Delibes had been almost the first to write ballet music which, while it fitted the stage situation exactly and gave the dancers the most agreeable opportunities, also stood by itself on the concert platform. So with the music of "Sylvia," which has long held an honorable place on orchestral programs. Delibes produced many operettas, songs, choral works, and two operas comiques, "Jean de Nivelle" and "Lakme 1 ," produced at the Opera Comique, April 14, 1883. The book of "Lakme," by Goudinet and Gille, was founded on the story, "Le Mariage de Loti" ("The Marriage of Loti''). The scene is India under English rule. Gerald and Frederick, young officers, are wander- ing about with friends, when Gerald, stopping to sketch a scene in front of a Brahmin temple, sees Lakme, the beautiful daughter of Nilakantha. Love at first sight! Nilakantha, enraged, stabs the Englishman. In the forest Lakme nurses Gerald, who is badly wounded. Gerald is inclined to think the world well lost for love, and Lakme has departed in search of a drug which, ac- 178 THE LURE OF MUSIC cording to Indian legend, makes love eternal, when Frederick appears on the scene, reminds Gerald of his duty to his queen and of the fact that he is engaged to a lady in England. Gerald departs, and Lakme, in despair, poisons herself with an herb that grows in the forest. The music of this work is not "deep," but it has a charming and unique color. There is in it something of the exotic beauty and fantasy of the designs one might see on an Oriental fan or object of art, a work not to be taken too seriously, but to be enjoyed. The "Bell Song" derives its name because of the com- poser's use of bells to characterize the appearance of Lakme, in the attire of a dancing girl. Only Delibes could have written this graceful and semi-Oriental melody, in which the flavor of the East qualifies in a charming manner a brilliant and popular display piece for the soprano voice. "Lakme" was written with special thought of the voice of Marie van Zandt, an American soprano from Texas, whose art Delibes greatly admired. When she slightly changed the notes of a certain passage he first objected, then said: "Very well, sing it your own way. I really think your version is better than mine." " Bell Song " from " Lakme " " Ou va la jeune Hindoue " (" Where goes the Hindu maiden ") Sung by Florence Macbeth Columbia Record A 6189 The barytone air, "Lakme, ton doux regard," is in a broader and more dramatic style than most of the music of the opera. It is sung in the same scene as that in which Lakme sings the "Bell Song." Edouard de Reszke used to sing it with such emotion and art that he made noble the character of Nilakantha. " Lakme, ton doux regard " (" Lakme, how sad your glance ") Sung by Hector Dufranne Columbia Record A 5444 179 THE LURE OF MUSIC Delibes wrote "Lakme" perched up in the highest story of one of the crowded houses of the Rue de Rivoli. "His study," wrote a correspondent, "is not much longer than what in America is called a hall bedroom. It contains a small upright piano, two or three tables loaded with books and music, besides a wide, unpainted board supported by crossed legs." "Lakme" was com- posed in that room and on that table. In 1881, on the death of Henri Reber, Delibes became professor of composition at the Conservatoire, and in 1884 a member of the Academic. He was never a rich man. He lived a simple and industrious life and worked harder for his pupils than he ever did for himself. He was a gay fellow who never grew old; six feet tall, with thick hair and blond beard and a laugh that shook the rafters. Offenbach found one day, in rehearsal of one of his own works, that in some strange manner a solo for the big bass drum had been written into the orches- tral parts. No one could tell how it came there. There was one answer Delibes. He was a born wag. It is recalled that Delibes and his friend, Philippe Gille, used to follow Meyerbeer about the streets of Paris with audible compliments and exaggerated homage. Meyerbeer would turn and salute the pair with extreme politeness, taking them for a couple of newspaper-men, for whom the composer of "Les Huguenots" entertained a respect not unmixed with fear! One evening at Gille's house Delibes was playing frag- ments of his new opera, "Kassya," and tumbling about with Gille's son, Victor, who was Delibes's godchild, when he seemed exhausted and lay down on a couch. He did not rise through the evening. "You know I am all here. It may look to you that I am sleeping, but I am listening to everything that is going on." The next morning, when on his way to his classes at the Conserva- toire, he was taken suddenly ill on the street, and died. 180 THE LURE OF MUSIC By his exquisite ballets Delibes will be long remem- bered. In them he revivified the past in a modern manner and also anticipated the succeeding period in which, thanks largely to him, the French ballet came to its full glory. "The scores of 'Sylvia' and 'Cop- pelia,' " wrote Alfred Bruneau, the French critic and composer, "beautiful, distinctive, spiritual, singing, luminous, lively, full of all sorts of ingenuities of rhythm, melody, harmony, and orchestration, are the ravishing jewels which, in the museum of our treasure-house, oc- cupy a niche of their own." GEORGES BIZET r I iHE composer of "Carmen," to-day one of the most J[ popular and brilliant of all operas, died young and broken-hearted at the apparent failure of his masterpiece. Madame Galli-Mari6, who took the title role, was shuffling the cards in the scene in which Carmen foresees her death only a few hours from the time he passed away. Bizet inherited his prodigious talent. His mother was an admirable pianist, sister-in-law of Delsarte, of physical-culture fame. His father commenced life as an artisan, but so loved music that he became a pro- fessional musician at the age of twenty-five. He often repented the early years spent in an uncongenial trade; he dreamed of what he might have been if he had had an earlier start. But there was his child, born with genius, knowing in his boyhood what the father had given years and the very blood of his heart to learn! "Alexandre Cesar Leopold" he was named at his christening, but he quickly became "Georges" for short. He was born in Paris, October 25, 1838. At ten he entered the Conservatoire, took prize after prize, and made every one love him. He was gay, impetuous, hot- hearted. He had a shock of yellow hair, firm features, a strong body, a ringing laugh. The sweetness of his mouth balanced the mischievous sparkle of his eyes. He was near-sighted, even then, and a tremendous worker. Bizet won the Prix de Rome in 1857 with his cantata, "Clovis et Clothilde." In Rome he spent his happiest years. In Rome he dreamed the dreams that never 182 BIZET, 1838-1875 THE LURE OF MUSIC came true. He wrote his mother that he intended to make one hundred thousand francs as soon as he re- turned to Paris. It was simple! Two successes at the Opera Comique, and neither of his parents would have to teach. With one hand he fought circumstances ; with the other he held aloft the banner of the ideal. Bizet was accused on certain occasions of writing down to the popular taste. The wonder is that with all his trials he produced so much great art. And there is such a thing, as he proved in his "Carmen," as writing, not "down," but "up" to the finest sensibilities of the public. When Bizet returned to Paris his mother was on her death-bed. He had no money. He found music, in his own words, "a splendid art, but a sad trade." He did hack work of all kinds. He gave piano lessons, com- posed for dances, and wrote music for hire. Count Waleswki had bestowed on the Theatre Lyrique a subsidy of one hundred thousand francs, on condition that a new work by a winner of the Prix de Rome be mounted each season. Bizet was the first to benefit by this agreement. His opera was "Les Pecheurs de Perles" ("The Pearl Fishers"). It was produced on the 29th of September, 1863. The libretto is the work of Carre and Cormon. The Ceylonese pearl-fishers choose a virgin priestess who is to call down the blessings of Brahma on their perilous undertakings. When Leila, the priestess, appears, she is recognized by Nadir and Zurga as the beautiful and unknown maiden whom they once beheld before a tem- ple in the forest. The duet in which this incident is recalled is one of the finest passages in the opera. It was sung with sacred text at Bizet's funeral. It dis- plays advantageously his gift as a melodist and a writer for the voice. But it is rather in the exotic coloring of certain passages that one encounters the later Bizet. 183 THE LURE OF MUSIC The comrades had vowed never to allow a woman to come between them and had hurried from the spot. But neither has forgotten. Recalling the past, Nadir sings of the day that he first saw Leila, as in a dream. " Mi par d'udire ancora " (" Methinks again I hear ") Sung by Florencio Constantino Columbia Record 30466 Nadir is unable to restrain his passion for the priestess. They flee. It is the generous Zurga, at the price of his own life, who makes their escape possible. The public found this opera disturbing in its novelty, and only eighteen performances were given. A letter that Gounod wrote Bizet at this time would be sound advice for any man, whether composing or driving rivets in ships: "Do not hurry under pretense that you are pressed. Bring your work to maturity as if you had twice the time, only work without interruption; that was the system of the tortoise and it defeated the hare." Bizet's second opera was "La Jolie Fille de Perth" ("The Fair Maid of Perth"), which, produced at the Theatre Lyrique, December 26, 1867, had a short run. "Djamileh," an Oriental one-act piece, in which, to quote Mr. Philip Hale, "the three comedians should be seen as in an opium dream," was given without success at the Opera Comique, May 22, 1872; but the two works in which Bizet, artistically speaking, came into his own were "L'Arlesienne," in which he wrote the incidental music for the drama by Daudet, and the opera "Carmen." Carvalho, manager of the Vaude- ville, wished to revive the form of the melodrama the drama with musical accompaniment and commen- tary. He asked Daudet and Bizet to collaborate, as a result of which two very wonderful talents, essen- tially typical of the best in the French art of their period, thought and felt as one. 184 THE LURE OF MUSIC The heroine of "L'Arlesienne" ("The Woman of Aries"), after whom the drama is named, never appears on the stage. This was a subtlety which disappointed audiences of the day, eager to see the woman who wrought the destruction of the youth, Frederi. Dis- covering her infamy, he tried in vain to forget her. His mother wished him to marry the faithful Vivette, who loved him well. This affection Frederi could not return. On the very night of their betrothal, while the peasants danced the farandole in the courtyard, he destroyed himself. Marvelous is the reflection, in Bizet's score, of those calm and pastoral scenes in southern France which form the background for the play of the terrible passions of the human race. In the prelude to "L'Arlesienne" Bizet uses with superb effect the ancient Noel, or Christmas song, of Provence, "The March of the Three Kings." This is an air of great antiquity, and one of the finest folk- tunes in existence. In its original form it narrates the journey of the kings who go to lay their treasures at the feet of the Infant Jesus. At first it is played "in unison" by the instruments of the orchestra without chords to accompany the melody. The inspired ada- gietto, a passage of simple and sublime tenderness, accompanies in the drama the meeting, after many years, of the shepherd Balthazar and Mother Renaud. These two figures are introduced with the utmost skill and poetry by the dramatist as a foil to the agony of Frederi. Balthazar loved Mother Renaud, when both were young, as fiercely, perhaps, as Frederi the woman of Aries, but Renaud belonged to another, and she and her shepherd through long, empty years kept faith. Prelude and Adagietto from " L'Arlesienne " Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 5559 185 THE LURE OF MUSIC The Farandole of disputed origin is a very old Pro- vengal dance, coming probably from ancient Greece. It is vigorous and joyous in character. Bizet has treated this form with extraordinary skill and in a truly primitive spirit. The orchestra's announcement of the dance is preceded by a crashing version of "The March of the Three Kings," already heard in the prelude. In the last measures, while the Farandole tune whirls in the upper registers of the orchestra, the brass, underneath, shout out the theme of the march. Farandole from 2d L'Arlesienne Suite Played by the French Army Band (Garde de la Republique) Columbia Record A 6114 "L'Arlesienne" was given its first performance at the Vaudeville, Paris, October 1, 1872. In 1873 Bizet married Genevieve Halevy, daughter of Ludovic Halevy, Bizet's old teacher at the Conservatoire. Whether through Halevy's influence or the undirected choice of Leuven and Du Locle, then directors of the Opera Comique, Bizet was commissioned to write a work for that institution. He experimented with various sub- jects and at last chose that of "Carmen," after the novel of Prosper Merimee. The libretto was prepared by Halevy and Meilhac. It did not follow the original tale too closely. The figure of Micaela, Jose's fiancee, for instance, does not appear at all in Merimee's story. She is introduced in the opera to afford a dramatic con- trast to the figure of Carmen; for the managers of the Opera Comique were by this time sufficiently alarmed by the subject of Bizet's choice. Said Leuven: "Carmen? Merimee's Carmen? Isn't she assassi- nated by her lover? And this crowd of thieves, gipsies, cigar girls! At the Opera Comique! A family theater! A theater for the promotion of marriages! We rent five or six boxes every night for these meetings of voung couples. You are going to put our audience to flight. No, it's impossible." Leuven retired from the direction of the Opera Comique before "Carmen" was given. Du Locle was the manager when the opera was performed, March 3, 1875. Jose (Act I), a young lieutenant of the guards on duty in Seville, is seen by Carmen, the cigarette girl, the gipsy, the wanton. Piqued by his indifference, she pursues him. She sings a love-song, dances before him, and at last throws a rose which hits him "like a bullet" in the heart. " Habanera " from " Carmen " " L'amour est un oiseau rebelle " (" Love is as a woodbird wild ") Sung by Maria Gay Columbia Record A 5279 Sung by Jeanne Gordon Columbia Record 49858 This song is not the melody Bizet originally composed for the entrance of Carmen on the stage. Madame Galli-Marie wanted something different from his first effort, something in which she could display all her charms. Bizet tried twelve times to suit her. Only at the thirteenth effort did he succeed, with an old Spanish tune which had already been used by the composer Yradier. The "Habanera" from "Carmen" is not, then, the original invention of Bizet, nor yet of Yradier, but of a singer unknown, whose melody fas- cinated more than one composer. Jose, engaged to the fair-haired Micaela, cannot for- get the smiles and the disturbing glances of the gipsy. She is arrested, and he is commanded to take her to jail. But the gipsy, full of wiles, sings of her love for the young soldier whom she would fain meet at the inn of Lillas Pastia in the mountains, and Jose, as wax in the hands of the woman, forgets faith, honor, every- thing for her. She escapes, and for disobeying orders he is cast into prison. 15 187 THE LURE OF MUSIC At the inn of Lillas Pastia (Act II), a resort of thieves, cutthroats, and toss-pots of the countryside, Carmen is besieged by her admirers. Among them is Zuniga, Jose's superior officer. Soon comes Escamillo, the swag- gering toreador, to shouts of welcome and acclamation. Carmen is much interested, and Escamillo is not un- mindful of his good fortune. At first for the company, but later for her at her he sings of the bull-ring, of the shouts of the excited crowd, and the prowess of the toreador. Toreador's Song from " Carmen " " Votre toast je peux vous le rendre " (" To you, hearty greeting ") Sung by Jose Mardones Columbia Record A 6095 Carmen coquets with him. Escamillo and the com- pany depart. Carmen is asked to join a smuggling expedition. She refuses. "The reason? I'm in love." She expects Jose, who even now comes singing up the valley. Carmen welcomes him. Carmen caresses him. Car- men dances for him as only she can dance. Then sounds the note of the trumpet, clear and penetrating, between the click of the castanets, summoning Jose to duty. The gipsy, in a royal rage, tells him to choose the garrison or the love of Carmen. Jose takes from his breast the rose for w T hich he bartered a soldier's honor, the flower which has been his one consolation since the time of his disgrace, and implores her to have mercy. "Flower Song" from "Carmen" Sung by Charles Hackett (In Italian) Columbia Record 49947 Carmen is touched by this, but will not relent. Jose sadly gathers up his arms and is about to go when, as the devil will have it, there is a knock on the door, and 188 THE LURE OF MUSIC his superior, Zuniga, is before him. Jose is ordered arrogantly to return at once to the barracks, but mili- tary rule and the rivalry of two men for a woman are different things. Swords are drawn. The men are fighting when Carmen calls in her comrades. Zuniga is disarmed, and Jose, outlawed, casts his lot with Carmen and her people. But Carmen (Act III) soon commences to tire of her soldier. He is over-scrupulous, serious, melancholy, and possessive. The gipsy will always be free. The great moment of the third act is the card scene, man- aged with equal dexterity by composer and librettists. On one side of the camp-fire sits Carmen with cards, on the other two prattling girls, Frasquita and Mercedes. The light-hearted gaiety of their song contrasts power- fully with the somber music heard as Carmen picks up the deck and throws a spade. Death! She throws again. Once more a spade. And a last time. Again the black omen. For a moment, gazing into the future, the gipsy is face to face with destiny. Then she turns petulantly to join the tribe in a new adventure. Card Scene from " Carmen " " La morte! j'ai bien lu " (" To die! So it stands ") Sung by Maria Gay Columbia Record A 5279 Jose is left to guard the pass. Micaela steals in, frightened at these surroundings, with a sad message. She puts her trust in God to protect her in this perilous place, where she has come to find the faithless one. This is the occasion for her melodious song, "Je dis que rien" ("I say that no fear shall deter me")/ Micaela's Air from " Carmen " " Je dis que rien " (" I fear no evil ") Sung by Hulda Laschanska Columbia Record 49516 189 THE LURE OF MUSIC A shot! Jose and the toreador descend the pass from opposite sides, the toreador with a hole in his hat. Discovering that they are rivals, they fight. Again the gipsies intervene, this time to protect Escamillo. Carmen shows plainly her new infatuation. There is a violent scene, and Jose consents to leave only when Micaela tells him that his mother is dying. The cur- tain falls. We have waited until now to describe the music of the prelude to "Carmen." This music is heard at the beginning of the opera and again with easily recog- nizable alterations as the introduction to the last act. It is prophetic of the development of the drama. The opening strain is founded on the rhythm of the march of the cuadrillas. Later comes the song of the toreador. The dance returns. Suddenly it breaks off; there is a moment of silence, more expressive than the playing of a dozen orchestras, after which the 'cellos intone one of the most dramatic motives in all music a motive of five notes, savage, foreboding, an outcry of passion, which, repeated, warns the hearer of Carmen's tragic end. Here, in two measures, is the epitome of the tragedy. The prelude is followed in the record hereafter to be noted by another no less brief and remarkable example of Bizet's genius the intermezzo which pre- cedes the fourth act. It is difficult to overestimate the originality of this little piece. One hears successively the banging of instruments of percussion, the plucking of strings, and the strange song of a clarinet ghostly, sinister, a melody which is as a disembodied voice of the desert. There is a passionate reply from other instru- ments of the orchestra, after which the unearthly mel- ody is heard again. "This music," said Nietzsche, who, turning from Wagner, exulted in the genius of "Carmen," "is wicked, subtle, and fatalistic. It re- mains popular at the same time. Its gaiety is African; 190 THE LURE OF MUSIC destiny hangs over it; its happiness is short, sudden, and without forgiveness." Prelude and Intermezzo from " Carmen " Played by Columbia Symphony Orchestra (Conductor, Felix Wein- gartner) Columbia Record A 5559 The end of the drama conies quickly. The day of the bull-fight! Spanish women, flaunting their finery, like birds-of -paradise, in the square of Seville! Cavaliers no less gaily attired! The cries of the venders! The laughter of street urchins, and a sun which inflames the blood all these things are in the pounding music of Bizet. A shout of welcome, and the glittering pageant files into the ring; the solemn, black-robed alguazil, representative of the law; a cuadrilla of Toreros; chulos; banderilleros; picadors; and lastly, with Carmen on his arm, the toreador. A moment, the last the gipsy will ever know of love and languor, and he leaves her to enter the bull-ring. Carmen is warned by her companions. Jose is lurking about, more a mad animal than a man, with death in his eyes. He approaches and desperately implores Carmen to return to him. She draws his ring from her finger and flings it in his face. Jose, seeing red, strikes her to the ground. And he cries, as she falls: " I have killed you. Oh, my Carmen, my Carmen, whom I adored!" GIACOMO PUCCINI A GREAT success is often the result of many fail- ures. Giacomo Puccini, composer of "La Bo- heme," "Tosca," "Madam Butterfly," and other of the most popular operas of the present day, is a case in point. In his youth Puccini, born at Lucca, June 22, 1858, was a disappointment to every one. He failed in school. He failed when an uncle tried to make a singer of him. Even "Madam Butterfly," per- haps the most popular of all his operas, failed at its initial performance. But Puccini had two things powerfully in his favor: a bulldog tenacity of purpose and inability to know when he was beaten, and a mother who believed in him from the bottom of her soul. She pinched and saved that he might have the necessary training in his art. Her faith was unwavering. Puccini's ancestors had been musi- cians for generations. There was music in him. He loved it, and some day it would come out. He was her son. Puccini passed through the hands of several teachers, who could do nothing with him. Finally he found a congenial guide in Angeloni, an old musician, a former colleague of his father, who seemed to have some under- standing of the boy. Angeloni secured Puccini a posi- tion as organist in a little church of Lucca, the town of his birth, and Puccini promptly got into trouble with the church authorities. This came about because he was fond of weaving into the solemn musical service favorite airs from the popular operas of the day. What was worse, the congregation seemed to enjoy it, until 192 PUCCINI, 1858 THE LURE OF MUSIC respectability claimed its own and the church authori- ties put a stop to the mischief. It is to be feared that Puccini was not regarded as a model citizen. He drifted along until he heard a performance of Verdi's "Alda," which awakened him to a realization of his purpose in life. He then decided to go to Milan and learn how to compose operas. There were no funds available, but his mother con- trived to gain audience of Queen Margherita of Italy, and the queen, who became the lifelong friend of the composer, agreed to supply the means for two years' study in Milan. Arrived at Milan, Puccini, true to form, failed in his entrance examinations for the Conservatory. The next year he passed every other applicant and entered the famous institution with flying colors. Astonishing to relate, he soon succeeded in getting a capriccio for orchestra approved by his teachers and performed by the Conservatory band. Astonishing, in the first place, because he succeeded in something at a first attempt, and, secondly, because it is unknown to this day how he found any one with the patience to read his manu- script. The Puccini manuscripts were then, and are now, miracles of illegibility. Puccini's teacher in composition was Amilcare Pon- chielli, the composer of "La Gioconda," the teacher and mentor of many of the young Italian musicians of the day, who encouraged his pupil to write a first opera, "Le Villi" (Milan, 1884). This opera turned out to be of little value, but if luck had been against Puccini in the early stages of his career it was with him now. "Le Villi" attracted the attention of Giulio Ricordi, head of the Ricordi firm of music-publishers in Italy, which is one of the most powerful music cor- porations of modern times. Ricordi believed he saw in "Le Villi" the makings of a great composer whom 193 THE LURE OF MUSIC lie decided to secure at once. He paid Puccini two hundred dollars for "Le Villi," and four hundred dol- lars for a second opera, "Edgar" (Milan, 1889), which was not much better than the first. With this money Puccini paid a restaurant bill and other debts of long standing, took the cheapest lodgings in the student quarter of Milan, and laid the real foundations of his career. It was in these circumstances that he com- posed his third opera, "Manon Lescaut" (produced at Turin, February 1, 1893), after the romance of the Abbe Prevost, an opera which wholly vindicated the judgment of Ricordi and placed Puccini in the front rank of the young Italian composers of the day. But Puccini had yet to write his most beautiful and inspired work, "La Boheme" (Turin, February 1, 1896), the libretto by Illica and G. Giacosa, after the celebrated novel, La Vie de Boheme of Henri Murger. He now lived in one room in the Bohemian quarter of Milan he and his brother and a friend. For this room the trio paid six dollars a montb. There they cooked their meals over a lamp, and the story goes that Puccini had to play the piano loudly to drown the sound of eggs siz- zling in the pan a proceeding forbidden by the land- lord. This landlord reappears, large as life, in the opera. He often examined the students' daily mail before he gave it to them, in order to deduct, when possible, the sum of his monthly rental. The boys smuggled in their fuel in a lawyer's black bag, which the most dignified of the three gravely carried through the streets, pre- tending that he was on some professional mission. A daily diary preserves entries of the daily expenses, which were mainly for coffee, tobacco, milk, and, in one place, a herring! Reminded of this in a later year, Puccini laughed and said: "Ah, yes, I remember. That was a supper for four!" Glorious days, when all worked mightily, lived on 194 THE LURE OF MUSIC next to nothing, and fell in love with the pretty girls of the quarter! All this became warp and woof of "La Boheme." The form of "La Boheme" is somewhat similar to that of "Manon Lescaut." Only two of the scenes hinge closely together. A joyous racket in the orches- tra, the curtain flies up, and there are the immortal Bohemians two of them at least Rodolphe, the poet, and Marcel, the painter, enemies of propriety, dressed as the choicer spirits still dress on the fourteenth day of July in the Latin Quarter of Paris, and, of course, starving. Rodolphe's epic is burned to keep the fire going. But Schaunard, the musician, comes in armed with food and money. High festival by the Bohemians ! The landlord demands his rent, is first flattered, then bullied, then thrust from the room. The comrades of Rodolphe go out. Then conies the moment in the whis- pering orchestra oh, might it tarry with us! when Mimi, the little seamstress over the way, opens the door. The girl is pretty, not too proud, and the moon is shining through the dusty window-pane a dangerous situa- tion, indeed, for a young poet with an article to finish for his paper. Not accidentally, perhaps, Mimi's can- dle blows out and she drops her door-key. Searching for it, the two touch hands, and are soon lost to the world. It is here that Rodolphe sings his romantic solo, be- ginning "Che gelida manina" ("Your tiny hand"), and, continuing, "Sono un poeta" ("I am a poet"), a glori- ous melody of youth and love, a true lineal descendant, in its long, rapturous phrases, of the melodies of Italian composers of an early period. " Che gelida manina " (" Your tiny hand is frozen ") Sung by Charles Hackett Columbia Record 49645 195 THE LURE OF MUSIC Mimi answers, in music of charming simplicity and feeling, that she embroiders flowers in her little attic, and they make her happy by telling her secrets of love and the springtime such as only poets know. And so on the conversation of idiots, as all such con- versations should be. The text, certainly, is better than the texts which rhymed '^amore" with "dolore" and completely satisfied Puccini's operatic forebears. But a composer could write music in this place, with no words at all! The conclusion of this act is a moment of exquisite poetry. Rodolphe persuades the pretty girl to join him and his comrades at supper, shadows take possession of the dirty old studio, and the voices of the two lovers float back over the orchestra as they descend the rickety stairs. Puccini has been accused, in other operas, of having written with one eye on the gallery and the other on the box-office. Here, at least, he lives again the Arcadian days of his youth; he looks into Mimi's eyes, he presses her hand, and writes that which, as long as his music endures, will set youth and age a-dreaming. Youth, dreams, these are the wonder of "La Boheme." There are other Puccini operas. There are "Tosca" and "Madam Butterfly," very famous. There is the imma- ture but vigorously dramatic "Manon Lescaut." There are later works, already aging. The world will listen longest to the music of dreams that do not come again. "The Bohemians," says Miirger, "always went about together, played together, dined together, often without paying the bill, yet always with a beautiful harmony worthy of the Conservatoire orchestra." In the second act they dine at the Cafe Momus, Mimi and Rodolphe seeing little of the bustle and sraiety of the scene before them, Marcel dejected and distrait. His Musette has deserted him for a banker whose voice, though cracked, is golden. And here she comes, full sail in silks and 196 THE LURE OF MUSIC furbelows, leaning on the arm of her elderly adorer and regarding her old friends through a lorgnette as one would contemplate the inferior beings of some distant planet. She eyes Marcel and sings a song that would work mischief in the breast of Saint Anthony. Musette's Waltz Song, from " La BohSme " " Quando me'n vo' " ("As through the street") Sung by Margaret Romaine Columbia Record A 2846 Youth triumphs over age and wealth. Like two mag- nets, amid the noisy crowd, Marcel and Musette draw nearer each other. Musette makes a fuss over her shoe, which, she says, hurts her; her banker hurries off to find relief, and when he comes back his bird has flown. Musette, half -shod, has rejoined the Bohemians. The course of love, however, did not run smooth. Mar- cel (Act III) and Musette undertook to manage an inn at a gate of Paris. All went well until she began to flirt with the customers and drove him nearly mad with her ca- prices. Rodolphe quarreled with Mimi. There were tears, reconciliations, avowals, which only preceded fresh disagreements. Mimi developed an alarming cough. This is the substance of the first three acts. In all his lifetime Puccini did nothing to surpass the simple eloquence and pathos of the final scenes. Winter in very truth has descended on the Bohemians cold, hun- gry, back in their garret, and jesting miserably in order to hide misgivings. The faithless Mimi and Musette have disappeared. Marcel and Rodolphe sing a dole- ful but melodious duet. Suddenly arrives Musette, with the news that Mimi is on the landing below, out of breath, and unable to climb the stairs. They bring her in, they lay her on Rodolphe's hard, ragged bed, to die. There is need of food, medicine, money. Musette takes off her jewels, 197 THE LURE OF MUSIC presents of her latest admirer; Colline removes his old coat, companion of how many trials, consoler of how many sad hours. To the pawnbroker! Farewell to the brave garment! It never bowed to rich or great. It sheltered in its pockets poets and philosophers. This scene is the true climax of the opera, the summit of the composer's art. How he could have wept and wailed! But Puccini dares o be supremely artistic, dispensing completely with what is merely theatrical. A very few instruments, a fragment of a melody, touch- ingly reminiscent of happier days, make poignant the idyl and tragedy of youth and days gone by. Puccini's next opera was the grim and realistic "Tosca." His music emphasizes the force and terror of the drama. Critics have marveled at the effectiveness of his music for the theater. One reason for Puccini's proficiency in this field is his eminently practical method of composition. Puccini uses a miniature cardboard stage, on which are reproductions of the scenes as they are to be set and acted. He moves figures on and off, studies each situation, each position of his characters, and times his climaxes as carefully as a general, in advance of an offensive, would time the movements of his men. The libretto of "Tosca," based on the drama which Sardou wrote for Sarah Bernhardt, is by Luigi Illica and G. Giacosa. The period is 1800, when Rome cow- ered under the lash of autocratic tyranny. The Baron Scarpia, chief of police, rapacious, hypocritical, cruel, has cast his eyes on the beautiful actress, La Tosca. Her lover, Cavaradossi, an artist, shelters the escaped political prisoner, Angelotti. Scarpia, pursuing An- gelotti, tortures Cavaradossi when he refuses to betray his friend, the while demanding of Tosca that she shall yield herself if she wishes to save the life of her lover. Tosca, maddened past endurance by the groans of 198 THE LURE OF MUSIC Cavaradossi, which issue from the torture-chamber, gives her promise. But first, she insists, a passport for her and Cavaradossi to enable them to leave Rome. When Scarpia has written the passport Tosca kills him with a knife. Escaping from the room without detection, she hurries to tell her lover, imprisoned and awaiting execution in the adjoining tower, that he is saved. Scarpia, on the promise of Tosca's favor, had assured her that Cavaradossi's execution should be a mock one blank cartridges. Instead, the execution is real. Cavaradossi falls dead. There sound from below the cries of the soldiers who have discovered the murder of Scarpia. Hurrying to avenge their chief, they are just in time to behold Tosca, shrieking her defiance, hurl herself from the tow r er to destruction on the stones far below. As in "La Boheme," there is no orchestral prelude to this opera save three loud, violent chords, heard as the curtain rises, and associated with the thought of Scarpia. The curtain reveals the interior of the church of Sant' Andrea del Valle. Cavaradossi is painting a Madonna, to whom he has given "the dusky glow" of his black- eyed Tosca, and the blue eyes and golden hair of an- other. Mystery of art, he exclaims, which blends the beauty of his glorious Tosca and all others of her sex in one ideal conception. This is the occasion for Cavara- dossi's first solo in Puccini's characteristic melodic vein. " Recondita armonia " (" Strange harmony ") Sung by Hipolito Lazaro Columbia Record 48750 The Baron Scarpia dines (Act LT) at the Farnese Palace. He summons Cavaradossi, then Tosca, and before the eyes of the woman her lover is led into the torture-chamber. With a malevolence equal to his out- ward courtesy Scarpia questions Tosca, who, maddened, 199 THE LURE OF MUSIC springs to her feet "Assassin! How much?" Scarpia laughs. "My enemies have called me venal, greedy of gold." The price? Nothing less than Tosca herself, who must surrender to the tyrant, if Cavaradossi is to live. Scarpia's passion is only inflamed by the disgust and abhorrence with which his victim receives his pro- posal. This increases her fascination for him and his pleasure in merciless brutality. Outside sound the drums w r hich will lead Cavaradossi to his execution. Tosca kneels to make her prayer. It is the most popular melody in the opera. "My life I've lived for love and art. I have not harmed a human being. Father in heaven, do not forsake me now." " Vissi d'arte e d'amor " (" For love and art I've lived ") Sung by Emmy Destinn Columbia Record A 5587 Cavaradossi (Act III), condemned to be executed at dawn in the tower, is writing a last farewell to Tosca. To a sobbing Italian melody he remembers the shining stars and the faint perfume of flowers on another night when he clasped her in his arms. " E lucevan le stelle " (" Then shone forth the stars ") Sung by Giovanni Zenatello Columbia Record A 5359 "Tosca" was first performed in Rome, January 14, 1900. How much is a composer to be identified with his music? Puccini did not compose "Tosca" with a dag- ger in one hand and a bottle of Caesar Borgia poison in the other. Quite the contrary! There is a page of the manuscript score of "Tosca" in which the musician, apparently at a stop in his inspiration or momen- tarily tired of his task, sketched a skull, cross-bones, and a rooster. When the opera was in process of com- *<, THE LURE OF MUSIC position Sardou urged Puccini to play him the music. Puccini did not wish to show his score until it was com- pleted. But something was due the author of Tosca, and the composer's wits relieved the situation. He sat down at the piano, and improvised such balderdash as came into his head at the moment. Sardou was enchanted ! Puccini's fourth important opera was "Madam Butterfly." The origin of the story by John Luther Long and of the play in which he collaborated with David Belasco was the tale of Pierre Loti, "Madame Chrysantheme." She was a real person who loved Loti when he was in Japan, though not too seriously. Saying farewell, she dropped into the water a yellow chrysanthemum. But Madam Butterfly, or Cio-Cio- San, as she was called by her own people, was more in earnest when she married Lieutenant Pinkerton, of the United States Navy, forsook her gods for him, and fancied that he had taken her for good and all. When Pinkerton left her she waited patiently for him to re- turn, as he had promised, and see his child. Only when Pinkerton touched for a day at the harbor of Nagasaki, with an American wife on his arm, did Butter- fly realize the truth. Preferring "to die with honor when one cannot live without dishonor," she ended her life with the dagger which, at command of the Mikado, her father had used to end his. Composing this opera, Puccini not only made use of some characteristically Japanese melodies, but also quoted from "The Star-spangled Banner" during the conversation of Pinkerton and Sharpless, the American consul, in the first act. Pinkerton tells Sharpless of the charm of his new plaything, Cio-Cio-San, to whom he is to be wedded, with Japanese ceremonies, this after- noon. Butterfly and her guests approach in the distance, Butterfly leading them and singing as she ccir.cs nearer. 16 201 THE LURE OF MUSIC For this moment Puccini evolved a peculiarly beautiful and exotic passage of harmony. If chords could be said to have fragrance, it would be true of this music. " Ancora un passo " (" One step more ") Sung by Alice Nielsen Columbia Record A 5250 The wedding ceremony is scarcely over when Butter- fly's uncle, the priest of the temple, denounces her for faithlessness to her gods. Pinkerton dismisses him. Evening falls. The little cottage glows with light, and down toward the harbor a thousand twinkling lanterns seem to mirror the stars in the sky, while Butterfly and Pinkerton sing passionately of their love. Their duet is the longest flight of melody in the opera, for the score, with a few exceptional passages, is a mosaic of short motives which off-set action and rapid conversa- tion on the stage. Puccini, past master of the modern Italian realistic school, can set any situation to music. In the second act Butterfly is waiting for Pinkerton. "One fine day," she sings, a line of smoke will be seen in the sky, a cannon will boom in the harbor, and the ship cast anchor. Butterfly will hide, as Pinkerton approaches, to tease him a little and that her heart may not break for joy. In the first act Butterfly is a girl. Her song of the second act comes from the heart of a woman. " Un bel di " (" One fine day ") Sung by Rosa Ponselle Columbia Record 49571 Sung by Tamaki Miura, soprano Columbia Record 49260 A gun sounds over the water, and through the glasses Pinkerton's ship is seen. Butterfly attires herself in her wedding garments and, with her child by her side, watches through the night for Pinkerton. Exhausted by her vigil, thus far fruitless, she is not present when 202 THE LURE OF MUSIC Pinkerton, with Sharpless, arrives. When she learns the truth the stoicism of her race comes to her aid. She faces stonily the American wife of Pinkerton, and even agrees to give up her child that he may live in the country across the seas. Having dismissed her servant, Suzuki, she takes the dagger from its sheath, kisses the blade, and, as Pinkerton and Sharpless burst in, joins the gods of her fathers. Principal melodies from this opera may be found in the following orchestral arrangement: Selections from " Madam Butterfly " Metropolitan Opera House Orchestra Columbia Record A 6094 "Madam Butterfly" was first performed in 1904 at La Scala, Milan. Puccini came to New York in 1907 to superintend the Metropolitan production, which took place, after previous American productions by Henry Savage, on February llth of that year. One evening he attended a performance of Belasco's "Girl of the Golden West" a play of ranches, "Injuns," "'forty- niners"; a girl bartender for a heroine; a renegade cow T boy for a hero, a sheriff with a silk hat, boiled shirt, and cigar as the villain of the show. At the climax of this drama, Minnie, the bartender, plays poker for the life of her man, who is wounded and helpless in the loft above, and wins. Puccini said he intended to set the play to music. In 1910 he came again to New York, to supervise the first performance in any theater of "The Girl." Puccini was eminently successful in this score in setting to music everything that happened on the stage, such as the galloping of horses, the noise of a storm, etc. He used a melody of the Zufii Indians, a motive in ragtime supposed to portray the baser side of the character of Johnston, the hero, and other themes meant to provide local and historical color. As a 203 THE LURE OF MUSIC tour de force the music surpassed everything Puccini had done before. As an artistic achievement, however, there was a division of opinion, despite the wonders of the orchestration the score is scarcely surpassed in this respect by any modern work and the advanced character of the harmony. What are the things which have made Puccini success- ful and prosperous to a degree seldom attained by a composer? First of all, he has evolved a type of melody, sensuous, long-lined, richly harmonized, which has fas- cinated opera-goers the world over. Secondly, he has a genius for the theater, and is one of the most skilful and progressive musicians of to-day. Puccini works and plays at Torre del Lago, a beau- tiful estate on the shores of a large lake in the mountain- ous regions of northern Italy. This has been his home since his early successes. Here he finished " La Boheme " and "Madam Butterfly." Here he repairs, whether to create an opera or to fish and hunt over the country- side. For Puccini is neither a recluse nor a dreamer. Men and women, the realities of modern life, interest him more than books and theories. The reasons for his popularity are not far to seek. The man who is in touch with the world about him will seldom fail to gain its approbation. PIETRO MASCAGNI THINGS grow quickly in the hot Italian soil, and this is as true of opera as it is of vegetation. To the Italian composer the intellectual toil and travail of the musician of a more northern clime is not only unnatural but often impossible. The Italian either has or has not the inspiration for a lasting work of art. If he has, he does the thing at once, or he is unlikely to do it at all. This is true not only of such composers as Rossini and Bellini, but of younger Italians of the present day. They are gentlemen of "temperament." Exceptions may be noted. But consider the fortunes of Mascagni, composer of "Cavalleria Rusticana" ("Rustic Chiv- alry"), born at Leghorn, December 7, 1863. Pietro Mascagni is the son of an Italian baker, born with genius, who determined, against the wishes of his father, to follow a musical career. He resolved to take lessons secretly. His father discovered this, and Pietro was saved from a mortal beating by a kind-hearted uncle who took him into his house and let him com- pose. The uncle was not thanked for this by his brother, but probably felt recompensed by his pride in hatching a composer. Pietro then attracted the attention of the Count Florestano de Larderel, a wealthy amateur, who paid for his tuition at the Milan Conservatory. At the Con- servatory Pietro was a failure. He had more music in him than concentration or self-control. He would not work with regularity. Being the kind of man who 205 THE LURE OF MUSIC acts first and thinks afterward, he bade his instructors an insolent farewell, left the Conservatory, joined a traveling Italian opera company, married, barnstormed, starved. Defying the butcher, in direst want, he com- peted for a prize offered by the music-publishing house of Sonzogno, finished in eight days the score of "Caval- leria Rusticana," and awoke world-famous. Italian opera audiences are not phlegmatic. They are pleased or ardently displeased. In the latter instance, hisses, catcalls, carrots, riots. In the former, demon- strations of joy and delirium, tears and cheers, the com- poser carried out of the theater on the shoulders of the audience, taken home in a carriage drawn by the en- thusiastic populace instead of beasts of burden, serenades, flowers, pandemonium. But in all the annals of Italian opera there are few occasions which equaled, in the dis- play of popular enthusiasm, the opening performance of "Cavalleria Rusticana" at the Costanzi Theater, at Rome, May 18, 1890. The opera went far beyond Italy. All over the world it was received with open arms. An older man than Mascagni, then in his twenty- seventh year, would have been pardoned for the increase of self -appreciation which has since been his. The drama from which the libretto of "Cavalleria" is made is a story of Sicilian peasant life, by Verga. It was a story of stories to inspire a musician of Mascagni's disposition and tendencies no philosophy, but the tremendous realities of passion. Two peasant women of Italy fight over a man, and the result is a killing. The music did not flow from Mascagni's pen; it ex- ploded like the eruption of a volcano. The story is very simple, like most of the primal things of life. Turiddu, a youth of the village, went to the wars. He was then the lover of Lola. When he returned Lola had become the wife of Alfio, the carter. Turiddu consoled himself with the trusting Santuzza, 206 MASCAGNI, 1863 THE LURE OF MUSIC but in his heart was more than ever smitten with the coquettish and intriguing Lola, as fickle- tempered as him- self. In Mascagni's overture the instruments sigh and moan and exult as they play the prelude in which is expressed the contrasting emotions of the drama, and the curtain rises on the square of a Sicilian village. It is before dawn on Easter Sunday. Turiddu is returning from the wars. His voice is heard coming nearer and singing passionately of the beauty of Lola. Villagers gather in the square. Lucia, mother of Turiddu, questions Santuzza as to his whereabouts. "Hush!" is Santuzza's hurried warning as Alfio appears. She knows the truth too well. Those on the stage kneel to sing the Easter hymn. It is a dramatic passage the swelling chorus of peasants, the responses of the choir in the church, the "asides" of the conscience- stricken Santuzza, imploring pardon for her sin. " Rejoice, for Our Saviour still liveth " Sung in English by Columbia Opera Chorus Columbia Record A 5824 Lucia and Santuzza are alone, and the kindness of Lucia, who resumes her questions about her son, finally wrings from Santuzza the truth. Abandoned and betrayed, she bares her soul. To-day, twenty-two years after its first performance, and wher- ever or however it is interpreted, the music Mascagni found for the Sicilian peasant woman wrings the heart. " Voi lo sapete " (" Well thou knowest ") Sung by Rosa Ponselle Columbia Record 49570 Lucia, overwhelmed by this revelation, goes to pray. Turiddu, coming to meet Lola at the service, is con- fronted by Santuzza. She reproaches him bitterty. He is unyielding. A gay fragment of song heralds the ap- proach of Lola, who exchanges barbed civilities with 207 Santuzza, throws a rose and a languishing glance at her lover, and goes into the church. With an elemental in- tensity, a coarseness of the soil, an abruptness and fury of which only the genius of a Mascagni would be capable, this scene is reflected in the music. Turiddu repulses the woman who clings to him and implores his compassion. " Tu qui Santuzza " (" Thou here, Santuzza ") Sung by Maria Gay and Giovanni Zenatello Columbia Record A 5426 The insulted Santuzza cries as he disappears, "Your Easter shall be bitter; that I swear." Turning, she faces Alfio. She tells him everything, and Alfio vows revenge on the soldier. On this turmoil of passion the curtain falls, and the incomparable intermezzo comes like a cooling breath from the orchestra. What must have been the emotions of the audience which heard this music for the first time! " Intermezzo " from " Cavalleria Rusticana " Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 5871 Played by Kathleen Parlow Columbia Record A 5908 The villagers come from the church, Turiddu and Lola careless of what fate may bring. Turiddu invites the company to drink, as Alfio appears. The men confront each other. Alfio challenges Turiddu. Turiddu, facing his doom, calls to his mother and sobs in her arms like a child. Some have thought the music of Mascagni in this place sentimental. But the Italian peasant is always a child, and it is probable that Mascagni is nowhere truer to nature than the musical accents in which Turiddu cries, "Mamma! mamma!" begs the blessing of Lucia, and wildly confronts his fate. The end comes swiftly, and, for an exception in real- istic opera, off-stage. Distant cries are heard. Excited villagers appear. Alfio has killed Turiddu. To crashing chords of the orchestra the curtain falls. 208 RUGGIERO LEONCAVALLO KJGGIERO LEONCAVALLO, the composer of "Pagliacci," is not only a musician, but a man of considerable literary knowledge, and advanced in his attitude toward his art. He dreamed of composing a trilogy of operas on the subject of the Italian Renais- sance, when Italy was the leader of the world in art, in thought, and in budding republican ideals. He strug- gled with this dream for years, during which he went through the most trying and extraordinary adventures. His funds gave out and he had to make a living as a concert pianist. In this capacity he traveled in Ger- many, Belgium, Holland, Egypt, Turkey, Greece making money here, losing it there, and sketching out the music of the first of the three operas. He was playing in a cafe in Cairo when his uncle, Leoncavallo Bey, as he was called there, secured Rug- giero an invitation to play at the court of the Khedive. He was received with favor and was appointed musician- in-ordinary to the brother of the Egyptian Viceroy. Later, Arabi Pasha promised the composer the position of director of the Egyptian military bands. All would have been well had it not been for the battle of Tel-el- Kebir, in consequence of which the person of the direc- tor of the military bands was no longer safe. It was then, with the quick-wittedness born of despair, that Leoncavallo disguised himself as an Arab and fled to Ismailia, on the back of a camel. Has the reader ever ridden a camel? He should try it, if only to learn all 209 THE LURE OF MUSIC that Leoncavallo, a stout man, underwent on that event- ful night of his career! Leoncavallo was born in Naples, March 8, 1858. His father was Judge-President, and his mother the daughter of a well-known Neapolitan painter. Ruggiero studied at the Naples Conservatory and undertook his first concert tour at the age of sixteen. Having finished the libretto and the music of the first opera of his trilogy, "I Medici," he took the work to the Ricordi publishing-house for sale. Ricordi was pleased with the idea and the poem. A year later the music was completed. Ricordi did not like it and re- fused to perform the opera. Probably he was right. In any case, his indifference sent Leoncavallo over to the rival publishing-house of Sonzogno and to the triumph of his career. The success of "Cavalleria Rusticana" had con- vinced Leoncavallo that for the time, at least, short and realistic operas, rather than vast philosophical music- dramas, would command the attention of the public. He turned from history and philosophy to life itself when he wrote text and music of "Pagliacci" ("Clowns"), which won a sweeping triumph when produced at the Teatro dal Verme, Milan, May 21, 1892. There is shown on the stage a play within a play, the principal characters being members of a wandering troupe of Italian comedians. At first the play is a comedy, but it quickly develops that the passions of the actors are real, not feigned, and the lines spoken on the stage within a stage become the expression of genu- ine emotions which lead to the final tragedy. How truly Leoncavallo had drawn from life was shown when he was accused by Catulle Mendes of hav- ing stolen his plot from Mendes' drama, "La femme de tabarin," a work first performed in 1887. Mendes threatened suit against the composer for infringement 210 LEONCAVALLO, 1858 THE LURE OF MUSIC of copyright. The astonishing fact then developed that Leoncavallo's opera was based on an incident which actually occurred in Calabria in 1865, years before Mendes' drama saw the light. In that year an Italian player killed his wife, during a performance, for actual infidelity too closely resembling the actions, in the drama, of a character she impersonated; and, as fate would have it, the case was brought to trial before the very court over which Leoncavallo's father was pre- siding magistrate! Sentenced to a long term of im- prisonment, the murderer cried out in the court-room: "I do not repent. I would do it again." Leoncavallo added, in his reply to Mendes, that if the dramatist desired he, Leoncavallo, could produce his witness, in the person of the slayer, who had recently completed his term, and was on hand to testify in the composer's defense. The most famous passage in the opera is the prologue, sung by the clown, Tonio, who puts his head through the curtain before it rises and, in song, addresses the audience. To a remarkable accompaniment, now gro- tesque and humorous, now somber and tragic, the clown informs the audience that, although actors may seem to be born only to amuse others with their motley garb and antics, they, too, suffer. "We are men and wom- en," he says, "like yourselves one God, one heaven above us,- one great, lonely world before us. Listen, then, to the story, as it unfolds itself. Come on" he turns about "come on. Ring up the curtain." Prologue from " Pagliacci " Sung by Riccardo Stracciari Columbia Record 49180 The clown disappears. The curtain rises. To the shouts of the villagers the actors enter in a donkey- cart, Canio, the leader of the troupe, beating a drum; 211 THE LURE OF MUSIC Tonio, the misshapen clown, diving about distributing handbills with grotesque buffoonery; Nedda sitting in the cart. The villagers greet them. One suggests to Canio that Tonio looks too kindly on his wife. Canio, honest, impulsive, ardently devoted to her, scouts the idea, though he cannot put it entirely from his mind. There have been several little incidents on the route he laughs, first merrily, and then a trifle bitterly. It would be dangerous, he says, for anyone to try that game, for the stage and life are different things. In the evening they will see a comedy between Harlequin, the lover, Columbine, the wife, Punchinello, the hus- band. In the plot it will pass, but if, in real life, Har- lequin should act so freely, there would be a different ending. The villagers depart to a swinging chorus: Bell Chorus, " Come on, let's go " Sung (in English) by English Opera Chorus Columbia Record A 5924 Nedda is left alone. Tonio makes brutal love to her. She puts a whip across his shoulders. Tonio retreats, vowing vengeance. He has been watching Nedda, and knows she has an admirer hanging about. This admirer now appears Silvio. There is a love-scene as he im- plores Nedda to flee with him. The revengeful Tonio brings Canio to the spot. Canio pursues Silvio, who escapes. Nedda refuses to tell the name of her lover. Canio vows that he will find him, and only the intervention of Beppe, a minor member of the troupe, saves Nedda from his revenge. Beppe, making peace, reminds them that it is time to dress for the play. Canio is as one bereft of reason. He has now to act to laugh, to leap, to be a fool for the people. This is the essence of the tenor aria, "Vesti la giubba" and "Ridi, Pagliacco." "Laugh," 212 THE LURE OF MUSIC shouts the desperate Canio. "Laugh, O player, though sorrow be eating your heart." " Vesti la giubba " ("On with the motley ") Sung by Hipolito Lazaro Columbia Record 49020 The tragedy comes swiftly. At nightfall the villagers gather to see the play. A little stage is set in one cor- ner of the great scene. Nedda is the Columbine; Canio is the supposedly stupid husband, Punchinello; Tonio is the sly lover, Harlequin. Columbina and Harlequin are together, holding high festival, while Punchinello is away. Punchinello is heard approaching. Harlequin disappears. Punchinello demands the name of his wife's admirer, which she refuses to tell. Canio, in his dis- guise, is now talking of his own tragedy, and with such intensity that the audience of peasants is excited to the top pitch of enthusiasm. What acting! Nedda, terror clutching her, sees murder in the eyes of her husband. Suddenly Punchinello seizes a knife on the table and stabs Columbine to the heart. Ap- palled, the villagers realize that this is no comedy, but a fearful crime. The first to rush forward is Silvio, Nedda's lover, who has been one of the audience. Canio turns like a flash, and Silvio also falls. Ganio stares before him; the knife drops from his hand. "The comedv," he says, in an awed voice "the comedy is ended/' Like Mascagni, Leoncavallo remains to the great pub- lic a man of one opera. Many works have come from his pen since "Pagliacci," but none have commanded long-sustained or world-wide attention. Reviewers have spoken highly of Leoncavallo's "La Boheme," a subject which the composer has accused Puccini of stealing from him. Music from the opera, "Roland of Berlin," 17 213 THE LURE OF MUSIC a work Leoncavallo composed at the order of Kaiser Wilhelm, was performed when the musician toured in the United States during the season of 1906-1907. It showed 'that the Kaiser had again overrated his judg- ment. Of the celebrated trio Puccini, Mascagni, and Leoncavallo Puccini seems the only one to have passed the point of his first successes. He is, perhaps, the last and greatest of the Italian realistic school of composers. Younger men whose works show a more poetic and ideal- istic trend are now taking the stage in Italy. JULES FREDERIC MASSENET THE late Jules Frederic Massenet was a man of his time and the world about him. He was not one of those artists who come into existence half a century or more ahead of their period, work for the future, and die misunderstooa or not wanted by the majority. He was an excellent musician, of great and indisputable gifts, an industrious worker who understood the tastes of the public of his day and was capable of artistic re- sponse to them. Massenet came of thrifty middle-class parents. He was born at Monteaux, May 12, 1842. Some Tyrolese peasants, singing to his mother before the birth of her son, prophesied that the child would be a musician. His father was an ironmaster, in his youth an officer under the First Empire, who, after the restoration of the Bourbons, sent in his resignation, established iron- works, and invented a huge hammer of extraordinary power. "So, to the sound of heavy hammers of brass, as the ancient poet says, I was born." The quotation is from Massenet's autobiography. A Vulcan of music, however, he was not destined to be. His music was tender, melodious, sentimental, lending itself well to the purpose of the composer in the many operas in which he sang of woman and love. Thais, Mary Magdalene, Salome, Manon, Griselidis, these and other of the noble dames of history and legend were the heroines and the musical inspiration of Jules Massenet. Massenet's parents were not in easy circumstances. 215 THE LURE OF MUSIC When, as a boy of eleven, he was taken to the Paris Conservatoire, it was necessary to be industrious and thrifty. Jules worked hard at that institution and was broken-hearted when his parents told him, after two years' study, that he would have to return with them to St.-Etienne. Twice he ran away from home and was brought back in a destitute condition. His flights were always in the direction of Paris and the musical institute. His deter- mination impressed his parents so much that they per- mitted him to live with his aunt at the French capital and return to the Conservatoire. Massenet got a chance to play first the triangle and then the kettle-drums in a theater three evenings in the week, at a fee of fifty cents an evening. He also played on Fridays in orchestral concerts at the Cafe Charles. All this was invaluable experience for him. He was growing up in the atmosphere of the playhouse, where he was soon to come into his own. He obtained the Grand Prix in 1863 and left for Rome in the same year. Jules Valles remembered him at this time as "a youth with long blond hair and deep eyes. Though a mere boy, he inspired respect in us by his unremit- ting hard work. He was as regular as a pendulum, sitting down before the piano each day at the same hour." Greatly influenced by the beauty of the Italian country, Massenet ceased to be merely a musician, a specialist in tones. He felt the emotion of art. He came to believe in using the eye as well as the ear in composing. He once cautioned a Swedish student who came to him for lessons to observe his own mountains, fjords, and peasantry. "Out of these you must make music." Saint-Saens thus epitomized the genius of Massenet, "Massenet's Muse is a virtuous personage who does 216 MASSENET, 1842-1912 THE LURE OF MUSIC nothing against her conscience, but she loves to please and she puts flowers in her hair." Massenet did not undergo a long evolution as a com- poser, and some of his happiest inspirations were the products of early years. The "Elegie" is a song taken from he incidental music to Leconte de Lisle's antique drama, "Les Erinnyes" ("The Furies"), composed in 1873. This song, it may be admitted, is not Greek the drama was based on the "Orestia" of ^Eschylus but wholly French in its spirit. Its melancholy has an unexplained charm. It might be a reminiscence of the happy days described in a classic French romance, or painted elegantly on a fan of Watteau, or preserved in the perfume of an old love-letter. " Elegie, " from " Les Erinnyes " Sung by Riccardo Stracciari Violin obligate by Sascha Jacobsen Columbia Record 49333 Massenet produced his first opera, "La Grand Tante," in 1867, but his first lyrical drama to go outside of France was his "Herodiade," an opera of "biblical names, Oriental scenery, and French romance," treat- ing of the wife of Herod, and of Salome of biblical lore. Salome (Act I) searches for her mother, Herodias, from whom she has long been separated and whom she does not know by name. She has a pure devotion for John the Baptist, who saved her from a beast in the desert. She sings to Phanuel of the goodness of the prophet. " n est doux, il est bon " (" Kind is he, and good ") Sung by Mary Garden Columbia Record A 5289 Herod pursues Salome. Herodias demands the head of the prophet, who, she says, insulted her. Salome tells John of her adoration for him, and John exhorts 217 THE LURE OF MUSIC her to love but one God. The thought of Salome (Act II) haunts the mind of Herod. Surrounded by slaves, he tosses restlessly on his couch. He can think only of her, and this is the occasion for the amorous air, beloved of barytones, "Vision Fugitive" the vision that leaves Herod no peace. " Vision Fugitive " (" Fleeting Vision ") Sung by Louis Graveure Columbia Record A 5792 Sung by Oscar Seagle Columbia Record A 5734 Before the very Holy of Holies, Herod offers his love to Salome who repulses him with horror. Herod orders the death of both John and Salome. John is executed. Salome, appalled by the discovery that Herodias is her mother, takes her own life. "Herodiade" was produced December 19, 1881, at the Theatre de la Monnaie, Brussels. Three years and a month elapsed between the appearance of this work and what will probably rank as Massenet's finest achievement, his opera, "Manon," book by Meilhac and Gille (Opera Comique, January 19, 1884). His inspiration was the famous tale of the Abbe Prevost. The Abbe Prevost was a strange man. As a youth his father, after a misdemeanor, threatened to shoot him if he did not enter the priesthood. The son took orders. He wrote ponderous and learned tomes on theological and philosophic subjects. They molder on the shelves, but one little romance, which sprang straight from the heart of the man, a romance which it is fair to consider in a large degree autobiographical, has taken its place among the celebrated masterpieces of literature. This romance is Manon Lescaut,to which Massenet, Auber, Puccini, and others have written music. Of them all, Massenet has come nearest to the eighteenth- century atmosphere of the tale. The elegance, the ar- tistic superficiality of the age, the gaiety, tinged with 218 THE LURE OF MUSIC melancholy, which is observed in much of the art and literature of this period, are often present in his music. It was Meilhac, the librettist, who suggested the theme. Taking up the book of Manon Lescaut from the table, he said to Massenet, "There's a charming subject for an opera and a charming name." "Call it simply 'Manon,'" said Massenet; "that's better!" The matter was settled. Massenet went at once, in- cognito, to The Hague, and composed the opera in the same scenes as those in which the Abbe Prevost had written the story. Des Grieux and Manon (Act I) meet in the courtyard of the inn at Amiens. Manon is a beautiful and un- sophisticated country girl, but she is ripe for adventure. The two go to Paris. Des Grieux writes his father, ask- ing permission to marry Manon. Meanwhile Lescaut, the rascally cousin of Manon, assists De Bretigny, a wealthy nobleman who has cast his eyes on the girl, to lure her from the side of Des Grieux. Manon is warned that Des Grieux's father will never consent to their union, and that it will be to her interest to join his rival. Des Grieux comes back from posting the letter to his father. "Listen, Manon! On my way I dreamed the sweetest dream." To a murmuring accompaniment of the orchestra he narrates his vision. This is one of the loveliest of Massenet's inspirations, of happiness with his adored. This happiness, alas, is never to be. The father of Des Grieux is determined to save his son from consequences of folly; temptation has successfully as- sailed Manon. Alas! the moment, so tragic for both the lovers, is near. Des Grieux is kidnapped, and Manon, in tears, goes to join De Bretigny. Manon meets Des Grieux's father (Act III) at the fete of the Cours de la Heine, and learns that her unhappy lover is taking orders. Curiosity, a perverse love of 219 THE LURE OF MUSIC conquest, an impulse of genuine affection who knows what is stirred in the capricious girl. She hastens to the church of St.-Sulpice. Des Grieux is seen clad in his clerical garb, fighting with himself against the passion which still possesses him. Suddenly Manon is before him. Des Grieux tries in vain to resist her. She was never lovelier, more im- passioned, more triumphant in her beauty. "Am I not Manon?" she cries. He forgets all, and she throws herself into his arms. Manon and Des Grieux live by their wits, and Des Grieux (Act IV) is accused by De Bretigny of cheating at cards. At his instigation, both the lovers are arrested as swindlers. Des Grieux's father saves him, but will not intercede for Manon. Manon, condemned to be transported to America, meets her lover for the last time (Act V) on the road to Havre. In his arms she recalls -their flight to Paris, the trip along the road, the little home they loved so well, the black priest's robe of St.-Sulpice, and the music makes vivid these memories. And so she dies Manon, the unfortunate, the incom- prehensible, the hapless daughter of joy. In 1885 George Hartman drew Massenet's attention to Goethe's " Werther" as material for an opera, and the composer was fascinated with the subject. The plot was taken from Goethe's famous novel: the love of Werther for Charlotte, already another's; Charlotte's fidelity to her vows, despite her growing love for Werther; Werther's suicide and Charlotte's grief. This was the material of Goethe's romance, which fascinated all Europe. Napoleon took the novel with him to Egypt. In some cities it was hawked about in the streets. In China, Charlotte and Werther were modeled in porcelain. Werther "gave birth to a race of sentimentalists who have raged and wailed in every part of the world." 220 THE LURE OF MUSIC At the first rehearsal of the opera Massenet was so excited that he sat at the piano "and began," in his own words, "to cry like a woman." George Kestner, a grandson of the Charlotte who in- spired Goethe's tale, committed suicide the night when "Werther" was first performed in the Imperial Opera House, Vienna, February 16, 1892. In the year 1902 there was produced on the 18th of February, at Monte Carlo, "Le Jongleur de Notre Dame" ("The Juggler of Notre Dame"). In this opera there were originally no women characters. Only male singers took part. Massenet welcomed the subject since, always sensitive to criticism, he had been an- noyed at reproaches leveled at him because of his pre- vailing choice of women rather than men for his heroes, and his predilection for sentimental subjects. Anatole France WTote an ironical tale of Thai's and the monk, Paphnuce, who dreamed of redeeming her. Paphnuce went to Alexandria. He exhorted the woman, and took her, repentant, to a convent in the desert. Thai's died in the arms of God. But, alas! her image had wrought havoc in the soul of the monk. Across mountain and valley he sped, and, crouching by the bedside of the dying woman, implored her to be his. "A sinner," to cite the excellent Henry T. Finck, "be- came a saint, and a saint became a sinner." The first scene of the opera shows the monk Athanael (the operatic equivalent of Paphnuce of the original tale) on the banks of the Nile, seeing in a vision Thai's, before an eager throng, miming the rites of Aphrodite. Athanael swears that he will save her soul. In his monk's robes he comes to the house of Nicias in Alexan- dria, a gay and generous-hearted voluptuary, a friend of Athanael's youth, and a patron of Thai's. Alone on the terrace of Nicias' mansion, looking over the beau- tiful and wicked city, Athanael prays God to keep his soul pure and aid him in his holy mission. 221 THE LURE OF MUSIC " Voila done la terrible cite " (" Behold the terrible city ") Sung by Hector Dufranne Columbia Record A 5558 There follows the diverting scene in which the maids of Thais, Crobyle and Myrtale, divest Athanael of his monk's robes and clothe him in a manner befitting a guest in the festival at which Thais is soon to show herself. Thais, confronted by the monk, is impressed, but does not understand his tale of love eternal. She awaits him (Act II, Scene 1) in her chamber, invokes the spirit of Venus, and when Athanael appears bids him welcome in the name of the goddess she serves. Suddenly the monk, grand and terrible in his holy wrath, throws from his shoulders the gorgeous cloak which covers his religious habit, and, with the fury of the fanatic, warns Thais of the evil to descend on her if she does not alter her life and seek God. Athanael leaves the chamber saying that he will wait through the night on the door-step of Thais' palace for the moment of her repentance and expiation. It is when the curtain falls on this scene that the orchestra plays the popular "Meditation" melodious, sensuous music of love rather than of religion, which is supposed to tell of the change taking place in the soul of the woman. Meditation from " Thais " Played by Kathleen Parlow, violinist Columbia Record A 5843 Emerging from her dwelling in the morning, Thais (Act II, Scene 2), in the garb of a penitent, asks the monk if she may preserve a small antique image of Eros, an exquisite piece given her by Nicias, "for love is a virtue rare." " L' Amour est une vertu rare " (" Love is a rare virtue ") Sung by Mary Garden Columbia Record A 5440 222 This is the first moment in which the monk betrays the love and jealousy which, unknown to himself, are in his breast. He snatches the statue from her. "Nicias !" he cries "Nicias! Curse the source whence comes this gift! Destruction upon it!" He dashes the statue in pieces on the ground. The two encounter a group of revelers who seek to attack Athanael and take Thais from his side, but the generous Nicias aids them to escape from the throng and make their way across the desert to a convent, where Thai's is received as a chastened penitent. The two scenes of the last act are separated by an orchestral intermezzo. The first shows Athanael again in the camp of his brethren on the Nile, tossing feverishly on his couch, and suddenly agitated by a vision of Thais at death's door. The intermezzo is supposed to describe his anguished flight to her side. The final scene is the death of Thais, radiant with the vision of approaching salvation, while the miserable Athanael grovels at her feet. The death of Massenet, on the 13th of August, 1912, was the passing away of a composer whose music is indispensable to the operatic repertory of the present day. Some have called him the French Puccini, but it is hardly a just comparison. Puccini has been less versatile and far less prolific than Massenet, but more progressive in the development of his style. Massenet wrote too quickly to produce an unbroken series of masterpieces, although there is hardly an opera of his "Thais" is musically one of the thinnest of them all which does not contain at least an air or a scene which shows true creative talent. He often said that melody was the basis of music, "as the good earth is beneath everything." Massenet produced over thirty works for the stage, a few of which were not published. He was an indus- trious and systematic workman. He never undertook THE LURE OF MUSIC the writing out of a passage until it was perfectly clear in his mind. It may be said that he wrote his life, his thoughts, his very habits into his music. His scores contain many written entries, such as "cloudy weather," " Charpentier has won the Prix de Rome," etc. He used to wear a red bathrobe when composing, which he called "hom- arder," "homard" being the French word for lobster. Massenet was one of the best known and loved men in Paris not only in the studio and theater, but in the street. Cab-drivers, chauffeurs, flower-sellers, paper- boys, and street children hummed and whistled airs from his works as he passed them. This greatly pleased him, for he was a kindly man who never rebuked with- out following with a compliment or word of praise. With women, as his music might indicate, he was courte- ous and gallant to a fault. He would assure a charming pupil that she suggested a melody, immediately impro- vising the theme on the piano. In short, Massenet's art was himself, as the work of every serious artist must be, whether he intends it or not; what was good in him and what was poor; what was strong and what was weak; what was cheap and what was gold. CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS THE career of Camille Saint-Saens is a singular problem. He is beyond doubt one of the great- est French composers of to-day. He is also an inveterate traveler; a curious student of astronomy, archeology, mathematics; a critic, essayist, and play- wright; a frequenter of distinguished society, every inch a Parisian and man of the world. His versatility is matched by the apparently incurable restlessness of his mind. A series of literary essays embraces subjects ranging all the way from spiritualism to the resonance of bells. He has composed with brilliant success in practically all of the forms and styles open to the com- poser of to-day. Yet there is a strange lack of the personal element in his art. Who, what, it may still be asked, is the essential, inner Saint-Saens? That question he has never answered. He has been content to achieve a prodigious mastery of his medium, to pro- duce music distinguished equally by the logic and finish of its workmanship, to charm, to entertain, to be a great artist without becoming a heavy one. Saint-Saens will have his little joke. Of irreproach- able demeanor in public, this fine gentleman was never so irresistible as when he impersonated Marguerite, sur- prised by the jewels, in Gounod's "Faust," or La Belle Helene in Offenbach's operetta of that name, when Bizet, composer of "Carmen," took the tenor role of Calchas! In the "Carnaval des Animaux" ("The Ani- mals' Carnival") Saint-Saens imitated with grotesque effect the gruntings, squealings, howlings of various creatures of the animal kingdom! 225 THE LURE OF MUSIC It was in the same composition, however, that he waxed poetic, in the case of his exquisite little piece, "The Swan." How suggest in music a swan? A young modern composer would have written a symphonic poem on the subject. It will be seen that Saint-Saens has communicated simply, but with admirable art, the mood that might be inspired by the sight of the beau- tiful, stately bird, floating serenely on the surface of the water, in the dusk of the evening. This was the only one of the pieces in the "Carnaval des Animaux" which Saint-Saens allowed to be published. " The Swan " (" Le cygne ") Played by Pablo Casals, 'cellist Columbia Record 49796 Saint-Saens, born in Paris, October 9, 1835, com- menced to play the piano almost as soon as he learned to walk. He could tell as a small child the notes struck by all the clock chimes in the house, and remarked one day that a person in the next room was "walking in troches" that is, in a certain rhythm which he recog- nized. Later on Saint-Saens became at the Conserva- toire a pupil of Halevy and Reber in composition, and was for a time a private pupil of Gounod. At seven- teen he had already a reputation as a pianist. Von Biilow was thunder-struck at his talent, and Liszt selected Saint-Saens to play with him his "Mephisto Waltz" at the Zurich Festival in Switzerland in 1882. It was in emulation of Liszt, the originator of the form, that Saint-Saens wrote his four symphonic poems, "Danse Macabre" ("Dance of Death"), "Le Rouet d'Omphale" ("Omphale's Spinning-wheel"), "Phae- ton," after the story of the rash charioteer of the heav- ens, and "La Jeunesse d'Hercule" ("The Youth of Hercules"). The "Danse Macabre" was inspired by a poem of 18 SAINT-SAENS, 1835-1921 THE LURE OF MUSIC Henri Cazalis. In his poem, Death, his bony heel tapping the measure, fiddles for the ghosts who dance at midnight in the graveyard. The winds howl and the specters leap about in their winding-sheets. The dance grows wilder until the cock crows, the specters disperse, and the place is again safe for honest men. In the music, Death is heard tuning his fiddle. There are strange orchestral effects. A bell tolls (flutes and harp). A horn echoes the crow of the cock. There is a brief reminder of the music of the goblins as they disappear. " Danse macabre " Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 1836 This music is witty, in the Gallic manner, rather than terrible. The composer's seriousness is none too certain. Perhaps Saint-Saens, as the bones rattle, is laughing at us. But the symphonic poem "Omphale" is perfectly charming. The thought is of Omphale' s spinning-wheel as it whirls under her fingers, and, in the middle part of the piece, the protests of mighty Hercules, seated at the lady's feet, her humble and devoted slave. There is the suggestion of the movement of the wheel, and a coquet- tish mood throughout. " Le Rouet d'Omphale " (" Omphale's Spinning ") Played by the French Symphony Orchestra (Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire) Conductor, Andre Messager Columbia Record A 6087 Saint-Saens's one opera to gain an important position in the operatic repertory is "Samson and Delilah." This opera was performed under the patronage of Liszt in Weimar, December 2, 1877. It has an important distin- guishing quality as contrasted with almost all the other music of Saint-Saens. It is often emotional; there are 227 THE LURE OF MUSIC passages of elemental feeling. Delilah stands out, a gor- geous, commanding figure. Samson is any heroic tenor, with one or two expressive airs. The other characters in the opera are of minor importance, but the music of Delilah reflects her beauty and her appeal to Samson. This opera, which is now like modern music-drama and now like oratorio (it is performed with almost equal frequency on the concert stage and in the theater) , opens with an agitated orchestral introduction, in which the music mounts to a climax and then subsides, w r hile, as the curtain rises, the Hebrews sing the lament, "God, Israel's God." Samson steps forward, exhorting his people to have courage, to remember the passage of the Red Sea and other marks of the favor of Jehovah, to hold firm together and strike for freedom. Abimelech, satrap of Gaza, advances to quell the dis- turbance. Samson kills him and escapes with his follow- ,ers. The High Priest of Dagon emerges from the temple. Learning that Samson is inciting the Hebrews to rebel- lion, he curses the strong man, his people, and his God. The body of Abimelech is removed. The Hebrews re- turn, Samson at their head. Then Samson is confronted with a more insidious foe than satrap or high priest. Delilah comes upon him, followed by a train of maidens, who, in one of the most beautiful passages of the opera, sing of youth and of springtime and love. Delilah takes up the theme, and Samson, warned hi vain by an elder, is aflame with her beauty. " Printemps qui commence " (" Joyous now doth Spring come forth ") Sung by Maria Gay Columbia Record A 5280 A storm (echoed in the orchestra) is gathering as the curtain rises for the second act. Delilah, waiting for Samson, who has more than once escaped her, shows that she is actuated by a desire for revenge rather than 28 THE LURE OF MUSIC by love. "O love, aid my weakness," is her cry, and this cry forebodes disaster for Samson. " Amour, viens ma faiblesse " (" Love, lend me thine aid ") Sung by Jeanne Gerville-Reache Columbia Record A 5533 The High Priest enters to offer Delilah what price she cares to ask for delivering Samson into his hands. The woman of Sorek, counting her vengeance dearer far than any gold or power, is contemptuous of the learning of the Priest, which has not enabled him to read her heart. Samson arrives. There follows the love-scene and the irresistible song of Delilah, one of the most expressive and popular of modern airs for contralto. " Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix " (" My heart, at thy dear voice ") Sung by Maria Gay Columbia Record A 5280 Sung by Jeanne Gerville-Reache Columbia Record A 5533 Samson, undone by Delilah's fascination, is over- powered by the Philistines. The most salient features of the last act are the despondent lament of Samson, as, full of remorse for his weakness, he labors at the treadmill of the Philistines, and the grand "Bacchanale" in the Temple of Dagon, which precedes the destruction of the revelers. In the composition of this wild Oriental dance Saint-Saens's acquaintance with the East served him well. The wailing cry of an oboe with which the dance opens, the thudding of drums and tinkling of various pulsatile instruments, the strange rhythms heard singly and in combination, make a superb piece of ballet music. " Danse Bacchanale," from " Samson et Delilah " Played by Chicago Symphony Orchestra Columbia Record A 5903 "Local color," such as that shown in the "Baccha- nale" from "Samson," is a subject on which Saint- 229 THE LURE OF MUSIC Saens has made many musical observations. Traveling in southern Europe, for example, he wrote "Nuit a Lisbonne," "Jota Aragonesa," "Rhapsodic d'Auvergne." In the second movement of his fifth piano concerto he employed songs of the boatmen of the Nile. In his "Suite Algerienne" he records impressions of northern Africa, though it may be admitted that the following "Marche Militaire," if Saint-Saens heard it played by natives, was performed by those who had learned their lessons of European bandmasters. " Marche Militaire," from " Suite Algerienne " Played by New York Philharmonic Orchestra Columbia Record A 5998 Saint-Saens's versatility, faithfully reflected in his music, has sometimes been held against him. Said Edmond Schure: " One could say of Mr. Saint-Saens : * He never changes his style. He practises all with equal ease.' It would be impossible to define the individuality that is ob- served in the whole body of his works. . . . Try to grasp him, lo! he is changed into a siren. Are you under the spell? He turns himself into a mocking-bird. Do you think you hold him at last? He mounts to the clouds as a hippogriff!" It is true that Saint-Saens has studied and assimilated the characteristics of many schools of music, old and new; that he has cast his genius in a multitude of molds; that he prefers to be impersonal in his art. But these are not his only characteristics. First of all, there is his love of a clear and ordered beauty; his understanding of this principle in the works of great masters who have lived before him; his modesty and good taste in desir- ing to speak only of fine things in his music, and this with as little fuss and feathers as possible. Also, there is his genuine independence of mind. Saint-Saens may 230 THE LURE OF MUSIC have entertained himself with this or that experiment. He may have pondered thoughtfully and appreciatively the artistic discoveries of this or that school, and applied them in his works. As a young man he was censured because of his enthusiastic adherence to the standards of Liszt and other composers, then considered dangerous. But, after all, he has remained aware of his own convic- tions, his own mission as an artist. To-day, the younger men, the wilder spirits, call Saint-Saens a hopeless con- servative. He can afford to smile. What has he not done for music in France? After Berlioz, who called him, in 1867, "One of the greatest musicians of our era," Saint-Saens is the first to have promoted the cause of instrumental and symphonic composition in his own country, to have drawn composers in France out of dangerous ruts of provincialism. Before him the French musician dreamed of one kind of success the success, too often superficial, of the theater and opera house. Saint-Saens has solidified the whole musical develop- ment of modern France. He can rest secure on his laurels. Few, indeed, have undertaken so much, suc- ceeded so well, given pleasure to so many. His work is lasting testimony to his achievement as artist and man. MODERN FRENCH COMPOSERS MODERNITY is a matter of the spirit far more than of the letter. There are modern qualities, despite its traditions of a day that is past, in Bizet's "Carmen," produced in 1875. Massenet's "Thai's" (1894) is an older work. Camille Saint-Saens, alive at time of writing and active in the service of his art, must be ranked as a conservative by the side of Claude Achille Debussy, who died in 1918, or Cesar Franck, who died in 1890. A modern of moderns, though he died still later, was Emmanuel Chabrier. We never heard his Homeric laughter. We never encountered the extravagant ges- tures, the gallant bearing, the outlandish hats, and the gorgeous waistcoats in which he delighted. We were not the passer-by who, one evening when Chabrier was entertaining Saint-Saens, Massenet, and others chosen by the gods, shouted from the pavement, "If I were your landlord I should be too happy to ask you for rent." Those days are past. But we have Chabrier's music. The whole man is reflected in his art. His irresistible gaiety, his nervous vigor, his passionate temperament, animate everything that he writes. He is a man of extremes, discontented with the comfortable or ortho- dox, delighting in the strangest instrumental combina- tions, the most audacious effects. His orchestra flashes with a thousand colors, some as bizarre as those that 232 THE LURE OF MUSIC Chabrier liked to wear, others glowing with the soft and exquisite beauty of the rainbow. His music is restless. It is never in repose. Its rhythms and its power sweep everything before it. For electric energy and dramatic spirit there is no music like it. Visiting Spain, Chabrier wrote his orchestral rhap- sody, "Espafia," a work of extraordinary esprit. The composer saw the dancers, the dark eyes, the flashing smiles, the tiny heels that tapped the rhythm. "The music whirls along in rapid time. Spangles glitter; the sharp click of ivory and ebony castanets beats out the cadence of strange, throbbing, deafening notes assonances, unknown to music, but curiously charac- teristic, effective, intoxicating. Amid the rustle of silks smiles gleam over white teeth, dark eyes sparkle and droop, and flash up again in flame. 'Ole! Ole!' Faces beam and eyes burn. 'Ole! Ole!'" All this may be found in the gay, scintillating music of Chabrier. " Espana " Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 5677 Chabrier, born at Ambert, January 18, 1841, studied law. But music fascinated him. He had inborn talent for the piano, and a marvelous left hand. Alfred Bruneau, critic and composer, said that "the spectacle of Chabrier stepping forward, in a parlor thick with elegant women, toward the feeble instrument, and per- forming ' Espana' in the midst of fireworks of broken strings, hammers in pieces and pulverized keys, was a thing of unutterable drollery, which reached epic proportions." The gaiety and humor cf Chabrier, extravagant, audacious, keen-edged, are further shown in his Scherzo- Valse arranged for the violin. It was well said of this composer that he knew how to be "vulgar in good THE LURE OF MUSIC taste"! His musical humor savors at times of the farce and impudence of the Parisian guttersnipe, but, like that guttersnipe whom Hugo immortalized in "Les Miserables," it has wit and distinction. Scherzo-Valse Played by Eugen Ysaye Columbia Record 36514 But Chabrier was an unlucky man. Neither his "Gwendoline" nor his later opera comique, "Le Roi Malgre Lui" ("The King in Spite of Himself"), was successful in his lifetime. And at the last a cruel paralysis smote both mind and body. As a result he had to leave unfinished beautiful fragments of what promised to be his greatest work, the opera "Briseis." Chabrier died September 13, 1894. He had advanced well toward his thirties before composing to any extent. He began to create music too late, and was forced, ap- parently by an unkind destiny, to cease too soon. In a short time and in a few works he compressed the essence of an incomparable talent. Gustave Charpentier is a lover of life not life at a dis- tance or as viewed by artists who wear kid gloves but life as it is, and especially that of the common people. Living in the Montmartre district of Paris, the quar- ter of working-girls, students, laborers, criminals, he wrote: "I love the life which surrounds me, this life of the street and of the humble. I feel it profoundly lyric. At certain moments of great emotion I behold it trav- ersed by lightning, by a mighty current of marvelous, fairylike beauty. I have tried to transfer my emotion to my art." The parents of Charpentier, who was born at Dieuze, Alsace-Lorraine, June 25, 1860, moved to Turcoing after the Franco-Prussian War. Gustave had lessons in "sol- 234 CHABRIER, 1842-1894 THE LURE OF MUSIC fege" and the violin, and to support himself worked in a factory. There he organized an orchestra of work- men. The proprietor, much interested in his talent, sent Charpentier to the Conservatoire at Lille. He ad- vanced so rapidly that the municipality of Turcoing voted him a pension to study in Paris. Charpentier entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1881, was taken out for a period of military service, became on his return a pupil of Massenet, and gained the Prix de Rome in 1887 with his cantata, "Didon." It was during his sojourn at the Villa Medici in Rome that Charpentier, inspired by the beauty and sunshine about him, produced the first work which justly charac- terized his genius and made him a figure to be reckoned with in the musical world. This was the suite of short, melodious pieces for orchestra entitled "Impressions d'ltalie" ("Impressions of Italy"). In this suite he translated into music the warmth and joyousness of the Italian atmosphere. The suite is in five movements. The first is the "Serenade," the third is "On Muleback." For these pieces the composer wrote his own explanation, which we cannot do better than quote. " Serenade " (No. 1) and " A Mules " (" On Muleback ") (No. 3) From " Impressions d'ltalie " (" Impressions of Italy ") French Symphony Orchestra (Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire) Columbia Record A 6101 "SERENADE": "It is nearly midnight. Coming out from the osterie, the young fellows of the neighborhood sing low, burning songs, at times sad, often with a savage accent, under their betrothed's windows. These lovesick phrases are answered by mandolins and guitars. Then the song of the young men sounds again, and dies away, little by little." In this movement the love-song is first played by the 235 violoncelli, without any accompaniment. Then harps, strings, flutes, and violins give the effect of the plunking of mandolins and guitars. "ON MULEBACK": "Toward evening, along the road that winds through the Sabine Mountains, the mules trot at an even gait, to the bright rhythm of their bells. The melody of the violoncello is the canzone, sung with full voice by the mulattiere; and those sweet thirds of the flutes that follow are the loving song, murmured by the fair girls with deep eyes, seated, or rather kneeling, in the big carts that go up toward the village." "Louise," produced at the Opera Comique, Paris, February 2, 1900, is the romance of a working-girl of Montmartre and her lover, Julien. He is a painter, a Bohemian, his head full of all the new-fangled ideas of socialism and the rights of youth which were the stock in trade of the young fellows of Charpentier's early days. Louise succumbs to the spell of Paris. Against the com- mands of her father and mother, she leaves her home and lives with Julien. Later she implores forgiveness of her parents, and returns to them, but the life of the simple household, after her experience of love and the great city, revives her discontent. The city calls her back to its arms. Julien implores her to return to him. There is an angry scene with the parents, a scene of protest and revolt, and while the orchestra hymns the songs of Paris, Louise rushes from the house. The father shakes his clenched fist in the air, "Oh, Paris!" The only an- swer is the far-off echo of one of the melodies of the city. In the score Charpentier included with very graphic effect a number of the street cries of Paris the song of the old-clothes man, of the vegetable seller, and other itinerants. The beautiful air from "Louise," "Depuis le Jour," is heard at the beginning of the third act, as, emerging in the morning from the doorway of the humble but 236 CHARPENTIER, 1860 THE LURE OF MUSIC happy dwelling which she occupies with Julien, Louise looks over the city of dreams and recalls with rapturous emotion the first 'kiss of her lover. " Depuis le jour " (" Since that fair day ") Sung by Mary Garden Columbia Record A 5440 Sung by Hulda Laschanska Columbia Record 49364 'Charpentier's "Julien," produced at the Opera Comique, Paris, on the 4th of June, 1913, is a sequel to "Louise." It narrates the further adventures of the painter and the girl. This work, however, did not meet with the success which attended the production of the former opera. Claude Achille Debussy left the world music of unique and baffling originality. It is not easy to explain or locate the original sources of his art. True, it partakes occasionally of the characteristics of a known school and period, but where was he born? That is, where, aside from the incident of physical birth, did this spirit first become conscious of its destiny? It is true that the music of Debussy owns in several important respects to its French descent. But there is in it something more, something mysterious, pagan, antique, which is the possession of no one people. De- bussy has seen nature and beauty in a way peculiarly his own, and has found new forms of expression. It was said of him that if the grass could be heard growing, he would have set it to music ! He writes of the moon- shine on a ruined temple, the falling of autumn leaves, the play of wind and water. What is most astonishing is the fact that underneath all this free poetic impres- sionism one discovers workmanship of unerring logic and precision. Yet there are analysts who deny the presence of "form" in the music of Debussy. These would not sympathize with the reflection of Plotinus: 19 237 THE LURE OF MUSIC "It is on this account that fire surpasses all other bodies in beauty, because, compared with the other ele- ments, it obtains the order of form; for it is more eminent than the rest, and is the most subtle of all, bordering as it were on an incorporeal nature." Debussy was born at Saint-Germain (Seine and Oise), France, August 22, 1862. A relative saw that he re- ceived piano lessons and entered the Conservatoire in 1873. He won the Grand Prix in 1884 with his cantata, "L'Enfant Prodigue." In the same year he produced his delightful and melodious "Petite Suite" ("Little Suite") for piano, which has since been arranged for orchestra. From this suite comes "En Bateau," a bar- carolle of a deliciously songful character which betrays Debussy's early love of Massenet. " En Bateau " (" On the water ") From " Petite Suite " (" Little Suite ") Columbia Symphony Orchestra Columbia Record A 6097 It is said that when Debussy was doing his military service he listened attentively to the overtones which clashed in the air as the trumpet blew "taps" and the bells rang in a neighboring church tower; that he learned much while accompanist for a Russian lady, from the singing of the Russian gipsies; that he gained inspiration from the score of Moussorgsky's "Boris Godounow." Debussy made an exquisite setting of Rossetti's poem, "The Blessed Damozel" (1888). He composed his epoch-making reverie for orchestra, "Prelude a 1'Apres-midi d'un Faune," in 1892. "Pel- leas et Melisande," a music-drama of a strange and shadowy beauty, based on the play of Maurice Maeter- linck, and one of the most significant operas of recent times, was performed at the Opera Comique, Paris, April 30, 1902. Important songs, piano and orchestral 238 THE LURE OF MUSIC works followed. The later Debussy was inclined to mannerisms and repetitions of the musical effects which had won him fame in previous years. In the set of piano pieces written for his daughter, "The Children's Corner," there are to be found charming musical thoughts, as for example "The Golliwogs' Cake- Walk," an amusing take-off of American "ragtime," showing Debussy's ingenuity in imitating this style and also the extent to which he, among other European composers, has found it interesting. Debussy died in 1913, and with him departed the most original and poetic musical genius that modern France has thus far produced. He of course left many imitators, and the musical idioms of which he was the foremost exemplar have become part of the music of to-day. One of the most poetic talents of the present day in France is that of Gabriel Faure, born at Pamiers, Ariege, May 13, 1845. He came to Paris in his tenth year. Saint-Saens was his master in composition. Faure's success as a piano teacher at Rennes was somewhat dimmed by his being so attractive a young man that mothers hesitated to intrust their daughters to him for instruction! After serving in the Franco-Prussian War, Faure became organist of the Madeleine and succes- sively teacher of composition and director (1905) of the Paris Conservatoire, a position he holds at the time of writing. He has distinguished himself in many fields, but in none more than in his original and poetic songs. His type of melody is peculiarly and exquisitely his own. One of the first compositions to carry Faure's name overseas was his Berceuse for violin. It is in the manner of a quaint old French folk-song, dreamy 239 THE LURE OF MUSIC and tender, and well suited to the instrument to which it is given. Berceuse (Faure) Played by Eugen Ysaye Columbia Record 36519 To-day the composers of France surpass those of all other countries in the originality and the varied char- acter of their productions. We have mentioned but a few of an astonishing generation of creative artists. These men have in the past quarter-century or more restored to French music the conviction and the na- tional spirit which it had lost, to a certain extent, prior to 1870. Disastrous as was that year to the French nation, it awoke in the hearts of the people a heroic determination to vindicate themselves, and to throw off, in art as well as in politics, the musical influence of Germany. Out of tribulation came achievement and selfrrealization. ANTONIN DVORAK GREAT men are simple. The heart of Antonin Dvorak, the Bohemian genius of music, was that of a little child. He grew up in a hard school. His parents expected him to be a butcher, but his inclination toward music was stronger than any accident of birth or circum- stance. No composer encountered more abject poverty in his early years. A piano was for a long time out of the question. Music paper to write on was a luxury. The peasants of Bohemia, poor enough in any case, were taxed to the breaking-point by the Austro-Hun- garian government. With this government Dvorak and his community were anything but friendly. "To be a good Czech," said a journalist of the day, "is to be a good hater of the Germans. Dvorak is a good Czech." It was fortunate in more ways than one that Dvorak was in the bad graces of those who ruled him, since otherwise he would probably have been given a berth in some German city, and ended his life a respected Capellmeister with all the originality taken from him a fate which has overtaken more than one composer good and true. As it was, the genius of Dvorak fed on the life and nature about him. He wandered on the highways and through the forests of his land, listened to the songs of the peasants, and fiddled for fairs and weddings. A peculiar wistfulness is in his music, a simple, con- fiding appeal which seems to have come not only from 241 THE LURE OF MUSIC the man but also from his race. The peasant suffers humbly and in silence. No one cares enough about him to listen to his woes. He may not read or write. But he can sing. In his song he tells Mother Nature all that he feels. Dvorak knew neither universities nor, for years, languages other than those spoken about him, yet the word was given him which reached the ear and heart of the world. Once heard, his melodies are not easily forgotten. Witness the dreamy tender- ness and melancholy of the air known as the "Indian Lament." " Indian Lament " (Arrangement by Kreisler) Played by Kathleen Parlow, violinist Columbia Record A 5798 Bands of strolling musicians used to perform in the inn owned by Dvorak's father. It was with almost un- bearable excitement that the boy listened to these per- formances. He induced the village schoolmaster to teach him how to sing and to play the violin, and eventually obtained his father's permission to study music at Prague. The meager fund donated by his parent gave out, and Dvorak gained a living for several years by playing the viola in orchestras of cafes and theaters. He was deeply stirred at this time by the improvisa- tions and songs of the gipsies. One of a series of " Gipsy Melodies" is called "Songs my mother taught me"- songs which commemorate the sorrows of a wandering race. "And when I sing these melodies for my own children," continues the verse, "the tears rain down my brown cheeks also." No composer could have writ- ten for such a text a melody simpler and more touching than Dvorak's. Few composers in the history of music have been at the same time so unsophisticated and so 242 DVORAK, 1841-1904 original in richness and color of harmony, melody of heart-searching eloquence, and variety and piquancy of rhythms. For a parallel to the poignancy and feel- ing of a song like this one must go to the music of the American negro, which, as we shall see, Dvorak loved and admired. " Songs my mother taught me " Sung by Hulda Laschanska Columbia Record 77719 Dvorak married on the financial basis of earnings far from sufficient for one, still less for two. He undertook every possible kind of musical work teaching, playing the organ, conducting when the opportunity befell. In later years a friend asked him how he managed to compose and get his dinner under such circumstances; to which the composer replied, with perfect simplicity, that frequently he did not get his dinner. At first Dvorak created with reckless haste, for his pen could not keep pace with the ideas which thronged his brain. Nothing seemed impossible for his genius. He struck off compositions, white-hot, in a variety of forms. It mattered comparatively little what the form was. The mold that lay nearest at hand was filled. Choral and orchestral works, songs, instrumental pieces, appeared in profusion. Later, experience of life and of art commenced to tell. He thought twice before putting pen to paper. He learned to use fewer ideas, and make more of them. He began to perfect forms of his own. Dvorak's fame spread throughout Europe and pre- ceded him to America. He was invited to visit this country in 1892 as director of the National Conserva- tory of Music in New York. There he composed his greatest orchestral work ; the "New World" Symphony. 243 THE LURE OF MUSIC He believed that our finest and most original music came from the negro slaves, and he incorporated in the first movement of the "New World" Symphony a frag- ment of the well-known "spiritual," "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." The slow movement of this symphony, one of the noblest and most poetic that Dvorak conceived, opens with majestic chords of the brass choir, and these are followed by a haunting melody which seems to have been created for the instrument to which it is given the English horn. Over the whole movement broods the spirit of forest depths and virgin solitudes. Largo* from " New World " Symphony Played by New York Philharmonic Orchestra Columbia Record A 5998 Although Dvorak had created a masterpiece in this work, and employed in it at least one American melody, it was contended, with justice, that it was not an Ameri- can symphony. It was the symphony, as some one wittily put it, of a homesick Bohemian who based his music on melodies that he heard about him, and con- tinued doing so when he came to America. Dvorak proved, however, that American melodies could be- come valuable elements of symphonic composition, thus affording a stimulating example to young American composers. Dvorak stayed in America until 1895, after which he returned to Prague to become in 1901 director of the Prague Conservatory, a post which he held until his death. He was unutterably happy to be at home again. It is probable that in many lonely hours he would have sacrificed his American salary of fifteen thousand dol- lars a year to get back to his own people. Not for him were the dirt and the noise and the money of great 244 THE LURE OF MUSIC cities. "Pan Antonin," as a compatriot described him, "of the sturdy little figure, the jovial smile, the kindly heart, and the school-girl modesty," was ever and in- corrigibly himself, whatever he did, wherever he went. His friends were always laughing at his simplicity and guilelessness. One of them met Dvorak with a book in his hand. What was he doing? " Improving my mind," answered Dvorak. He was reading a book, set in large type, in words of one and two syllables, for young children. It was said of him that he had three pas- sions composing, living in the country, and caring for his pigeons! While in America he was invited to spend the summer at the home of a priest, the clinching argu- ment being the offer of a donkey, to be placed wholly at the musician's disposal. Dvorak was delighted. "What a pleasure this will be," he cried, "for my chil- dren and myself!" His children! One suspects that for them he wrote many more of his melodies than the public can ever guess. Listen to the "Humoreske" one of a series of compositions so entitled, written originally for the piano, and in this instance transcribed for the violin. It is a fireside story, a story told by the composer as he smiles through his tears. " Humoreske " Played by Eugen Ysaye Columbia Record 36908 Played by Kathleen Parlow Columbia Record A 5412 And so he continued to the end, happy with his scores, his family, and chosen friends who did not terrify him with conventions and ceremonies, well content to live simply, work at the only craft he knew, and win hearts. He remained from first to last a peasant, born of his fields and forests, and holding close communion with them. When he tried to compose in a grand and 245 THE LURE OF MUSIC pretentious manner, as in certain of the later quartets, he failed as completely as he failed when he had to don formal garb and mingle with the great. He enriched music significantly by the sincerity and individuality of his contribution to the art, and this art was the reflection of the beauty and tenderness of his own nature. Dvorak was born September 8, 1841, and died on the 1st of May, 1904. EDVARD GRIEG NORWAY is a somber, wildly beautiful land. Great mountains, scarred and cragged, rise straight from the sea. Deep fjords have been graven in them by the action of the waters, and in the winter these fjords look like icy fingers stretched out by the ocean, eager to grasp their prey. The winter is a long and fearsome night when God knows what is abroad, and the peasants, huddling together about their fires, drink, fid- dle, and sing, to forget the evil things that scream in the wind. "This is the land of which the outer limits con- front the realm where the old Norse gods still dwell, and where, in the words of Jonas Lie, 'elves and mer- maids are still regarded as tame domestic animals.' " There are really but two seasons winter and summer. The summer, a short, sunlit day, has scarcely smiled before it is gone, and because of its fleeting beauty it leaves sadness in the hearts of those who know too well the darkness, the cold, the solitudes of the long night. These things are told in the music of Edvard Grieg. Grieg came of Scotch ancestry. His great-grand- father's name was Greig, or Greigh. He was a native of Aberdeen, who about 1746, in the troublous period of the wars of Charles Edward Stewart, the Pretender, left the land of his birth and settled permanently at Bergen, Norway. There he changed the position of the vowels in his name to conform to the principles of Nor- wegian pronunciation. His son, John Grieg, a mer- chant, became also British consul, and the office was 247 THE LURE OF MUSIC passed down to Alexander, father of the composer. The mother of Edvard Grieg was a woman of culture and considerable musical knowledge. Grieg was born on the 15th of June, 1843. He soon showed his disposition for music not only music, but modern music, to which he was to bring a new, strange, fascinating beauty. The story of his first attempt, as a small child, to play the piano is significant as being typical of his artistic originality and the modern quality of his ear. "What shall prevent me," says Grieg him- self in a delightful reminiscence of his youthful days, "from calling back that wonderful and mysterious con- tent at discovering, when I stretched my arms up to the piano, not a melody that was too much no, but a harmony! First, two notes; then a chord of three notes; then a full chord of four; at last, with both hands oh, joy! a combination of five notes, the chord of the ninth." It should be explained that this chord is one of the most important characteristics of modern music, and one of the most valuable assets of composers of to-day. "When I found that," said Grieg, "my hap- piness knew no bounds. ... I was about five years old." It was soon time for him to go to school, which he did not like, for he preferred to lie on his back and dream as he watched the summer clouds float lazily in the sky. A brilliant idea came to him in the arithmetic class. "In order to finish as soon as possible I left out all the ciphers, since, as I understood it, they signified nothing. But I profited through experience. Since then I have learned to reckon with ciphers!" One day he brought to school, instead of an essay, a composition, his first attempt variations on a familiar melody. A buzz went through the class-room. The teacher made inquiries. "Grieg has a composition." The professor went to a door and called to a colleague: "Come here. Here's something to look at. This little 248 GRIEG. 1843-1907 THE LURE OF MUSIC chap is a composer!" But the happiness of the child was short-lived. When the second professor had de- parted the first changed his tactics "and took me," said Grieg, "by the hair, until everything was black be- fore my eyes, saying, harshly, 'Another time bring your German dictionary with you as you ought to do and leave this foolish stuff at home." Grieg found solace \ in the person of a young lieutenant who lived opposite s the school and who was devoted to music. For him Grieg had to copy all his compositions. "Fortunately, I afterward succeeded in getting back all I had given him and throwing them into the waste-paper basket, where they most certainly belonged. I have often thought with gratitude of my friend the lieutenant, who has since become a general, and of the compliments which he paid to my first attempt at art." The day came when Ole Bull, the celebrated Nor- wegian violinist, rode clattering into the yard and, hearing Grieg's music through the open window, in- sisted that he become a musician and that his parents send him at once to Leipsic to study. "I felt," said Grieg, "like a packet stuffed full of dreams." At Leipsic Grieg was mortally homesick. He was then a lump of a lad of fifteen, probably like most Norwegian boys, of whom he himself said: "We Norwegians de- velop slowly. Before the age of eighteen, one seldom knows what is in him." The husband of his landlady comforted him. "Now see here, my dear Mr. Grieg, we have here the same sun, the same moon, and the same God that you have at home." But it was a long time before these things, and the lessons at the Con- servatory, could reconcile Grieg to the loss of Norway. Grieg in his innocence had expected that by some miracle he could become, in, say, three years, a "wizard master" of music, but surprise and disappointment were in store for him. The truth gradually dawned on him 20 249 THE LURE OF MUSIC that progress meant long and patient drudgery. This would have been endurable if he had had more sym- pathetic and intelligent teachers, but German provincial- ism ruled so strongly at the Leipsic Conservatory that it was impossible for Grieg's masters to realize what he was trying to do, or give him anything but the most academic counsel. When he tried to write the original harmonies that filled his ears he was reproved. The teachers did not realize that Grieg must discover new laws of composition before he could put himself into his music. He worked hard, scarcely leaving time to eat or sleep. The result was that in two years he suf- fered a collapse and a severe lung trouble, which left him with only one lung for the rest of his life. With the loss of physical strength, however, there seemed to come an increase of nervous energy. He recovered sufficiently to resume his labors and graduate with honors from the Leipsic Conservatory in 1822. After a happy summer in his Norwegian home, he went to Copenhagen, and there met the friend whom he needed just then more than any one else in the world. This was the gifted young Norwegian composer, Richard Nordraak, who, if he had not died at the age of twenty- four, might have been as great as Grieg in his art. At last Grieg had met a companion who understood his dreams and was with him heart and soul in his desire to found a school of genuine Norwegian music. It was about this time that Grieg became intimate with Ole Bull. The two made trips far into the moun- tains, listening to the songs and dances of the peasants which Grieg would then incorporate in his music. No one realized better than he that music draws its exist- ence not from professors and conservatories, but from the common people and the common experiences which make all humanity akin. Thus it is with the "Bridal Procession," taken from a set of "Two Lyrical Pieces" 250 THE LURE OF MUSIC for piano, music in which one hears the sawing of fiddles, the approach of the festive company along the road, and scraps of peasant songs which are gradually lost in the distance. "Bridal Procession," Op. 19, No. 2 Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 5892 The lamented death of Nordraak, in whose honor Grieg wrote one of his most impressive pieces of music, cut short the promised crusade for the musical expression of Norway. But in 1867, the same year in which he married, Grieg founded a musical union in Christiania which he conducted until 1880. He toured Europe as a pianist conductor, tours in which he was accompanied by his wife, an admirable singer of her husband's songs. The year 1874 was a banner one. Grieg was given a small pension by the Norwegian government, which enabled him to give up teaching and devote his time to composition. In the same year he received a letter from Henrik Ibsen, the great Norwegian author, asking him to write music for the drama "Peer Gynt." Grieg, supremely honored by this invitation, had not only a superb drama to inspire him, but a subject ideally in accordance with his genius. It was for him to estab- lish the appropriate background for Ibsen's profound interpretation of an old Norwegian legend. Composed for the theater, this music was later made into two orchestral suites. Early in the drama Peer visits the trolls, who live underground. The troll king wishes Peer to marry his daughter. When Peer refuses the great cave is in a tumult. The trolls gather and leap on his back until it seems that Peer can no longer throw them off. It is only the prayers of Peer's mother and Solveg, whose constant love at last brings redemption, which save him. The orchestra accom- 251 THE LURE OF MUSIC panics the scene of the trolls with uncanny music which constantly grows in excitement. A shriek of the instru- ments brings the piece to an end. " In the Hall of the Mountain King," from " Peer Gynt " Suite Columbia Symphony Orchestra Columbia Record A 6110 The scene of Ase's death is one of greatest pathos, and Grieg equals its poignancy in writing for it very simple music. This music seems to suggest not only sorrow, but the gathering of the winter night. Peer is jesting to hide his despair as his mother dies. He kisses the dead face passionately and sets out again to wander for many years, until the faithful love of Solveg shall restore him his soul. " Ase's Death," from " Peer Gynt " Suite Columbia Symphony Orchestra Columbia Record A 6109 "Morning," or "Morning Mood," was played before the fourth act, which opens on the coast of Algeria, when "Peer Gynt" was produced with Grieg's music at the Christ iania Theater, February 24, 1876. This piece was originally composed for an earlier scene. Says Dorothea Casselmann-Schumacher, "There is a faint sound in the air as of distant bells, mingled with an echo of a mountain yodel; it is Sunday morning on the sunlit fjord." " Morning," from " Peer Gynt " Suite Columbia Symphony Orchestra Columbia Record A 6109 Wandering in a desert, Peer is worshiped as a prophet by a wild tribe. He decides not to dispel their illu- sion, since he obtains from them much praise, comfort, and the love of the slave girl Anitra. She dances and sings before him, after which he woos her passionately, 252 THE LURE OF MUSIC only to be deceived and told to remember his graying hairs. The dance is an original and charming compo- sition in the Oriental manner. " Anitra's Dance," from " Peer Gynt " Suite Columbia Symphony Orchestra Columbia Record A 6110 In the last act of "Peer Gynt" our hero, wearied, dis- illusioned, repentant, comes back to his mountain home, where he had left Solveg, his true love, years before. Only she has remained faithful. A tableau shows her in her hut on the mountain-side, where she had told Peer years before that she would await him. There Solveg sings her song, simple and true and sad, like the North, a song of love and faithfulness unto death. " Solveg's Song," from " Peer Gynt " music Sung by Lucy Gates Columbia Record A 5840 Grieg was one who knew and loved Nature in all her moods. The beautiful composition, "Letzter Friih- ling," also called "Der Friihling" ("The Spring"), is the second of "Two Elegiac Melodies" for stringed or- chestra. None of Grieg's compositions afford better example of the sincere, deeply moving quality of his inspirations than this modest but exquisite piece of music. " Spring " Played by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Columbia Record A 5844 Although Grieg sometimes filled a large canvas, he preferred small forms, producing a long series of songs of exceptional beauty and many piquant and poetic pieces for piano. The originality of his northern harmonies, and the novel rhythms he frequently employs are matched by the poetic feeling and the fineness of artistic THE LURE OF MUSIC instinct with which he develops his musical ideas, as, for example, in the following well-known composition. " To the Springtime " Played by Percy Grainger Columbia Record A 6128 The last years of Grieg's life were passed at "Trold- haugen" ("Trolls' Land"), a villa which he built for himself on a promontory which extended far into the sea. The road from Bergen came to an end in front of the grounds. At the entrance was a sign, "Mr. Grieg does not wish to receive callers earlier than four in the afternoon." Previous to that hour he composed. His studio stood at the water's edge and bore a second notice, "If any one chooses to enter this house to steal, please leave the scores, as they are only for my use." He had in his hut a remarkable library of musi- cal scores. After working-hours he was cordiality it- self, a brilliant talker, fond of company, the kindliest of hosts, though somewhat tactless and inclined on occasion to be headstrong. His forehead and eyes had the poetry felt in his music. "In his eyes," said a visitor, "one catches a glimpse of Norway." Grieg oc- casionally took a short journey, but was always happy to get home. He was afraid of the sea, and for that reason never came to America. He died in 1907. The urn containing his ashes was placed in a grotto at the foot of a steep cliff visible from "Troldhaugen" and ac- cessible only from the sea. The grotto was then sealed. An epitaph on a marble slab marks what was once the entrance. There the remains of Norway's greatest composer keep watch over the land that he loved. Norway, with the possible exception of Finland in recent years, has been the most individual of Northern countries in her music. A countryman of Grieg who 254 THE LURE OF MUSIC gave early promise of surpassing him in the significance of his message was Christian Sinding, born at Kongs- berg in 1856. In a somber and powerful symphony and a crashing Rondo Perpetuo for orchestra* Sinding showed the Norse spirit of his ancestors, but his individuality was submerged in his admiration of Richard Wagner, so that he is known to-day principally by some inter- esting songs and piano compositions. A gentler talent was that of Johan Svendsen (1840-1911), the son of a bandmaster of Christiania, a conductor himself at the age of fifteen and a violinist of such talent that, having accepted a position in the orchestra of the Odeon Theatre at Paris, his solo-playing on a certain evening drew the attention of the audience from the acting of Mme. Sarah Bernhardt. An accident to Svendsen's hand interfered with his career as a virtuoso, but turned his attention the more to composition. Svendsen's "Romance," a beautiful and imaginative composition for the violin, has in it the true ring of the North the dark color, the expressive melody, and the legend- ary sadness often and justly associated with Scan- dinavian music. " Romance " (Svendsen) for violin Played by Kathleen Parlow Columbia Record A 5819 Johan Halvorsen, born in 1864 at Drammen, Nor- way, was also a violinist of unusual gifts who toured Scandinavia and certain cities of Europe, and became, in 1899, conductor of the National Theater at Chris- tiania. He was not only a virtuoso, but knew the or- chestra. Witness his march in the Eastern manner, known as the "Triumphal Entry of the Boyars." The boyars were hereditary owners of the soil in feudal times in Russia. They grouped themselves, with their followers, about a chosen prince, and held a rank cor- 255 THE LURE OF MUSIC responding roughly to that of the Highland chieftains. Halvorsen's march opens with a curious, barbaric motive played by the clarinets of the orchestra over a drone- bass of a primitive character. A songful contrasting section throws into bolder relief the pomp and color which are picturesque elements of the composition. " Triumphal Entry of the Boyars " (Halvorsen) Played by the Cincinnati Orchestra Columbia Record A 5943 The folk-songs of Sweden, of which there is mention in a later chapter, offer a literature more varied and eloquent, perhaps, than the output of her better known composers. A charming and poetic talent which is near the spirit of the people is that of Tor Aulin (1866-1914). His "Humoreske" is a simple and pleasing composition. " Humoreske " (Tor Aulin) For flute, oboe, and clarinet Columbia Record A 1984 Since about 1835 Finland has been making rapid strides in the development of a typical national art. In literature and painting, as well as in music, a num- ber of important and significant figures have risen. Finland is a country of silver lakes and wild moorland. The beauty and melancholy of Northern nature and the stern lot of the Finnish people have contributed to the depth and sincerity of their art. Sibelius' (1865 ) "Finlandia" was written in a spirit of patriotic protest when Finland was ruled by the old Russian govern- ment. That government was obliged to forbid the public performance of the work because of its exciting effect on the populace. Mark the opening the chords that growl revolt, the suggestion of a people in prayer, the rolling of drums, the growing excitement of the music, the wildly defiant conclusion. 256 THE LURE OF MUSIC " Finlandia " (Sibelius) Played by Columbia Symphony Orchestra Columbia Record A 6097 The "Praeludium" of Jarnefelt, a composer (1869 ) whose great gifts have been overshadowed by those of Sibelius, is a delightful piece in the old style, built over a quaint, persistent motive in the bass. " Praeludium " (Jarnefelt) Played by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Columbia Record A 6014 Because of the novelty and eloquence of their folk- music, and the originality and seriousness of the younger Northern composers, much is expected of them in the immediate future. ANTON RUBINSTEIN KJBINSTEIN, a colossal nature, a pianist of fab- ulous powers, was one of the great melodists. He could think melody almost faster than he could write it. A hundred ideas descended on him when he set pen to music paper. Some of these di- vine guests came with due state and ceremony. The musical thought would arrive in its complete and per- fect form, requiring only to be transcribed precisely as it occurred to the musician. But when Rubinstein undertook a great symphony, an opera on a big scale, a sonata on the classic model, it was a different matter. He was a man of impetuous and emotional rather than reflective temperament. It was not his genius to build slowly and with infinite care, to sift out great ideas from small, and rear, block by block, column on column, his cathedral of tone. Whatever was in him at the moment went on paper. Hence it is that Rubinstein is survived to-day principally by his music in the smaller forms, by those simple, inspired melodies which he ap- pears to have jotted down, again and again, as easily and spontaneously as he would have written a letter to a friend. An example is the "Melody in F," a very simple piece originally composed for the piano. It retains to-day the freshness and charm that it had when first it fell on the ears of the public. " Melody in F " Played by Pablo Casals, violoncello Columbia Record 49804 Played by Mery Zentay, violin Columbia Record A 2503 258 RUBINSTEIN, 1830-1894 THE LURE OF MUSIC The days of Rubinstein's youth were hard and it was bitter experience which taught him to hug music to his heart. A Jew, born at Wechwotinez, November 28, 1829, he was early subjected to the persecutions which raged with a special violence in Russia during the reign of Nicholas I. Finally, the entire family were bap- tized as Christians and, leaving behind them the scene of their tribulations, fled over the steppes in a covered wagon to Moscow. Rubinstein's mother had noticed how attentively the child of five listened to her piano-playing. She decided to teach him, but found that he soon outstripped her own knowledge of the instrument. In Moscow, Rubinstein became a pupil of Villoing, who, recognizing the boy's talent, agreed to give him lessons without payment until the time when he would be able to make a return for his education. These lessons were not always pleasant experiences. Villoing was a severe teacher. Blows as well as advice were part of his instruction, but Rubinstein had the vitality, the ambition, the indomitable will for which the great men of his race are famous. He throve under this harsh treatment, and at the age of ten astonished the public of Moscow by his performance at a charity con- cert in Petrovsky Park. Villoing said that it was time to undertake a concert tour, to make some money, and become known in the world. In Paris, Anton played for Liszt, Chopin, and other of the famous musicians of the day. He was wel- comed everywhere and patronized by aristocrats. Pres- ents were showered upon him, which he promptly pawned. His family was in need and he had no illusions about the friendship of the great. They were to be made use of. They were to become stepping-stones of a career. While a guest at the castle of the Russian Grand Duchess Helen, on Kamennoi Island in the Neva River, 259 THE LURE OF MUSIC Rubinstein completed one of his most admired composi- tions. He wrote a series of twenty-four "musical por- traits," each suggested by the personality of a guest at the castle, and later published under the collective title of "Kamennoi Ostrow" ("Kamennoi Island"). The twenty-second of these "portraits" has been named variously by different publishers, as "Reve Angelique" ("Angelic Vision"), and other different titles, but it is best known to the public by the title of the set of pieces from which it is drawn. Some biographers of Rubin- stein find in it a reminiscence of the romantic attach- ment which existed between the young musician and the woman who loved him, though circumstances of birth kept them apart. They were wont to prome- nade of an evening on the shores of the river, while a neighboring convent bell was ringing and sunset flooded the world. Youth talked as youth will of its ambitions, dreams, ideals. The sun still sets on the waters that surround Kamennoi Island, but the guests have gone. In the music of Rubinstein is the picture of a magic hour, and, perhaps, the face of a woman as noble by nature as she was by birth. " Kamennoi Ostrow " (" Kamennoi Island ") Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 5665 Rubinstein toured America for the first time in 1872 with the violinist Wieniawski, and his success was inde- scribable. His leonine power, his prophetic fire, his evocation of moods of the most poetic beauty, have been often enough described. There is a profile of Rubinstein, leaning forward over the keyboard, wilted collar, drops of sweat falling through the air, and face illumined by the vision of the Lord. He often played with a careless disregard of detail. No one cared. He would have struck fire from his hearers if he had been 260 THE LURE OF MUSIC playing a bass drum. A favorite concert war-horse is the "Valse Caprice," a piano composition in the good old style, full of excitement and melody. Josef Hofmann, himself a great pupil of Rubinstein, acquired at first hand the conception of the master. " Valse Caprice " Played by Josef Hofmann Columbia Record A 5419 Dance rhythms are especially strong in Rubinstein's music, as may be observed by this waltz and by an excerpt from his "Bal Costume." "Toreador and An- dalusian" is supposed to be the dance of an Andalusian girl and her gallant bull-fighter. The click of castanets, the bold, challenging gestures of the man, the coquettish movements of the woman, the eyes that flash behind the fan, the applause of the watching throng these are the inspiration of Rubinstein's music. " Toreador and Andalusian " Played by Prince's Band Columbia Record A 5433 Had Rubinstein saved what he earned he would have been a millionaire, but his charity, his good deeds, were endless. He was very sensitive to feminine charm and chivalrous toward women, and the amounts which he donated in the form of marriage dowries to penniless maidens became a standing joke with his friends. He was impatient of ceremony and fuss in the routine affairs of life. When he needed a new suit he sent for a tailor and handed him an old garment, telling him to make another precisely similar. He had a laughable habit of fixing dates for changes of clothing. The 1st of May was the day for putting on his summer coat, whether it was shining or snowing. Likewise he wore his Rus- sian furs up to a certain time in the spring. The violets 61 THE LURE OF MUSIC might bloom and the birds might sing, but the furs were retained. He did not like doctors. In the second week of November, 1894, he complained of pains in the arms and chest. When a physician called on the 19th, and asked if he might examine the heart, Rubinstein hesi- tated, and when the moment came moved only the left flap of his coat, saying: "Very well; now listen." "But I can't hear your heart through your shirt and vest," protested the physician. Rubinstein hesitated a moment, and then said: "All right. We might as well play whist." "What about your heart?" persisted the doctor. "You may hear it some other time," Rubinstein re- plied. As was his custom, he took that evening a glass of wine before going to bed. At two o'clock of the following morning he was dead. One reads of the enormous fertility of composers of previous periods, and marvels at what seem, by com- parison, the small number of works produced by com- posers of to-day. Rubinstein composed eighteen operas and sacred dramas; six symphonies; three "character pieces" for orchestra "Faust," "Ivan IV," "Don Quixote"; three overtures; more than one hundred songs; chamber music and smaller compositions with- out number for the piano and other solo instruments. These works were lauded to the skies in their day, and played everywhere, but it was not the symphonies not even the grand "Ocean" symphony nor the great "sacred dramas," nor the pretentious "character pieces" for orchestra that lived after him. It was the simple, heartfelt melodies that escaped him when he was perhaps least aware of the value of what he was writing which keep green his memory. PETER ILJITCH TSCHAIKOWSKY i IN Russia it has been a custom to bomb those unhappy potentates whom the people do not love. Peter Iljitch Tschaikowsky employed subtler methods. He concealed his ammunition in his music. Like a bombshell, indeed, was the explosion of this music, thrown over the fence from the land of the Czar into the concert-halls and opera-houses of Europe and America. Its melancholy beauty, its gorgeous colors, its volcanic passion, shocked the conservative and fascinated the public. No need to explain this music. Useless to condemn it. It was too human, too original, too utterly sincere for that. It winged its way from heart to heart. Tschaikowsky's was a temperament essentially typical of his country and his times. The unrest, the fatalism, the vague aspirations toward a brighter and freer day, which possessed Russia, were echoed in his art. He was born on the 7th of May, 1840. One day, when he was having a geography lesson with his brothers and sisters, he shocked his governess by kissing the map of Russia and spitting on the rest of the world. Only one other country was excepted, a country always dear to Tschaikowsky's heart. When reproved for his action he answered: "But didn't you see? All the time I kept my hand over France." Tschaikowsky's first musical impulse was given him when his father brought home from Petrograd a mechan- ical player, an orchestrion which played airs by Mozart and by Italian composers Bellini, Donizetti, and Ros- 21 263 THE LURE OF MUSIC sini whom Peter thus came to know and love. The music of these men profoundly influenced his own style as a composer in later days. Peter loved his mother with passionate intensity, and when she died of cholera in 1854 retired into himself, morose, cynical, and somewhat self-centered. It was some time before he recovered. He followed the ex- ample of other men of his own rank in life by fitting himself for an official sinecure in Petrograd, where the pay was good and the service light. By day he was a rather absent-minded ano^ unsatisfactory official, and by night the darling of Petrograd drawing-rooms, for he was a good-looking young man who had a charming talent for the improvisation of waltzes at the piano. This was Tschaikowsky in his twentieth year. There came a change. Disgust with his idle life grew on the future composer. He decided that his only talent was for music; that, therefore, it was his duty to develop it at whatever cost, if his life were to mean anything and he escape the fate of the fop and the idler. "Do not imagine that I dream of being a great artist," he wrote his father; "I only feel I must do the work for which I have a vocation, whether I become a celebrated com- poser or only a struggling teacher 'tis all the same. In any case, my conscience will be clear and I shall no longer have the right to grumble at my lot." Gone was the dandy of former days. Gone also was the comfortable salary which had been his. Tschaikow- sky became a pupil of Anton Rubinstein at the Con- servatory. Anton's equally gifted brother, Nicholas Rubinstein, not only took a deep interest in the young man's talent, but helped him through those poverty- stricken days by securing him pupils, giving him shel- ter, and even clothes on occasion. Tschaikowsky writes home to his father that he is working hard and is happy in his art only it is a little uncomfortable in the 264 TSCHAIKOWSKY, 1840-1893 THE-LURE OF MUSIC evenings, since the scratching of his pen disturbs Rubin- stein when he tries to sleep! Through Rubinstein's interest Tschaikowsky became professor of harmony at the newly opened Moscow Con- servatory, and soon commenced to produce significant music. One of the best-known pieces of these early days is the "Chant sans Paroles" ("Song without Words"), from the collection entitled "Souvenirs [Memories] de Hapsal." This piece commemorates one of the happiest experiences of Tschaikowsky 's youthful years. After a hard winter's labor at the Conservatory he found him- self in possession of the to him unparalleled sum of one hundred rubles, or about fifty dollars. He must have thought he had Fortunatus' purse at his disposal, for he immediately embarked with his brother Modest on a holiday trip to Finland. Arrived in that country, the two idled about at Viborg and admired the Imatra Falls until they suddenly found that there was barely car fare enough to get home, and nothing to live on when they arrived. So they begged sanctuary of Tschai- kowsky's stepmother, who lived in the charming dis- trict of Hapsal. Through the long summer days the brothers wandered about the forest and watched the glowing sunsets, communing happily with each other and with nature. All too quickly the summer was gone, but Tschaikowsky preserved the memory of those charmed hours in the following melody. " Chant sans Paroles " Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 1037 Tschaikowsky's fame commenced to spread, but his pocket-book was still very thin. In order to replenish it he decided to give a concert. For this occasion he composed a new work, in which the whole world recog- nized the heart-beat of Russia. One day while Tschai- 265 THE LURE OF MUSIC kowsky was composing, he heard a plasterer singing beneath the window a sad and beautiful song which the musician could not dismiss from his thoughts. This song, mournful and tender, an old song loved by the Russian peasants, became the substance of the slow movement, or "Andante Cantabile," of his quartet. Andante from String Quartet Played by Toscha Seidel, violinist Columbia Record 49624 Played by Boston String Quartet Columbia Record A 2517 As usual, the composer, a painfully shy and sensitive man, passed his hour of torment before the performance of this work took place, wondering whether he had cre- ated a work of art or made a plain fool of himself. His doubts were relieved in a manner that he never forgot. Count Leo Tolstoi, the author of Anna Karenina, The Resurrection, and other famous works, paid him a visit and sat by him while his quartet was being played. Listening to the slow movement, Tolstoi was so pro- foundly moved that he wept. "I have heard," he said, "the soul of my patient and suffering people." And now love, which either builds or destroys, came into Tschaikowsky's life. He had just completed an overture called "Destiny" when an Italian opera com- pany visited Moscow. In that company the leading artist was Desir6e Artot, "a woman of thirty, not good- looking, but with a passionate and expressive face." Tschaikowsky met her at a supper one evening after the opera. She asked him to call. He avoided her. The company departed from Moscow, but returned there the next fall. Artot asked him why she had not seen him and later the well-meaning Nicholas Rubinstein in- sisted that Tschaikowsky attend a party at her home. The, two became engaged. But Tschaikowsky was far from happy. He loved Desiree with all his heart, but she would not leave the stage, and he had no appetite 266 THE LURE OF MUSIC for becoming the husband and cloak-carrier of a popu- lar prima donna. The days dragged on, till the Gor- dian knot was suddenly clipped by Miss Desiree her- self, who, without a word of explanation, married a barytone of the Warsaw Opera. Tschaikowsky was pros- trated by the blow. Worse still, the company revisited Moscow. The unfortunate composer sat in the audito- rium, his opera-glasses glued to his eyes, but seeing noth- ing because of the tears that streamed down his face. Just after this bitter experience, and while he was still so much under the spell of the woman that he could not hear her name without emotion, Tschaikowsky was asked to write an overture to Shakespeare's great love drama, "Romeo and Juliet." Could he have found the inspiration for this music had it not been for his own tragedy? The overture opens with a choral motive the thought of Friar Laurence and harmonies as beautiful as they are laden with the fateful atmosphere of the drama. Music of strife depicts the brawls of the Montagues and Capulets. Then rises from the depths of the orchestra that melody one of the greatest Tschaikowsky ever penned which chants the love of the immortal pair. It w r as to this same melody that the composer, intending in later years to complete an opera on the subject, set the words of Juliet: "Oh tarry, night of ecstasy; Oh night of love, stretch thy dark veil over us!" In the overture it is heard again and again, passing from instrument to instrument, and sung with all the splendor and power of the orchestra. At the last it is echoed tragically by different instruments, as chords of the most poignant tenderness and beauty bring the overture to an end. This was the fruit of Tschaikowsky's first serious love- affair perhaps his last, if the traditional interpretation of the word "love" is to be applied to the singular rela- tions with women of his later life. 267 THE LURE OF MUSIC With the "Romeo and Juliet" overture Tschaikowsky sprang at a bound into prominence, not only in Russia but in Europe. His circumstances began to mend, and in return for what she had snatched away Fate sent him one of the most beautiful friendships in the history of art. This was his singular relationship with Nadeshda von Meek, to whom he never spoke in his life, although they corresponded almost daily, and he confided in her as to a companion soul. Madame von Meek, the widow of a rich engineer, loved music, and had been profoundly affected by the compositions of Tschaikowsky. She asked Tschaikow- sky to allow her to pension him for the remainder of his days, saying that it would make her infinitely happy to know him secure and able to compose as his inspiration directed. After some hesitation he accepted this offer. It was Madame von Meek who stipulated, with the rarest tact and generosity, that they should never meet. They never did meet, save once, by accident, when the composer encountered her in the woods. This happened one day near Madame von Meck's estate at Brailov. Tschaikowsky, not knowing of her proximity, suddenly found himself before her. They gazed at each other for a moment without a word. Then Tschaikowsky, with a frightened exclamation, raised his hat and fled through the trees. They continued to correspond until bitterest of all the composer's trials there arose be- tween them a misunderstanding which remained un- explained to the day of his death. Surely, beside the eternities of true friendship, the accidents of this life weigh small! Surely, on the other side of the grave, the needful word was spoken! Madame von Meek was even the confidante of the be- ginning and end of perhaps the most fantastic and un- fortunate experience of marriage a composer ever under- went. It was only an episode, over almost before it 268 THE LURE OF MUSIC began, but it nearly cost the musician his life, to say nothing of his reason. A woman whom Tschaikowsky hardly knew wrote him a letter telling him that she loved him. Her ex- pressions were so sincere and so touching that the com- poser answered the letter. Still more foolishly, he con- sented to visit her. She so aroused his sympathy and his chivalry that at last, though he did not love her, he asked her to be his wife. With an impulse so child- like that it makes one smile, and so tragic in its revela- tion of helplessness and despair that it makes one weep, he seized letter-paper and confided the whole thing to Madame von Meek! She, sensible woman, neither crit- icized nor condemned. The marriage, of course, was an utter failure. Tschaikowsky was as one distracted. Later he told a friend, Kashkin, that one night he stood up to his armpits in a near-by river, hoping he would catch a death-chill. The marriage had to be dissolved. Tschaikowsky was a broken man. But he never blamed his wife for the catastrophe, and always spoke of her as a noble woman. In 1887 Russia was at war. Tschaikowsky, respon- sive to the temper of the times, composed the barbaric "Marche Slave." The march opens with the angry pounding of a drum a call, a menace, a summons to battle. Then, over this single note, is heard the wailing minor chant of a primitive people. "Ancestral voices prophesying war." This is a Serbian folk-tune selected by Tschaikowsky for his purpose. A new and defiant song is heard, accompanied by commotion of the wind instruments. After stormy prep- aration the chant is again intoned with all possible orchestral sonority. Gradually, as though vanishing in the distance, this dies away, and low, growling chords bring the first part of the record to a close. The second half of the march (on the reverse side of the record) 269 THE LURE OF MUSIC opens with a joyous dance motive music of exulta- tion, of anticipated triumph. For a stirring climax the composer gives us two new strains in combination, the first a joyous dance rhythm, through which is heard sounding the Russian national anthem. " Marche Slave," Parts I and II Played by Columbia Symphony Orchestra Columbia Record A 5933 The old Russian anthem served Tschaikowsky well. Another great composition inspired by national feeling is the Overture 1812. This was written for the con- secration of the Cathedral of Christ in Moscow, built to commemorate the burning of that city in the year 1812. The overture was to be performed in the great square before the church by an enormous orchestra. At the climax church bells were to ring, and the place of the big drums was to be taken by cannon. How successfully Tschaikowsky imagined this scene the as- sembled multitude in many-colored costumes, the peas- ants and the nobles, the priests with their icons, the soldiers, the guards of the Czar, and the towering tem- ple of worship for a background and with what tech- nical mastery he filled the great spaces of his canvas is shown by the music. Overture: " The Year 1812," Parts I and II Played by the Regimental Band of H. M. Grenadier Guards Columbia Record A 5874 The^overtu-re opens with the Russian hymn, "God % preserve Thy people," sounded with antiphonal majesty by the brass instruments. This gives way to music of agitation and suspense, while the oboe plays a mourn- ful melody over an awakening orchestra. Gradually a tempest of tone is let loose. The drums roll. A chal- lenging fanfare is sounded by the cornets. When this 270 THE LURE OF MUSIC is repeated it is heard in combination with a new and singing theme. This makes the first half of the record. The second half, on the reverse side, begins with music woven of the French "Marseillaise" and a Cossack folk-tune. Fragments of the "Marseillaise" are lost in whirling masses of tone. The Russian airs and the "Marseillaise" alternate. As bells ring from church towers the French anthem is flung out by the brass. The orchestra prepares for some great event, some mighty rejoicing. Again is heard the hymn of the opening, "God preserve Thy people," again the brilliant fanfare of the cornets, and finally, with rolling of drums and joyful reverberation of cathedral bells, the national anthem. Tschaikowsky composed operas, symphonies, and suites in rapid succession. Among these were the operas "Eugen Onegin," "Pique Dame," "Joan of Arc"; the Fourth and Fifth Symphonies; three string quartets and other pieces of chamber music; many extremely beautiful songs and a ballet, "The Sleeping Beauty." He waited years before giving the world one of his gayest and most delightful compositions, the "Casse- Noisette" ("Nut-cracker") Suite. The music was to accompany a fairy ballet. In the first scene happy children are gathered about a Christmas tree. Candles are lighted, and every one receives presents. To little Marie is given a common nut-cracker, but she likes this best of all. The boys snatch it from her, and it is broken. Marie bursts into tears, talks to it, caresses it, and before going to bed herself rocks it to sleep under the Christmas tree. ... It is midnight. Marie awakes, remembers her broken nut-cracker and steals down to the darkened room. Strange sight! Swarms of mice are coming in from all sides. Then a wonderful thing happens. The Christmas cakes, the toys, and, best of all, her beloved nut-cracker, come to life. There is 271 THE LURE OF MUSIC great commotion; war is declared between the mice and the toys. The nut-cracker takes command and fights with the mouse king. When the nut-cracker is almost vanquished Marie bravely throws her shoe at the mouse king. He dies and the mice are defeated. The nut-cracker changes to a handsome prince, thanks Marie, and takes her with him to his magic kingdom. The second scene of the ballet shows the jam moun- tain in the fairy-land of sweets and toys. Here the sugar-plum fairy is queen. She and her retinue joyfully welcome Marie and the nut-cracker. For the entertain- ment of the guests of the real world is held the dance of the sweets and the toys. The "Danse Chinoise" ("Chinese Dance") is the dance of the tea one of the gayest and most popular of these little pieces. The "Danse des Mirlitons" is the droll dance of little red musical toys, which when played sound like that friend of our childhood, the piece of paper and the comb. Belonging to the same suite is the charming "Valse des Fleurs" ("Waltz of the Flowers"). " Casse-Noisette" ("Nut-cracker" Suite): " Danse Chinoise" " Danse des Mirlitons " and " Valse des Fleurs" Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 5749 This composition belongs to the period in which Tschaikowsky visited America and conducted per- formances of his compositions during April and May, 1891. At the last of his life Tschaikowsky completed his most eloquent and tragic composition, the "Symphonic Pathetique " (" Pathetic Symphony ") . What were the circumstances which inspired this work? And had the composer a premonition of his approaching end? Cer- tainly its composition was attended by sorrowful events. 272 THE LURE OF MUSIC Tschaikowsky's health was poor; he was melancholy and despondent. It seemed to him that his friends were dropping away. Anton Rubinstein had passed in the street without speaking to him. Worst of all, the hard- est trial of his life to bear, Madame von Meek had abruptly stopped corresponding with him. We now know that her mind had been affected and that this had changed her relations with every one, but to Tschai- kowsky the estrangement was a crushing blow to the fairest ideal of his life. Many believed, in view of his conduct at this time, that he contemplated suicide. He proceeded to put his affairs in order, gave the finish- ing touches to a number of scores which had not yet been published, and worked with feverish energy on the last symphony. He admitted that this work had a program, a story, but what it was he would never tell. Had he not burned his diary we might know, but now the secret is sealed forever. The tragedy of that music, said one writer, "stained the white radiance of eternity." The "Symphonic Pathetique" stands to-day the monument of Tschaikowsky's art, the epitome of his career. The following record is of the sad and beautiful theme of the first movement, a theme which might easily be a remembrance of the composer's happy child- hood, and of the mother whom he loved so well, whose death embittered the life of her son. In the symphony this music is preceded by a fragment from the Russian requiem. " Symphonic Pathetique " (From the first movement) Played by Columbia Symphony Orchestra Columbia Record A 5594 Constantine von Sternberg, a personal friend of Tschaikowsky, told the writer this story of his end: Tschaikowsky, at a banquet, insisted, despite the warn- 273 THE LURE OF MUSIC ing of his friends, on drinking from a pitcher of unboiled water. Cholera was rife in Petrograd. Soon after he was seized with pain. A doctor was summoned, every restorative applied, and it seemed that the composer was recovering. He was put to bed, after which the doctor recommended the usual treatment a hot bath. Singularly enough, Tschaikowsky had had all his life a superstition that he would die in his bath, and was very averse to following the physician's advice. He was, nevertheless, immersed, and all promised well when, on the morning of October 25, 1893, the doctor turned from a consultation with his assistant, and found that life was gone. This was the end of a noble and unfortunate man, the composer who had done more than any other to make Russia known musically to the outside world. Latin, Slav, Anglo-Saxon all have been stirred by his voice, by the human documents which he wrote with his heart's blood in little black characters on music paper. MODERN RUSSIAN COMPOSERS K7BINSTEIN and Tschaikowsky were the pioneers of one of the most remarkable developments of modern art the music of the young Russian school. This music astonished the world by its dazzling color, its barbaric extravagance, its gorgeous pictures of the East. To understand how such an art came into existence it is necessary to go back for a moment to its origins. The true music of Russia came primarily from the peo- ple. Illiterate, oppressed, they suffered endlessly, with- out help, without complaint, other than the songs which rose to God. For centuries their simple and wonderful melodies were ignored, as they themselves were ignored, by the aristocrats and by professional musicians im- ported from Europe. Finally, however, in the same epoch which was ushered in by the freeing of the serfs, there came to Russian musicians a realization of all that the folklore of their own country might mean to the development of a representative national art. The first great Russian composer to feel the beauty of the peasant songs and respond to their influence in his music was Michael Ivanovich Glinka, born on the 1st of June, 1804, whose opera, "A Life for the Czar" (Petrograd, 1836), created a new precedent in Russian music and expressed in a thrilling manner the spirit of the Russian people. Among Glinka's finest compositions is his setting of one of the best-beloved melodies of the Russian people, "The Kamarinskaja," an air danced and sung at peasant 275 THE LURE OF MUSIC weddings, and popular throughout Russia. The freshness and beauty of the melody, as in the case of many folk- songs, seem strangely mated to a text which is amusing and often coarse. Inelegant, this text has the vigor and humor of the common people, the savor of the soil. Such is the origin of the dance which Glinka has glorified by his genius. " Kamarinskaja " Balalaika Solo Columbia Record E 867 Glinka was followed by Dargomizsky, author of an opera, "The Stone Guest" (Petrograd, 1872), and other compositions of a highly original and realistic character. After him, contemporaneously with Rubinstein and Tschaikowsky, came those young men, fanatically con- scious of the genius of their nation and determined to express it in music, who called themselves, in gay de- fiance of conservative opposition, "The Invincible Band." What wonders they wTought! With what ar- dor did they labor in a day when hope was awaking in the Russian heart, when the people had not as yet been misled by false prophets! The "Invincibles," or "The Cabinet "-they were known and made fun of by several names were five in number, and all young men of the upper classes of society. The leader was Mili Balakireff (1837-1910). He was the only one who had at the beginning any serious and extensive knowledge of his art. It devolved on him to counsel and inspire the others. Alexander Borodin (1834-1887), a natural son of a Prince of Imeretia, was a chemist by profession, and a composer in the intervals of a laborious and fruitful career. For his opera, "Prince Igor," founded on the Russian epic of that name, which dealt with heroic exploits of the twelfth century in Russia, Borodin delved 276 22 GLIXKA. 1804^1857 THE LURE OF MUSIC deep in Asiatic lore, both musical and legendary. One of the results of this study was the "Polovskian Dances," supposed to be danced by a primitive people before Prince Igor, who is taken captive by his enemies. These dances are of elemental power and emotional appeal. It was well said of Borodin that he had in his veins the blood of the East and the West, that his art blended the refinement and finish of European culture with the sav- agery and extravagance of the Eastern barbarian. What is not less remarkable is the clearness and originality of his expression. He was too busy a man, too much occu- pied with many interests, to produce a great deal of music, but nearly everything he has left is distinguished by clarity of style combined with oriental imagination. One thinks of Borodin, as his biographers tell of him, going from lecture-room to lecture-room at the Petrograd Medical Institute, shouting in the corridors the strange melodies and intervals which thronged in his head, and one marvels the more at his accomplish- ment. Between recitations, in odd hours of day and night, he composed. At home he had little solitude or opportunity for concentration, for his hospitality was that of the true Russian, and his house the resort of any and all the friends and relatives who cared to descend on the good-natured man. Guests, and cats! These animals, of which the Borodins were inordinately fond, were not only underfoot continually, but even sat at the table at mealtime ! The career of Modest Moussorgsky (1839-1881), whose genius was so audacious and original that of all "The Five" he was the longest in being recognized at his true value, was that of an uncompromising idealist. Mous- sorgsky embodied the social and intellectual movement then sweeping through Russia, of which the refrain was "Back to the People." This was his creed. These people Moussorgsky loved and understood all of them, 277 THE LURE OF MUSIC good and bad, wise and foolish and he put them just as they were into his music. The stuttering of the vil- lage fool whom he beheld one day making incoherent love to the village belle was to this composer more sig- nificant than any classic sonata or symphony, and he made a queer, pathetic song out of it. He celebrated in music of singular weirdness and pathos the fate of the drunken peasant, discouraged by poverty and hard- ship, who, staggering home, sinks to his last sleep in the whirling snows. An example of the distinctive character of Moussorgsky's music is his "Song of the Flea." This is the song which Mephistopheles sings for the students in Auerbach's wine-cellar. Disguised as a fine gentleman, the fiend offers to entertain the company with a song. Ostensibly an amusing ditty, his song is in reality a scornful, contemptuous parody on the weakness and vanity of men. The king at court, goes the verse, came to think most highly of the wit and talent of a certain pretentious flea. This flea worked himself so thoroughly into the good graces of the mon- arch that the royal tailor was ordered to make it breeches. All the court bowed down to its superb highness, and even when the courtiers had secretly to scratch cow- ards and sycophants that they were they, nevertheless, cursing under their breath, paid homage to the flea. Into the music Moussorgsky has put the impudence and sarcasm with which Mephistopheles, his tongue in his cheek, bawls out his couplets to the bewildered townsfolk. Satanic laughter is heard after each verse. " Song of the Flea " Sung by Oscar Seagle Columbia Record A 5734 Another Columbia record of Moussorgsky's music is that of the polonaise from his opera, "Boris Godou- now>" first produced in its entirety at Petrograd, Jan- 278 MOUSSORGSKY, 1839-1881 THE LURE OF MUSIC uary 24, 1874. The text of this opera is in part taken from Pushkin's poem of the same name, and is in part the work of Moussorgsky. Boris, acting regent during the childhood of the young Dmitri, the young heir of Ivan the Terrible, murders the boy and usurps the throne. Some years later the monk Gregory, who is about the same age as the murdered heir would have been if he had lived, escapes from his cell, claims that he is Dmitri, and leads a revolt against Boris. The revolt gains headway. Boris dies, tortured by remorse, in terror of Dmitri's spirit, which haunts him. An idiot, uncon- sciously prophetic, weeps for the future of Russia. The polonaise is taken from the first scene of the third act, a scene in which the false Dmitri, who loves Marina, visits a Polish castle where the plotting is going forward. The guests come from the castle in the moonlight and dance the polonaise. Polonaise from " Boris Godounow " Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 5781 In opera, in a series of songs which are a veritable comedie humaine of music, Moussorgsky wrought an artistic revolution. Modern composers bow the knee to his supreme originality of ideas and technic. Moussorgsky paid heavily for his achievement. Boro- dine in his letters contrasts the change in the dash- ing young officer, who joined "The Invincibles" in 1857 when he was eighteen years old, and the man whom Borodine met again, after a lapse of years, when Mous- sorgsky had given up his position in the army and sacrificed everything for his art. Lines of care and ill health had shown themselves. The figure was no longer trim and erect as of yore. The man had known sorrow and thought. There was in the face the loftiness of purpose which sustained Moussorgsky to the end. 279 THE LURE OF MUSIC Alone of all Russians this composer approaches in his music the depth, the power, the subtlety which char- acterize the writings of the greatest of Russian authors, Feodor Dostoievsky. Nicholas Rimsky-Korsakoff (1844-1908) commenced life as a naval officer. In that capacity he is believed to have touched the shores of the United States in 1862. As we shall find, his acquaintance with the deep meant much to him as a composer. He loved nature and the Russian legends that nature inspired. He was con- tinually telling fairy-tales in his music. Thus his art was in most respects the precise opposite of that of Moussorgsky. Moussorgsky faced the realities of life, its tumult of purposes and desires, its noble dreams, its petty absurdities. All these things, which he contem- plated with a passionate and unflinching gaze, w r ent on his canvas. Rimsky-Korsakoff preferred the realm of the legendary and the poetic. He is the best known of "The Five" to the outside world. No one of the Rus- sian composers was such a master in handling the or- chestra. Tschaikowsky wrote of the gorgeous "Spanish Caprice" that it was the most brilliant feat of orchestra- tion which had come to his attention. This "Caprice" is a fantasia on Spanish airs treated with exceptional spirit by the composer. " Capriccio Espagnol " French Symphony Orchestra (Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire) Andre Messager, Conductor Columbia Record A 6122 The "Spanish Caprice" preceded the wonders of that remarkable piece of music, "Scheherazade," inspired by the Arabian Nights, and called by the composer a "symphonic suite." This suite is in four move- ments. The imaginative and pictorial quality of Rimsky-Korsakoff s genius is fully exhibited in the 280 RIMSKY-KORSAKOFF, 1844-1908 THE LURE OF MUSIC opening movement, inspired by the stories of Sindbad the sailor. It is a picture of the sea; of the vessel, with bellying sail, which mounts the billows; and the strange song of the wind in her rigging. This depiction of toss- ing waters is preceded by a curious passage for the trom- bones, as if a magician, weaving his spells, were calling to his aid the genii of Arabian legends. One also hears a solo violin the voice of the wheedling Scheherazade assuring her lord that if he will allow her to live another night, she will tell a new tale more incomparably as- tounding than any he has yet heard. Thereafter is heard the music of the deep. " Sindbad's Voyage " Played by Russian Ballet Orchestra Columbia Record A 5878 The sea of Rimsky-Korsakoff is that sea into which bored sultans throw their favorites when they have tired of them, in neat little bags, well sealed. It is the sea frequented by fantastical monsters, the sea in which, according to the caption over the last move- ment of the suite, the ship of Prince Ajib, hurtling against a statue of a bronze warrior, loses all its nails, which are magnetically extracted from its sides, and sinks in fragments to the bottom. A man of imagina- tion, Rimsky-Korsakoff, in a note in his manuscript score, says that while he had certain tales in mind when he wrote the music inspired by a reading of the Thousand and One Nights, the hearer may substitute for himself any one of those immortal stories which the music suggests to him. That part of the last movement headed in the score, "Festival at Bagdad," is certainly Orientalism run riot the beating of drums and calls of wind instruments, the dances that heat the blood, the intoxication of those who whirl to the maddening rhythms. At the end of this fantasy, condensed in the 281 THE LURE OF MUSIC recording, is heard quietly, as at the beginning, the violin motive of fair, fawning Scheherazade! " Festival at Bagdad " Played by Russian Ballet Orchestra Columbia Record A 5878 Rimsky-Korsakoff, in addition to innumerable com- positions for the voice and solo instruments, composed thirteen operas. And what were their subjects? He told of Sadko, the minstrel, who dared invade the realm of the sea king, and by the magic of his harp win a bride and escape from threatening monsters of the marine kingdom; of the Snow Maiden, who came down to earth that she might know mortal love, and melted in the arms of her lover at the kiss of the fiery sun. The music of his fantastical fairy-dramas was as much in the character of Russian folk-melody as the stories were typical of the imagination of the people. The scene of the festival of the spring, in "Snegou- rotchka" ("The Snow Maiden," Petrograd, 1882), is one of the most beautiful in all opera. In the forest melt- ing snow still lingers. Denizens of the woodland dis- port themselves fearlessly in the presence of young lovers. Rimsky-Korsakoff went to the country in May of 1882, and completed this work in six months' time. The sap of the spring was in his veins. The laughing music which accompanies the dances of the wood creat- ures is made of a dozen scraps of odd Russian folk- melody, one motive treading hot on the heels of the other, or several being combined by the composer. Straight from the lap of Russia comes this exulting music of the spring. Ballet from " The Snow Maiden " (" Snegourotchka ") Played by Russian Ballet Orchestra Columbia Record A 5931 282 THE LURE OF MUSIC The legend of Sadko, the minstrel of Novgorod, haunted the mind of Rimsky-Korsakoff for many years. His Opus 5, "Sadko," a "musical picture" for orchestra, has been mentioned as the first symphonic poem com- posed by a Russian. This work made its appearance in 1867. Years later, in 1895-1896, Rimsky - Korsakoff completed his opera, "Sadko," which he called a "lyric legend in seven pictures," and in which he incorporated the principal musical themes of the youthful symphonic poem. The song of the Indian merchant is one of three sung in the fourth tableau, when Sadko, about to set out on a voyage, asks several of the merchants to tell him of their native lands. The merchant of the North tells of gray seas and the might of Odin. The Indian merchant follows with his strange song. A barcarolle is sung by a merchant from Venice. In each of the three songs the composer has attained a mood and a coloring characteristic of his theme. But he is most irresistible, his expression is most haunting and exotic, w r hen he discourses of the diamonds in the rocky caves and the pearls in the southern seas of distant India's realm. Song of India, from " Sadko " Sung by Rossa Ponselle Columbia Record 49920 Rimsky-Korsakoff, an honest, fearless, fiery-tempered man, an advocate, even at personal risk, of democracy, had a strong influence in social as well as artistic move- ments in Russia. He was not loved by the old govern- ment. He died in 1908. We have said little of Cesar Cui (1835-1918), the least important member of the glorious "Five." He was more conspicuous for literary propaganda in then* be- half than for the support given them by his music. He was at his best in small pieces and in certain songs, 283 THE LURE OF MUSIC some of which had an agreeably Eastern flavor. His "Orientale" for violin and piano is a case in point. The muted violin propounds a monotonous Eastern rhythm. Over it the piano has a tinkling, odd-inter- valed song which might accompany some mysterious ceremony. " Orientale " Played by Eddy Brown Columbia Record A 6012 One of Rimsky-Korsakoff 's pupils is Ippolitoff-Ivanoff. He has lived much in Asiatic Russia, and has written a series of Caucasian sketches which have deservedly found favor because of their geniune Orientalism. One of these, "In the Village," represents the music of a senii-civilized Caucasian community the solitary voice of a lamenting viola, followed by Asiatic dance music. " In the Village " From " Caucasian Sketches " Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 6034 A piece of gorgeously descriptive music is the "March of the Sirdar" ("Cortege du Serdare"). It is an ex- travagant barbaric Eastern march. A swinging song is sometimes contrasted and sometimes combined with rapid and eccentric musical figures of another land and another clime. "March of the Sirdar" ("Cortege du Serdare") Played by New York Philharmonic Orchestra Columbia Record A 6135 It is not uncharacteristic of the times in Russia that while there are as many gifted Russian composers to-day as ever before, there is no strong, definite musical movement in any one direction. Outstanding com- posers of the beginning of the twentieth century are 84 THE LURE OF MUSIC Alexander Scriabine (1872-1915), an experimenter, a mystic, a lover of sensations who had something genuine and original to say, and Igor Strawinsky (1882 ), composer of "The Fire Bird" ("Oiseau de Feu"), "Petrouchka," and other works which have been pre- sented by the Russian Ballet. The evolution of his style has been so bewilderingly rapid as to puzzle even his many admirers. A third figure is in a measure a foil to the extreme modernity of the two composers just mentioned. He is Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 ), in his early years a pupil of Arensky, who first became famous outside of his own country through his Prelude in C sharp minor, a youthful composition which he sold to a publisher for twenty dollars. Prelude in C Sharp Minor Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 5781 Played by Josef Hofmann Columbia Record A 6125 Some find in this music the despair of Russian convicts marching to their doom. Rachmaninoff has unkindly dispelled illusion by stating definitely that he had no story in mind when he composed his Prelude. The piece is not a story so much as it is a tragical mood. The composer has left each of us to tell his own story, and it was Balzac who said that the wonder of music was its power to reflect that which each of the listeners found in himself. IN this chapter only the most general mention can be made of the remarkable musical developments now going forward in America. We confine our- selves to main currents of our musical life, past and present, and particularly to men who have struck an individual and racial note in their compositions. The first of these appears to have been that brilliant and poetic personality, the pianist, Louis Moreau Gott- schalk. He was born in New Orleans, May 8, 1829. He came, by way of several generations on his mother's side, from the minor French aristocracy. His father was English. Gottschalk was a child prodigy at three, and at twelve was sent to Paris to study the piano and composition at the Conservatoire. Zimmerman, head of the piano department, refused even to examine him, saying, "America is only a country of steam-engines/' It is Gottschalk's lasting distinction that he was the first American to successfully challenge this fast-disappearing provincial European attitude. He studied with Stamaty, and two years later made a brilliant debut at the Salle Pleyel. Chopin, who was present, said, "I predict that you ^ r ill be the king of pianists." Gottschalk, returning to this country from his early concert successes in Europe, composed his piano piece, "Bamboula," inspired by the barbaric dances of the negroes of New Orleans. The tune is a famous one, and has been used in orchestral compositions by Coleridge- TJ ylor, Henry F. Gilbert, and probably by others. The novelty of Gottschalk's compositions charmed Euro- THE LURE OF MUSIC peans and Americans alike, and struck a new note in our musical art. At that time folk-melody melody of the people, the folk was seldom given the attention of educated musicians. Gottschalk, like Chopin who greatly influenced his piano style, had the originality and daring to incorporate such melody in his composi- tions, develop it, and thereby blaze a path which later American composers were to follow. It is not easy in these days to appreciate the emotion which Gottschalk's music evoked in his hearers, especial- ly when played by himself. There is in his most repre- sentative work a tenderness and languor, a sentimental- ity typical not only of his temperament, but of his period and community. Two of his compositions which held the public for generations are "The Dying Poet" and "The Last Hope," pieces of elegance, sadness, and melodic grace which exerted an irresistible appeal. "The Dying Poet" (Gottschalk) Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 5932 " The Last Hope " (Gottschalk) Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 5881 Gottschalk lived a singularly romantic and picturesque career. He toured much of Europe, the United States, the West Indies, and South America, where he passed some years. He was equally at home whether partaking of tortillas in the hut of a vaquero or chumming wj>h the Emperor of Brazil. His memoirs make fascinating read- ing. The story of his death is of a piece with the life he led. According to this story, he r^ se from a sick bed to play for an expectant audience, and, while in- terpreting his own composition, "Morte" ("Death"), fell lifeless from his chair. This was in Rio de Jan iro, December 18, 1889. 23 287 A musician whose talent was less aristocratic and or- nate and of a deeper meaning than Gottschalk's was Stephen Collins Foster, creator of songs America will always hold dear. These and certain other songs by American composers are discussed in the following chap- ter for what they really are, American folk-songs. It was not until after the Civil War that there appeared in America a number of young men determined to study seriously the technic of composition and lay a solid foundation for achievement in their art. Edward MacDowell, born in New York, December 18, 1861, studied music in France, where he was a classmate of Debussy at the Paris Conservatoire, and in Germany, where he came strongly under the influence of the romantic school. Celtic by descent, MacDowell lived in a world of dreams. A spirit of faery, as the Irish poets would say, pervades his music. He thought of Arthurian legends, and composed heroic dream- pictures of things forgotten by the world of men. Re- turning from Europe to America in 1888, he soon fled from the din of cities and found refuge in his log cabin in the woods of Peterboro, New Hampshii^. There, in communion with the forest that he loved, he composed much of his best music. He would not cut dywn a tree he was certain that the spirit within '^e bark suffered from the ax. His nature expressed itself characteristically in short but exquisite melodies, of which the following is a famous example. " To a Wild Rose " Played by Eddy Brown, violinist Columbia Record A 2778 In 1896, as it now appears unwisely, MacDowell accepted the chair of music at Columbia University. He died in 1908, and the loss to American music cannot readily be computed. MacDowell was no man 288 MACDOWELL. 1861-1903 THE LURE OF MUSIC to found a school of composition or build foundations for the labors of others to come. This work was done very notably by John Knowles Paine (1839-1906) and his colleagues and disciples. Paine, after studying in Europe, became teacher of composition at Harvard University, and in 1875 occupied the chair of music (the first to be established in America) at that institution. Among his pupils were Arthur Foote (1853 ) and Frederick S. Converse (1871 ). George W. Chad wick, the most versatile and productive of living American composers, studied first at the New England Conserva- tory of Music, of which he is now director, and later in Germany with Reinecke and Jadahasson. Among Chadwick's pupils were Horatio Parker, whose choral work, "Hora Novissima," gained him international re- nown, and Henry Hadley (1871 ), brilliantly successful both as composer and as conductor. Mrs. H. H. Beach (1867) is one of the few women composers to write in large as well as small forms, as witness her "Gaelic" symphony and compositions of chamber music. Two men, chronologically belonging to this group, and yet not of it, are the very antitheses of each other in their artistic tendencies. These are John Alden Car- penter and Henry F. Gilbert. Carpenter, a composer of very sensitive feeling for harmonic and orchestral color, a remarkable technician, and a man of the greatest breadth in his artistic appreciations, was born in Illinois in 1876. He studied under Paine at Harvard and for a time under Edward Elgar in England. His "Adven- tures in a Perambulator" (1914), a piece for enormous orchestra, describing with humor and astonishing in- genuity the adventures of a baby in its perambulator, made a sensation in concert halls of America. His concertino for piano and orchestra (1915) confirmed him in the position he had won as a composer. This was followed by a symphony (1916), and in 1919 the 289 THE LURE OF MUSIC Chicago Opera Association performed his ballet, after the tale of Wilde, "The Birthday of the Infanta," strikingly effective music for a stage spectacle. In his song cycle, "Gitanjali," Carpenter shows most poetic and refined feeling. Despite his accomplishments in music he re- mains active in business, and since 1909 has been vice- president of the mill, railway, and vessel supply firm of George P. Carpenter & Co., of Chicago. Few composers, amateur or professional, in this country or abroad, match him in his mastery of his art. Furthermore, Carpenter is a man who grows, who never stands still in his development. , Henry Franklin Belknap Gilbert was born in Massa- chusetts in 1868. He was the first American pupil of Edward MacDowell when that composer returned to America after his European studies in 1888. With MacDowell, Gilbert studied composition and orchestra- tion for several years, then, driven by circumstances, wandered over the country making a living at a dozen different trades, consorting with the people, and listening to then* music. One of Gilbert's early compositions, quick to make its way, was his "Pirate Song," after the verses of which Stevenson made such effective use in Treasure Island. The song is rakish, devil-may-care the picture of a drunken old tar reeling up the street, singing his ungodly song of treasure, death, and rum. " Pirate Song " (Gilbert) Sung by David Bispham Columbia Record A 5778 Gilbert waited many years for recognition of his talent by the influential musical public. Meanwhile he worked with unfaltering faith and zeal to perfect a musical style which should not be of European traditions and formulae, but a manner of musical speech in which the American people could hear an echo, at least, of their own land. 290 i THE LURE OF MUSIC His ideals were memorably vindicated when his " Comedy Overture on Negro Themes" was performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1911, and recognized by influential critics as the work of a new man, with something of first importance to say. Gilbert's panto- mime ballet, the "Dance on Place Congo," was pro- duced by the Metropolitan Opera Company in 1918, at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York. By turns brutal, tender, and nobly tragic, the music ranks as one of the most important and individual of his achievements. Nothing is more encouraging as a sign of American musical development than the manner in which com- posers have multiplied and diversified their productions in late years. Throughout the country have risen men and women whose compositions, written for the greater part in modest forms, have had an enthusiastic reception by the public, and in sum and substance exerted a highly important influence in making the nation musical. Dudley Buck (1839-1909), born at Hartford, Connecti- cut, was one of the earliest Americans to write music respected by musicians and at the same time appealing to the mass of the people. His music is of a generation past, but it will be long before it is willingly relinquished by organists, singers, music-lovers, to whom its religious sentiment and its smooth and melodious quality are appealing. " Seventh Te Deum " (Dudley Buck) Sung by Columbia Mixed Quartet Columbia Record A 5538 James Carroll Bartlett was born in Harmony, Maine, in 1850. In 1869 he came to Boston, where he studied with excellent teachers. Later he became a pupil in singing of ^Yilliam Shakespeare in London. He was very 291 THE LURE OF MUSIC successful as teacher, composer, and tenor singer, tour- ing in 1875-1876 with Camilla Urso's concert company, and later with the Sauret-Carreno and the Barnabee concert companies. As a biographer put it happily, "Mr. Bartlett has sung his way into thousands of American hearts." This same should be said of his song, "A Dream," which, because of its simplicity, its sincere and straightforward melodic line, and its suitable- ness to the text of Charles B. Cory, has established it- self in the affections of innumerable music-lovers. " A Dream " (James Carroll Bartlett) Sung by Corinne Rider-Kelsey Columbia Record A 5710 Homer M. Bartlett, the late gifted organist and com- poser who was in a former edition of this book men- tioned as the author of this song, died in New York in 1919. James Carroll Bartlett, composer of "A Dream," now lives, teaches, composes, and enjoys the high esteem of musicians and laymen alike, in Medfield and Boston, Massachusetts. A talent which endeared itself to the public by its lyric grace and beauty was that of Ethelbert Nevin (1862-1901), born in Edgeworth, Pennsylvania. He came honestly by his gifts not that his parents were musicians by birth or training, although his father com- posed the campaign song, "Our Nominee," which elected Polk President but there was in the home the atmosphere of happiness and beauty likely to stimulate a sensitive nature to artistic production of some kind. Nevin originally intended to be a concert pianist, but he developed such marked ability in composition that he gave the greater part of his time to this pursuit. He had an inborn facility and an unfailing stock of melodic ideas of a very pleasing character. The piano piece, "Narcissus," which has traveled over the wide world. ETHELBERT NEVIN, 1862-1901 THE LURE OF MUSIC been played by street musicians of half a dozen different nationalities, and been performed at the command of kings, was conceived and completed within a few hours on a day's ramble in the countryside in 1891. The idea came to Nevin so quickly and in such complete form that he sent the work to the publisher without taking the precaution to correct it at the piano. " Narcissus " (Nevin) Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 912 The famous "Rosary" was composed in 1897, when Nevin was in New York. One evening he opened a letter from an old friend inclosing Robert Cameron Rogers's poem. The first line had the words, "The hours I spent with thee, dear heart." These words aroused the imagination of the composer; the melodic thought came to him. The next day he handed the manuscript, with a note, to his wife. The note read: "Just a little souvenir to let you know how I thank le bon Dieu for giving me you. The entire love and devotion of Ethelbert Nevin." The emotional fervor of this song, the rich, modern quality of the harmonies that support the voice, and the dramatic manner in which the text is set, have won it a lasting place in the repertory and in the affections of the public. " The Rosary " (Nevin) Sung by Barbara Maurel Columbia Record A 2724 In a cottage across the fields from the house of his childhood, called "Queen Anne's Lodge," Nevin wrote one of his simplest and most engaging songs, "Mighty Lak' a Rose." In it are the humor and tenderness of the old colored mammy who rocked him as a child. 293 THE LURE OF MUSIC " Mighty Lak' a Rose " (Nevin) Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 5671 "Ethelbert Nevin," it was said, "wrote like a man who had a chrysanthemum in his buttonhole and the fear of God in his heart." Frederick Field Bullard (1864-1904) was the author of one of the finest of American part songs, the "Stein Song," which, following the vogue attending its initial appearance, has gradually become a part of the musical literature of the American people, and will probably belong eventually to that class of compositions known as "composed" folk-songs. Bullard, talented and self- critical, did not overrate his ability. He studied seri- ously, but created sparingly, composing only when he had something to say. When the time came, however, he took care to say it well, as shown by the virile swing, the clean-cut phrases, the manly good-fellowship of his excellent song. " Stein Song " (Bullard) Sung by Graham Marr and Stellar Quartet Columbia Record A 5879 Two Kipling songs by American composers are Walter Damrosch's setting of "Danny Deever" and Oley Speaks' swinging rhythms for the "Road to Mandalay." Mr. Damrosch wisely did not attempt to make music out of the dramatic recital of Danny Dee- ver' s end, but has simply provided a background of con- stantly increasing rhythmic excitement which drives home the verses with what the newspaper editors call "a punch." " Danny Deever " (Damrosch) Sung by David Bispham Columbia Record A 5778 Mr. Speaks has felt the pulse and the romance of Kipling's lines. It is singular that comparatively few 294 THE LURE OF MUSIC composers have attempted settings of these verses, and that none who have attempted them have provided nearly as effective an opportunity for the singer as he. " On the Road to Mandalay " (Speaks) Sung by Frank Croxton Columbia Record A 5441 Songs of American Indians have inevitably influenced composers in the West. Whether these composers have reproduced the actual Indian melodies, or merely de- rived from Indian motives or legends suggestions for songs of their own, need not be discussed here. We have, in the songs of composers like Lieurance and Cadman, charming melodies, for which the Indian is in greater or lesser degree responsible. Thurlow Lieurance, of Lincoln, Nebraska, has made an extensive study at first hand of Indian customs and folk-lore. Here is his own description of his well- known ""Waters of Minnetonka": "Many persons know the legend of Minnetonka how the two lovers fled to escape torture, and let themselves sink together into the waters of the lonely northern lake. The silver ripples, it is told, mourn above them, and the winds bear the cry afar. But in the song they will arise from the depths of the lake for you; you will hear the steady and regular beat of their paddles, and see the diamond spray drip off in the moonlight as they pass, once again, in their ghost canoe. A violin, typifying the wind, if you choose, echoes the soft harmonies of the accompaniment, which rock to and fro on harp-chords, between the major key and its relative minor, in and out of that singular domain musicians know as the 'added sixth' chord and its derivatives." " By the Waters of Minnetonka " (Lieurance) (Also Cadman's " Land of the Sky-blue Water ") Sung by Barbara Maurel Columbia Record A 2625 295 THE LURE OF MUSIC From Cadman, a born song-writer, have come "a number of Indian songs of romantic feeling. He was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 1881. He gained his musical education entirely in Pittsburgh He has also been active as pianist, critic, lecturer. Of late years he has lived in California. His interest in Indian folk- lore dates from about 1906, when he became acquainted with the ethnological studies of Alice Fletcher and La Flesche. He produced in 1908 "Four Indian Songs," one of which, "The Land of the Sky-blue Water," was sung with the greatest success by Madame Nordica, and has been ever since a favorite with the public. "At Dawning" is similar to this song in its style and its melodious idiom. It is an Indian love-song. " At Dawning " (Cadman) Sung by Barbara Maurel Columbia Record A 2724 Cadman has written three operas on Indian legends. One of these, " Shane wis," was produced with marked success at the Metropolitan Opera House, March 23, 1918. He is a composer who constantly grows in his mastery of his medium. There must be added to songs such as these another class of music which is gradually gaining recognition as an important factor in our musical growth the music of the theaters, the bands, the dance-halls. The marches of John Philip Sousa (1856 ) have energetic rhythms and buoyancy, felt to-day as when these marches were first heard. Mention need only be made of several of the most representative of his works to remind the reader of what they contain, such as "The Stars and Stripes Forever" (Columbia Record A 5848); "The Washington Post" (Columbia Record 06 THE LURE OF MUSIC A 5535); "The Thunderer," "El Capitan" (Columbia Record A 2176). The names of composers of light opera are legion. Their gems are scattered through many scores, and a volume prepared by long and discriminating study would have to be written to do justice to their successes and failures. Two names are pre-eminently associated with this medium those of Victor Herbert (1859 ) and Reginald de Koven (1859-1920). The "Brown October Ale," from the earliest and the finest of his operettas, "Robin Hood" (Columbia Record A 5879), and "Oh, Promise Me" (Columbia Record A 1409), from the same work, represent De Koven at his best. From Herbert's grand opera, "Natoma," based on the romance of an Indian girl, comes the "Spring Song" (Columbia Record A 1432). One of his most famous and effective works is the "American Fantasie" on national airs, a lively and exciting composition of the holiday and fireworks brand. " American Fantasie " (Herbert) Played by New York Philharmonic Orchestra Columbia Record A 6040 * What has the negro done in music since the days of his emancipation from slavery? While wholly untrained in the art, he was the creator of the inspired "spirituals," several of which are quoted in the following chapter, and of dance music of primitive fascination and appeal. Later he attended conservatories in America and Europe. Being very assimilative, he quickly learned to imitate the music of the whites a result of compara- tively little benefit to his original genius. Still more re- cently the reflective composers of the colored race have come to realize that they can scarcely expect to produce significant art unless they seek inspiration in incidents or 297 THE LURE OF MUSIC impressions which form part of their lives and compose in a way not the white man's, but their own. The American negro composer, Will Marion Cook (1869 ), was educated musically in this country and in Germany. His song, "Exhortation," is certainly a nearer approach to negro psychology than anything else we have heard. Its composition was inspired by an actual occurrence. Some twenty years ago a little troupe of negro singers and players were traveling through the South, performing as they went. One day they discovered that their manager had been cheating them and stealing their money. The musicians, in an evil temper, assembled in the back room of a little saloon. They played cards, "crap" games, and drank much bad liquor. The man- ager, entering the room, realized that he was in dangef of his life. With a stroke of inspiration amounting to genius the rascal sank to his knees and cried, "Bredren, let us pray!" His first word in default of anything definite he could think of at the moment was a low, miserable, wabbling, "Amen." He repeated this "Amen" two or three times, found his wits, and continued. Terror added fervor to his prayer. His voice shook, his limbs trembled, and the tears rolled down his cheeks. Forgetful of everything, he prayed on until he was in such a mood that he would have gone to his death with a smile. This mood reacted on his audience. The men before him shifted uneasily, but no one could find his voice or move forward. The reprobate held them in the hollow of his hand. He escaped. He left the room alive. There is no word for it but contem- poraneous slang. He "got away with it!" Mr. Cook was inspired by this incident in composing his song. He was singularly fortunate in catching the inflection and the emotional zigzagging of that opening "Amen." Another of Mr. Cook's compositions is the "Rain Sonsr," also racial in character. THE LURE OF MUSIC " Exhortation " (A Negro Sermon) Sung by the Right Quintet Columbia Record A 1987 " Rain Song " Sung by Reed Miller Columbia Record A 1558 A chapter on American music is necessarily a chapter which records a hundred different tendencies and efforts in various directions, efforts of uneven value, but all attesting, in sum, to the present rapid artistic growth of the nation, and the mingling and understanding of each other by the multitude of races which make the warp and woof of our national life. There are those who see in this amalgamation of peoples and spiritual forces the promise of a musical achievement of broad and exceptional significance to the future of the art. 24 FOLK-SONGS AJL the great composers have gained inspiration from the music of their people, their "folk," whence this music derives its name; from melodies created by musicians, most of them anonymous, whose names do not figure impressively in histories and dic- tionaries, but whose simple and beautiful songs have outlived the passing of generations, brought comfort, healed sorrow, and made for better understanding and brotherhood among men. The oldest folk-melodies are of unknown authorship. They were extemporized from a full heart, passed from mouth to mouth, and so came down through the genera- tions. We accept these melodies in the spirit in which they were given, as we accept the air, the sunshine, the good earth beneath us. Though we may not realize how great and beautiful they are, they become part of our lives and thoughts. It can be seen, by considering the history of a folk- song, how inevitably it became an expression of a people rather than of an individual. The true folk-song, pass- ing from father to son, travels far before it takes final shape. It may disappear, and crop out unaccountably in some far-distant locality. Owing to the fact that it is not printed, to faulty memorizing, to varying vocal ability of the performers, it is subject to many alterations and to the formative influence of many minds. What is most beautiful and durable in the song, however, remains, while notes not essential to the meaning and beauty of the melody disappear. At last the song 300 THE LURE OF MUSIC emerges from the crucible of time, a wonderful symbol of the spirit of the people rather than of the individual who gave it birth. Folk-songs reflect the environment as well as the heredity of various peoples. The songs of the North are more rugged and heroic than those of the South. The songs of southern climes have a grace and languor not associated with the North. If one were able to ascer- tain accurately the time and place of the appearance of a given number of folk-songs he would have testimony, invaluable to the historian, of the wanderings and evolutions of the races that make mankind. Folk-songs may be divided roughly into two classes: the true folk-song, which is of unknown authorship, and songs of identified composers, so simple and true that the people have adopted them as their own. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA All kinds of fascinating melodies are afloat in the atmosphere of America. They form a genuine democ- racy, a "melting-pot" of music. Folk-melodies from Europe, strains from the countries to the north and south of us, mingle with the old slave songs, with cow- boy ditties, Indian chants, and jingles of the dance- hall and vaudeville show. All of these must be taken into account by anyone who studies the gradual shaping of our popular musical idioms. Even from the latter sources come melodies, now and again, of arresting individuality. For it is not the origin of a tune which determines its quality. As Debussy once remarked, there is only one music, whether it be found in a waltz or in a symphony. Many an aria sung by a high-priced operatic tenor is inferior in art quality to a jig played for a barn dance. More than one "rag- time" compo- 301 THE LURE OF MUSIC sition of wit, ginger, and originality has come from the depths of "Tin Pan Alley!" Here is an old minstrel tune, of disputed authorship, "Zip Coon," or "Turkey in the Straw." It was heard as early as 1820. Dixon, Nichols, Farrell, circus clowns and minstrels, have each been mentioned as its com- poser. It is a wonderfully brisk, humorous, frolicsome air. We have good fortune in being able to quote it as ar- ranged by the Texan composer, David W. Guion,* and played by Percy Grainger, pianist, in a remarkable Colum- bia record. First let us hear what Mr. Guion himself has to say of the tune and his arrangement : * ' ' Turkey in the Straw' every American, of course, knows, but not as I do, for I have danced to it thousands of times out here at the cowboy dances until I was almost ready to drop. I do not know why, where, when, or by whom it was written, but the cowboys and old fiddlers rather look on it as their 'national hymn.' In this concert trans- cription I have tried to write it just as I have often heard it whistled and played by our funny old fiddlers, the cow-punchers and cowboys. It is not easy it was not meant to be, but I certainly could have made it harder to play!" " Turkey in the Straw " (arranged by D. W. Guion) Played by Percy Grainger (pianist) Columbia Record A 3381 Wouldn't you know that the man who talked like that would be the man to make just such a funny and exciting arrangement of "Turkey in the Straw?" Another fiddler's tune of unknown origin, but which will not soon disappear, is "The Arkansas Traveler." The tune and the tale which accompanies it are true bits of American folk-lore. The tune began to be very popular among fiddlers about 1850. According to the story, a happy-go-lucky, improvident Arkansas farmer * G. Schinner, publisher. 302 THE LURE OF MUSIC sits in front of his cabin playing the first strain of the air. Up rides a stranger in search of a night's lodging, who endeavors to engage him in conversation, saying, "Why don't you put a roof on your house?" The squatter, who keeps on fiddling, answers, "When it's dry I don't want a roof; when it's wet I can't," and so on much more of the same sort. The stranger finally asks the fiddler why he doesn't play the second half of the tune. The squatter replies: "I've knowed that tune ten years, and it 'ain't got no second part." "Give me the fiddle," says the stranger, who, after fiddling through the familiar first strain of the tune, turns off into the second part with the heel-tingling skill of the true jig-player. Instantly the whole scene changes. The farmer jumps to his feet, swinging arms and danc- ing, the children tumble about, and the delighted host sings out: "Walk in, stranger. Tie up your horse side of ol' Bill. Give him ten ears of corn. Pull out the demijohn and drink it all," with many other expressions of homely and enthusiastic welcome. " The Arkansas Traveler " Played by Don Richardson (violinist) Columbia Record A 2140 Talking (with music) by Collins and Harlan Columbia Record A 406 And now let us listen to a composition, descended directly from the minstrel tunes of the type we have just considered, only more lively, more nervous and racy, if anything, than those which have gone before that famous American tune, the "Dixie" of Dan Emmett. Dan Emmett's father was a blacksmifh. Dan helped in the smithy as a boy, and was "Jack of all trades" in the neighborhood. He attended school for a little while, played the fiddle indifferently well, and in his thirteenth year became a typesetter for a newspaper. He wrote another good tune, "Old Dan Tucker" ("Old Dan Tucker," sung by Harry C. 303 THE LURE OF MUSIC Browne, Columbia Record A 1999), when he was six- teen years old. The next year he was a fifer and drummer in the United States army. After serving his time he traveled with circus bands. In 184>2 or 1843 he organized a quartet which, armed with a violin, tambourine, banjo, and "bones," in costumes consisting of a striped calico shirt and blue calico coats with im- mence swallow tails, gave performances in New York and other cities of the United States. Alas that those days are gone! Alas for the good old minstrel shows which many of us still remember as incidents of childhood, when the fun was so simple and good and clean, and the end man cracked the old "chestnuts" so merrily ! Emmett joined Bryant's Minstrels in 1857. He corn- posed "Dixie" as a walk-around for a performance which took place at 472 Broadway, New York, on Monday evening, September 19, 1859. Charley White, a member of this troupe, tells in his memoirs of the composition of the song. "One Saturday night hi 1859, when Dan Emmett was a member of Bryant's Minstrels at Mechanic's Hall, New York, Dan [Bryant] said to Emmett: 'Can't you get us up a walk-around dance? I want something new and lively for next Monday night!' Emmett, of course, went to work, and, as he had done so much in that line of composition, he was not long in finding something suitable. At last he hit upon the first two bars, and any composer can tell you how good a start that is in the manufacture of a melody. The next day, Sunday, he had the words commencing, 'I wish I was in Dixie.' This colloquial expression is not, as most people suppose, a Southern phrase, but first appeared among the circus men in the North. In early fall, when nipping frost would overtake the tented wanderers, the boys would think of the genial warmth of the section they were heading for and the common 304 THE LURE OF MUSIC expression would be, 'Well, I wish I was in Dixie.' This gave the title, or catch-line; the rest of the song was original. On Monday morning the song was rehearsed and highly recommended, and at night, as usual, the house was crowded and many of the auditors went home singing 'Dixie.'" "Dixie" Sung by Edgar Stoddard and Broadway Quartet, Columbia Record A 2277 Played by Columbia Band Columbia Record A 75 Emmet t received five hundred dollars for the copy- right of "Dixie." His receipts from all his other songs amounted to only one hundred dollars. He followed the stage until he was too old to perform and changes of fashion had made his entertainment out of date. In his eightieth year Enimett was persuaded to tour with the minstrel show of Al Fields. "When the orchestra struck up "Dixie" at the first performance "he rose and, with old-time gestures and in a voice tremulous with age, sang the song." He was warmly welcomed in the South, but one such trip was enough for him. He retired to his shanty at Mount Vernon, Ohio, where he worked in his garden, chopped wood, raised chickens, and thanked God for his humble but not unhappy lot. Before his death he made the request that he be buried in the dress suit he had worn on tour with Al Fields' minstrels, and the band played "Dixie" as his body was lowered into the grave. Folk-songs which are wholly and inseparably a product of the life of the American nation are the supremely beautiful and pathetic melodies originated by the African slaves. These have been happily entitled by H. E. Krehbiel "Afro-American Folk-Songs." They were born of the sorrows and dreams of the black man, whose susceptible and emotional nature, coupled with the influence of the art of the white, gave rise to a music 305 THE LURE OF MUSIC of unique and incomparable appeal. No white Amer- ican, save possibly Stephen Foster in his best songs, has equaled the profound feeling and the mystical inspiration of these outpourings of the soul of a race. It was not until after the Civil "SYar that these songs were given the attention they deserved. A small com- pany of exceptionally gifted negro musicians was then formed, which, under the name of the "Jubilee Singers," toured America and also Europe, introducing their folk- songs with sensational success wherever they appeared. It was instinctive for the uneducated negro to express feeling in a way that would reach all hearts, while nevertheless avoiding the commonplace with a distinc- tion and originality meriting the admiration of the most cultured musician. "Deep River" is one of the best known of the negro spirituals, as it is one of the most touching. Coleridge-Taylor, the English negro com- poser, has harmonized it. The arrangement used by Mr. Seagle is that of Henry T. Burlcigh, also colored, born in Erie, Pennsylvania, who shows fine musicianship and taste in these harmonizations. " Deep River " Sung by Oscar Seagle Columbia Record A 2165 "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" is the familiar melody which the Bohemian composer, Dvorak (see earlier chapter), used in the first movement of his "New World" Symphony, which he composed when he came to America. It is very tender and mystical. Observe how remarkably the cadences suggest the swinging descent of a chariot. The subject, of course, is a naive version of the chariot of fire which came from heaven to the prophet Elijah, but the thought of the negro is here of mercy and final consolation when the chariot shall descend at last, "Comin' for to carry me home." 306 THE LURE OF MUSIC "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" and "Shoot AH Over Oar God's Heaven" Sung by Fiske University Quartet Columbia Record A 1883 One is again indebted to Mr. Burleigh for his arrange- ments of two of the finest of all spirituals, "Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray" and "Nobody Knows de Trouble I've Seen." The songs have an indescribable pathos. If America had produced no other music, she would have made a significant contribution to the art of the world. " Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray " Sung by Fiske University Quartet Columbia Record A 1932 " Nobody Knows de Trouble I've Seen " Sung by Oscar Seagte Columbia Record A 2469 The songs, however, which most nearly fulfill the mission of folk-music in America, being loved and treasured throughout the land, are those of Stephen Collins Foster. Foster, of Southern descent, expressed in a deeply moving and poetic manner certain phases of American life which have gone, never to return. His art, simple and true, was the reflex of his emotions and impressions of the world about him. He was never a learned composer, though he became a proficient pianist, and in very early years taught himself to play the flute and flageolet. He was great because of his inborn genius for melody, his sensitive perceptions, his innate tenderness and nobility of character. Foster's environ- ment was unusually inspiring to song. He was born at Lawrenceville, in the Allegheny hills, Pennsylvania, July 4, 18"26. The tension of modern conditions had not as yet affected his community. There was time to 4rearu as well as to do. In early days Foster listened m THE LURE OF MUSIC much to the singing of the negroes, which strongly influenced his own music in later years. He was well educated, well informed on many topics, at ease and on equal terms with men of genius in other fields than his own. His life was a bitter romance. An unhappy marriage and other misfortunes drove him to dissipation and after the death of his mother, whom he loved with all the intensity of his nature, he became more and more the victim of drink. Many of his songs, composed in the morning, were sold in the evening for an hour's forgetfulness. His death was the result of an accident in a New York hotel, when he rose from his bed, weak with fever, and gashed his face and neck on a piece of broken glass. He died January 13, 1864. If he had erred, as Mr. Louis Elson has admirably remarked, 'The light that led astray was light from heaven. " : Foster composed his first song, "Open Thy Lattice, Love," when he was sixteen. "Uncle Ned," composed for a club of young men who were in the custom of meeting at Foster's house to sing together, is said to be one of the first songs which showed sympathy and understanding of the lot of the black man. Its sale in later years netted a publisher, who understood its value better than Foster, ten thousand dollars, and this sum was one of the initial profits of a great music-publishing business. When Foster composed "Open Thy Lattice, Love" he wrote only the music. For "Uncle Ned," and over one hundred and fifty other songs, he wrote text as well as melody, since, in his own words, he found that "the difficulty of harmonizing sounds with words" made this necessary. His text was not always the most distinctive in point of style, but, as in the case of "Uncle Ned," it was direct, idiomatic, and genuine in its feeling. " Uncle Ned " Sung by Graham Marr and Columbia Stellar Quartet Columbia Record A 5855 308 THE LURE OF MUSIC In a similar vein, and in words and music which brought home the scenes he described, were the songs, "Old Black Joe" and "Massa's in de Cold, Cold Ground." " Old Black Joe " Sung by Barbara Maurel and Columbia Stellar Quartet Columbia Record A 6091 Sung by Louis Graveure Columbia Record A 5959 " Massa's in de Cold, Cold Ground " Sung by Lucy Gates and Stellar Quartet Columbia Record A 6015 Played by the Taylor Trio Columbia Record A 1934 These songs had and have their place in the life of the American people, but the two songs in which Foster is greatest are undoubtedly "My Old Kentucky Home," said to have been inspired by a visit to the estate of an uncle in Kentucky, and "Old Folks at Home" scngs in which Foster touches a note so deep and so true that they would be welcomed and understood almost anywhere in the world, whatever the locality, whatever the tongue of the people. It has been re- marked by authorities on the subject that no country has produced "composed folk-songs" which surpass in simple eloquence and beauty those of Foster. " My Old Kentucky Home " Sung by Lucy Gates and Columbia Stellar Quartet Columbia Record A 6059 Played by the Taylor Trio Columbia Record A 1915 Stephen Foster's brother, Morrison, in his Biography ', Songs and Musical Compositions of Stephen C. Foster, tells of the composition of "Old Folks at Home": "One day in 1851, Stephen came into my office, on the bank of the Monongahela, Pittsburgh, and said to me, 'What is a good name of two syllables for a Southern river? I want to use it in this new song of 'Old Folks 309 at Home.' I asked him how Yazoo would do. 'Oh,' said he, 'that has been used before.' I then suggested Pedee. 'Oh, pshaw!' he replied, 'I won't have that.' I then took down an atlas from the top of my desk and opened the map of the United States. We both looked over it and my finger stopped at the 'Swanee,' a little river in Florida emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. 'That's it, that's it exactly,' exclaimed he, delighted, as he wrote the name down; and the song was finished, commencing, "Way down upon de Swanee Ribber.' He left the office, .as was his custom, abruptly . . . and I resumed my work. Just at that time he received a letter from E. P. Christy [a noted "negro minstrel" of the day Ed.], of New York, . . . asking him if he would write a song for Christy, which the latter might sing before it was published. Stephen showed me the letter and asked what he should do. I said to him, 'Don't let him do it unless he pays you.' At his request I drew up a form of agreement for Christy to sign, stipulating to pay Stephen five hundred dollars for the privilege he asked. This was forwarded to Christy, and return mail brought it back duly signed by the latter. The song happened to be 'Old Folks at Home." Such was the history of what is probably Foster's greatest song. " Old Folks at Home " (" Swanee Ribber ") Sung by Oscar Seagle and Columbia Stellar Quartet Columbia Record A 6082 Played by the Taylor Trio Columbia Record A 1915 The authorship of the melody of "Home, Sweet Home," a song which Americans have taken to their hearts, has for a long time been in doubt. The words are by John Howard Paine, who, born in New York in 1792, lived some years in England, wandered over the face of the earth, and died in Tunis in 185 C 2 while serving there as United States Consul. The music is of Euro- 310 THE LURE OF MUSIC pean origin. "Clari, the Maid of Milan," a play with verses by Paine, and music partly composed, partly arranged by Henry R. Bishop, was performed in London May 8, 1823. The climax of the drama hinged on the return of the heroine, forsaken and betrayed, to her homestead, and it was this situation which introduced the famous song. Though it went far and wide, Bishop, who lived for thirty-three years after its first perform- ance, never took pains to assert its authorship. But an examination of his score, in which the air appears more than once in variation, seems to prove that the song is of a piece with the work in which it appears. "Home, Sweet Home" was first sung in America by Mrs. Hoi- man, when "Clari, the Maid of Milan" was performed, on the 12th of November, 1823, in New York. " Home, Sweet Home " Sung by Hulda Laschanska Columbia Record 49339 Played by the Taylor Trio Columbia Record A 1866 MEXICO A folk-music near to America in location and hence to a certain degree in racial consciousness is that which comes originally from Spain, via Mexico. The melody, "La Paloma" ("The Dove"), bears the name of Sebas- tian Yradier, the Spanish composer who furnished Bizet with the original musical idea of the Habanera from "Carmen." It is a "composed folk-song." It is based on the rhythm of the Habanera, a dance believed to have originated in Havana, though in all probability it also came from Spain. It is tropical in its tenderness and ardor, in the capriciously rhythmed melody w T hich Yradier has set over his swinging bass. The words of the song are very slight, like those of many melodies heard in Mexico and Spanish America. It is a love- song, naive, outspoken, Latin in a certain childlike 311 THE LURE OF MUSIC frankness and fervor. It is hard to believe, and it lias yet to be proven, that Yradier did not pick up this melody from some highway or byway of Spain or her possessions. For it has not only the folk feeling, but the irregular form of melody that one finds in music of more or less primitive origin. So much for the racial and geographic origins. The historical connection is dra- matic. The unfortunate Maximilian, deserted by the scheming Napoleon III, condemned for his adventure into Mexico by the government of the United States, asked that this melody be played as he was led out to execution. " La Paloma " Sung by Riccardo Stracciari Columbia Record 49758 Played by Hawaiian Guitars and Ukulele Trio, Columbia Record A 2405 A song of less intensity, but captivating in its exotic grace and fire, is the "Manzanilla." Manzanilla is the name of a town near Seville, in Spain. It is also the name of a light, dry wine popular in Spain and Spanish colonies. There are two strains in this dance melody, one languorous and caressing, the other vigorously rhythmical, the two together typical of many Spanish dances in which rhythm and action alternate between these moods. " The Manzanilla " Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 2593 It can be seen from the foregoing how clearly folk- songs reflect the heredity and environment of the people from which they spring. It is true that these melodies sometimes travel very far, but in order to sur- vive, the song must have something in common with the temperament of the new community in which it finds itself. The folk-songs of foreign peoples which have entered most intimately into the lives of Americans are 312 THE LURE OF MUSIC those of the British Isles, of Italy, and in a lesser degree those of Spain, Russia, and Scandinavia. French folk-songs have a greater vogue in Canada than here, which is a pity, for there are many very lovely ones. Melodies of Oriental peoples are farther afield from our consciousness, although such is the variety of races settled on this soil that there are few types of folk- songs in the world which could not be discovered in some corner of the country. ENGLAND Songs of the British Isles breathe the sweetness of the countryside, the freshness of the morning, the gaiety of the peasant folk. They have a healthy jollity and sturdiness bespeaking the vigor and sanity of the Eng- lish people. An example of the gentler type of English song, dis- tinguished by tender sentiment and an exquisite refine- ment of melody, is afforded by the beautiful air to which Ben Johson set the words, "Drink to me only with thine eyes." Seldom has a folk-air been more happily mated to a poetic text. The melody appears to be at least as old as that of "Down Among the Dead Men," and its authorship, also, is unknown. " Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes " Sung by Oscar Seagle Columbia Record A 6071 Played by W. H. Squire, 'cellist, and Hamilton Harty, pianist Columbia Record A 5832 The simple, naive harmony, the apple-cheeked gaiety of English folk-dances are admirably illustrated by the melodies which have been collected and harmonized, with sensitive feeling and musicianship, by Cecil J. Sharpe. The country dance, in days gone by, was the social recreation of the peasantry over the whole country- 313 THE LURE OF MUSIC side. Thanks largely to the efforts of Mr. Sharpe, it is being revived in England, and practised as a means of healthful recreation in the United States. "Sellenger's Round" is a melody of great antiquity. It was arranged for Queen Elizabeth by her music- teacher, Doctor Byrd. Its original name appears to have been "Saint Leger's Round" or "The beginning of the world." It was very popular in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and its beauty and vigor are felt when it is played to-day. " Sellenger's Round," " Rufty-Tufty," " Sweet Kate " Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 3065 IRELAND Ireland has produced some of the most beautiful, varied, and imaginative folk-music in the world. The song "Robin Adair" was long believed to be of Scottish origin, but later researches indicate that it came from Ireland. According to tradition it was composed by the Irish harper, Carrol O'Daly, in the latter part of the fourteenth century, and was inspired by a romantic incident of his own life. O'Daly loved Eileen O'Cava- nagh of the county of Connacht. Her family, however, looked unfavorably on his suit. When O'Daly returned from an enforced absence he found that Eileen had been prevailed on by her relatives to promise her hand to another. Filled with despair he sought a solitary spot and from a full heart composed the song "Eileen Aroon" the melody of "Robin Adair." Next day, disguised as a harper, O'Daly appeared at the wedding festivities, and at the request of the bride herself played his newly composed air. Needless to say, the song had the de- sired effect. Recognizing, under the disguise of a travel- ing musician, the identity of the harper, Eileen, with a 314 THE LURE OF MUSIC swift return of affection for her former lover, eloped with him that night. Although this melody was printed as an Irish air, at least as early as 1729, it subsequently appeared in several eighteenth-century collections of Scotch melodies. It was the custom in olden time for Irish harpers and wan- dering minstrels to make trips through Scotland, with very much the same purposes which animate the artist who tours a foreign country to-day. Now Dennis O'Hempsey (or Hempsen), a celebrated Irish harper, born in 1695, made a tour of Scotland in his youth, and played as one of his most popular airs the melody cf "Eileen Aroon." This was caught up and widely circulated by the native Highland minstrels and was published and printed as a Scotch air, to which were eventually fitted the words of "Robin Adair." " Robin Adair " Played by Jean Schwiller, 'cellist Columbia Record A 1350 "My Love's an Arbutus," one of the loveliest of folk- songs, was noted down by the musical antiquary, George Petrie, from the singing of an old gentleman who had learned it in his childhood. The original words began, "I rise ev'ry morning with a heart full of woe." The author of the present words is Alfred Percival Graves, and the musical harmonization is that of Charles Villiers Stanford. " My Love's an Arbutus " Sung by Oscar Seagle Columbia Record A 5916 One of the most popular dance tunes of Ireland is known as "Miss McLeod's Reel." It is a folk-melody of great antiquity. Beranger, a French traveler through Ireland in the eighteenth century, says that it was one of the favorite tunes which the Galway pipers played 25 315 THE LURE OF MUSIC to him in 1779. At the Munster festival of 1906 it was the only reel played for the prize competition in Irish dancing. It is an excellent example of Irish dance music, and well reflects the lighter yet poetic spirit of the people. A whole volume, indeed, might be written on the wonderful variety of style and feeling discovered in Irish jig tunes. These tunes are often used as march tunes and are great favorites with the fife-and-drum corps. One of the most noted of them, "Garryowen," was called by Theodore Roosevelt "the finest marching tune in the world." " Miss McLeod's Reel " Played by Prince's Orchestra Columbia Record A 1474 The original text of "Believe me if all those endearing young charms," which dates from before 1700, began "My lodging is on the cold, cold ground," and there are districts in which the song is still sung to these words. Some authorities claim that the song is English, while about an equal number assert that it is of Irish origin. The tender and beautiful melody is of a type which tends to support the latter assumption, though it was first printed as part of the music of an English ballad- opera in 1737, and is not to be found in any collection of Irish music before 1787. " Believe Me if All Those Endearing Young Charms " Sung by Alice Nielsen Columbia Record A 5678 Sung by David Bispham Columbia Record A 5095 "The Minstrel Boy," a heroic and sturdy air, is one of the finest of Irish melodies. It caused Tom Moore to compose for it the poem to which it has ever been sung. The air, formerly called "The Moreen," was printed by Bunting in a noted collection of Irish airs in 1809. 316 THE LURE OF MUSIC "The Minstrel Boy " Sung by Reed Miller Columbia Record A 1144 "The Last Rose of Summer" gains its title from the verses Tom Moore set to a melody, the original name of which was "The Groves of Blarney." The beauty of this melody attracted the notice of Beethoven, who set it as a song for voice with piano accompaniment. Flo- tow introduced it in its entirety as one of the numbers in his opera, "Martha." This caused Hector Berlioz, who evidently did not think highly of Flotow's work, to remark that the beautiful folk-song "disinfected" the entire opera. And indeed there are few songs which more fittingly embody the happy description of folk melodies given by the late Mr. Elson, who described them as the wild flowers of music. " The Last Rose of Summer " Sung by Lucy Gates Columbia Record A 5993 The scenery is most romantic where the waters of the Avon and the Avoca meet. This inspired the words of the song which Moore wrote to the traditional Irish air, "The Old Head of Dennis." The air is com- posed in a scale of but six tones, the seventh, or leading tone of our prevailing major and minor scales being absent. It was taken down from the singing of an old peasant woman of Sligo by George Petrie. " The Meeting of the Waters " Sung by Oscar Seagle Columbia Record A 5916 SCOTLAND What Thomas Moore did for Irish folk-music Robert Burns had done for Scotch folk-music some time pre- 317 THE LURE OF MUSIC viousiy. He wrote truly poetical verses of a folklike character for many of the traditional Scottish airs. With both poets this was a labor of love, a task which engaged their deepest feelings; and in the case of Burns, as well as that of Moore, it is by the first lines of their poems that many of the traditional Scotch and Irish airs are now known. Here the similarity ceases, how- ever, for while Burns frequently took the old words and the idea they contained, recasting both in a truly poetic and much more beautiful form, Moore usually wrote an entirely original poem in what he conceived to be the spirit of the melody which he had in mind. The text of "Flow Gently, Sweet Afton" is by Burns. The song was presented as a gift to Mrs. Stewart of Afton Lodge, on the banks of Afton River. Burns set the text to a melody of unknown origin. J. E. Spilman detached Burns's words from the old air, and composed a melody for them so good that the first tune has been entirely supplanted by the second. " Flow Gently, Sweet Afton " Sung by Corinne Rider-Kelsey Columbia Record A 5720 "Loch Lomond" is one of the most noble and beauti- ful of Scotch airs. According to Lady Jane Scott, both air and words are traditional and were taken down by her from a street singer in Edinburgh. According to other authorities, it is a modern composed Scotch air. If so, the composer has achieved a height of eloquence and simplicity seldom equaled by other composers who tried to emulate "the folk." " Loch Lomond " Sung by Columbia Stellar Quartet Columbia Record A 5899 G. Farquhar Graham says that "Comin' Through the Rye" is "probably a dance-tune of the early times of 318 THE LURE OF MUSIC the eighteenth century." It is a fine example of folk- song evolution, since there are several old Scotch airs of which it may easily be a development. The words are by Robert Burns. The melody offers an excellent illus- tration of "the Scotch snap," as seen, for example, in the rhvthmical arrangement of the two syllables of "bod-y"and "corn-in'," etc. " Comin' Through the Rye " Sung by Mary Garden Columbia Record A 1190 The touching melody of "John Anderson," long pre- served by oral tradition, was at length written down in the year 1578 in Queen Elizabeth's Virginal Book, which is still preserved. John Anderson was a real personage, and, according to tradition, the town piper of Kelso and a good deal of a joker. The old verses about him are all of a humorous character. But Burns, in composing his verses for this melody, has idealized and poetized the traditional character of John Anderson, and in so doing has produced a poem which is beautifully fitted to the simple and dignified character of the old melody. " John Anderson, My Jo " Sung by Mary Garden Columbia Record A 1190 The melody of "Ye Banks and Braes o' Bonnie Doon" is said to have been partly "faked" on the black keys of the piano by a Mr. James Miller, an Edinburgh author who was greatly desirous of composing a Scotch tune. His beginning was completed by Stephen Clark, ar- ranger of music for "Johnson's Museum." Curiously enough, the tune appears to have been based, con- sciously or unconsciously, on an old English air, "Lost Is My Quiet Forever." The words are by Burns. 319 THE LURE OF MUSIC " Ye Banks and Braes o' Bonnie Doon " Sung by Corinne Rider-Kelsey Columbia Record A 5733 The song, "Annie Laurie," was composed by Lady John Scott. The original words were written by a Mr. Douglas of Fingland to Annie, a daughter of Sir Rob- ert Laurie, first baronet of Maxwelton, Carcal, 1685. "It is painful to record that, notwithstanding the ardent and chivalrous affection displayed by Mr. Douglas in his poem, he did not obtain the heroine for a wife. She married a Mr. Ferguson of Craigdarroch." The original words have been a trifle modernized, but only slightly, the first verse being unchanged. " Annie Laurie " Sung by Hulda Laschanska Columbia Record 49338 WALES The folk-music of Wales probably contains musical fragments of greater antiquity than are to be found else- where in the British Isles, for "Wild Wales," as one of the ancient bards calls it, was the last stronghold of the original inhabitants of Britain. A small but very mountainous country, its folk-music is of an equally wild character with that of the Irish, but on the whole more rugged and sturdy. It does not have the element of humor, as has that of the Irish, but is of a serious and frequently even of a martial character. Many of the Welsh folk-songs are vocal marches of a stirring quality which were evidently used as battle-songs in days gone by. That the Welsh are not entirely given to the expression of rugged and heroic emotions in their music is evidenced by such a tender and poetic song as "All Through the Night." This is a fine traditional Welsh melody of great age: simple, dignified, and ex- 320 THE LURE OF MUSIC pressive. It is the most popular Welsh air in England. Mrs. Opie wrote a poem for it, beginning, "Here beneath a willow weepeth poor Mary Ann." But the best Welsh tune of all, to our mind, is the sturdy old "March of the Men of Harlech," w r hich has been sung for nearly five centuries. It was first published in Jones's Relics of the Welsh Bards, in 1794, but was composed about 1468, when the Yorks captured Merionethshire, the ancient capital of Wales, from the Lancastrians. Doctor Crotch, referring to the war- songs of this place and period, says that "the military music of the Welsh is superior to that of any other nation." On the other side of the record is another splendid old Welsh air, of fully as ancient origin, in all probability, as the better known "March of the Men of Harlech." The instrumentation and performance of this music by a Welsh band is eminently in keeping with its virile and wild character. " Men of Harlech " and " Sony Botel " Played by Welsh Band Columbia Record E 7106 ITALY This is the land which inspired Mignon's song, the land of sunshine, beauty, and noble art traditions. Its folk-songs reflect and express this graceful and beauty- loving spirit, and are characterized by a most seductive charm. Many of the flowing curves of Italian melody seem almost plastic, like the tender and noble lines of the antique statues. Italian folk-songs are filled with a care-free spirit, and are a perfect expression of the sensuous joy of living. It is not easy to divide Italian song into different types and classes, for the reason that Italians all love music, and make it their own, whether it is a street song or an aria from a grand opera. 321 THE LURE OF MUSIC The Neapolitan song, "Santa Lucia," was sung in the streets of Naples as early as 1853. It is a folk-song of the composed variety, and is one of the most popular folk-melodies. The composer is T. Cottrau. The song is a great favorite with the Naples fishermen. " Santa Lucia " Sung by Riccardo Stracciari Columbia Record 78100 Sung by Columbia Stellar Quartet Columbia Record A 2465 A song of a similar type, which is the incarnation of joyous spirits and musical grace, is the Neapolitan song of*Di Capua, "O sole mio" ("O sun I love"). " O sole mio " Sung by Riccardo Stracciari Columbia Record 78097 Sung by Oscar Seagle (in English) Columbia Record A 5676 Another Italian song, so widely popular that, although the work of a well-known musician in recent years, it is to all intents and purposes a folk-song, is Denza's "Funiculi, Funicula." This song was composed in 1880, and it commemorates in Neapolitan dialect the then recent completion of the Funicular Railway to the summit of Vesuvius. " Funiculi, Funicula " Sung by Riccardo Stracciari Columbia Record 78104 KEY as in far (fahr) at (at) " at end of syllables and words air, the ai occurring before r (fair) fade (fayd) met (met) " at end of syllables and words meet (meet) hurt (heurt) " at end of syllables and words pin (pin) not (not) note (noht) move (moov) hut (hut) " at end of syllables and words u put (put) u No English equivalent. Try to pronounce (ee) with lips in position for whistling. Result resembles French u. NASAL VOWELS Xasal vowels (indicated in the succeeding table by a dot or accent over the letter), most frequently encountered in the French language, have no precise English equivalents. They occur when a vowel is followed by an N or M (on, om). A good idea of their nasal twang may be gained by closing the nostrils with the fingers while sounding the vowels listed below. In these combinations the N sound, which gives the vowel its nasal quality, loses separate pronunciation. The final letter of the French word "mon," for example, is not pronounced, though it is felt in the nasal quality of the o. A common error is to sound this final consonant as if the word were spelled monn or mong. After the nasal o, when the word is correctly pronounced, the lips remain open, this 323 open sound being nearest represented by the letter H. Hence the present system of indicating nasal vowels: mon= (mohn). French ohn written on om o as in wrong bon (bohn) dhn " an, am, en, em . a " " father temps = (thn) ahn " in, ain, ein . . . . a " " rank fin^(fahn) uhn " un, um u " " rung parfum=(parfuhn) CONSONANTS gh as in girl gheu(r)l gn " " pinion (pign-yuhn) zh " " pleasure (plezh-uhr) kh " " Scotch loch (lokh) Other consonants and consonantal combinations as in English. TITLES OF BALLETS, DRAMAS, OPERAS, STRING QUARTETS, SUITES, SYM- PHONIES, AND OTHER MUSI- CAL COMPOSITIONS Acis (ah-cis) Aida (ah-ee-dah) Almira (ahl-mee-ra) Aries, Woman of (ahrl) Arlesienne, L' (lahr-lay-zee-en) Astyanax (ahs-ty-an-ax) Aureliano in Palmira (ah-oo-ray-lee-ah-noh een pahl- mee-rah) Bacio, II (eel bah-tshoh) Bal Costume (bal-kos-t u-may ) Bal Masque (bal mahs-kay) Ballo in Maschera (bahl-loh een mahs-kay-rah) Bamboula (bam-boo-lah) Barbiere di Siviglia, II (eel bahr-bee-eh-ray dee see-vee- lyah) Beatitudes, Les (bay-ah-tee-tiid, lay) Belle Helene, La (bel ay-len, lah) Boccanegra, Simon (bok-kah-nay-grah, see-mon) Boheme, La (bo-em, lah) Brabanconne, La (brah-bahn-son, lah) Caid, Le (kah-eed. leu) Carmen (kar-men) Carnaval des Animaux (kar-na-val dayz ah-nee-mo) Casse -Noisette Suite (kahs-nwah-zet sweet) Cavalleria Rusticana (kah-vahl-lay-ree-ah roos-tee- kah-nah) Chasseuresses, Les (shas-sur-es, lay) Childe Harold " (tsaeeld har-euhld) Clovis et Clothilde (klo-vees ay klo-teeld) Contes d'Hoffman (kohnt dof-mahn) Coppelia (cop-ay-leeah) Coq d'Or (kok-dor) Cortege de Bacchus (kohr-tayzh deuh baw-kus) Djamileh (dzha-mee-lay) Don Carlos (don kahr-los) 325 THE LURE OF MUSIC Don Giovanni (don gee-oh-vah-neej Don Pasquale (don pahs-kwah-lay) Don Quixote (don kee-ho-tay) Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra (ay-lee-zah-bet-tah, ray-jee deen-gheel-ter-rah) Elisir d'Amore, L' (l'el-ee-seer dah-mo-ray) Enfant Prodigue, L' (J'dhn-fahn pro-deeg) Erinnyes, Les (air-reen, lays) Ernani (air-nah-nee) Ecclarmonde (es-clahr-mohnde) Eugen Onegin (oy-ghayn oh-nay-ghin) Ghiselle (ghee-sel) Gioconda, La (joh-kohn-dah, lah) Goyescas (go-yes-kahs) Grande Tante, La (grahnd tahnt) Guillaume Tell (gee-yohm tel) -nah Gustave III (gus-tahv) H Hernani (air-nan-nee) Herodiade (ay-ro-dyad) Hora Novissirna (hoh-rah no-vees-see-mah) Huguenots, Les (iig-no, lays) Fantasie-Impromptu (fan-ta-ze im-promp-tu) Faust (fahoost) Favorita, La (fah-vo-ree-tah, la) Femme du Tabarin, La (fam dii tab-bar-rahn, la) Fidelio (fee-day-lee-oh) Figaro (fee-gah-roh) Filtro, II (feel-tro, eel) Flieglinde Hollander, Der (fleeg-lin-dah hoH-ahn-der, day Forza del Destine (fcr-tza del des- tee-no) Friihling, Der (frii-ling, dayr) G Gallia (gal-leea) Gerontius (jay-ron-tee-oos) Impressions d'ltalie (amp-rah-see-ohn dee-tah-lee) lolanthe (ee-yo-lan-ty) Ismene (ees-men) Jeunesse d'Hercule, La (zhe-unes dair-kiil, la) Jocelyn (zhos-lahn) Jolie Fille de Perth, La (zho-lee fee deu pairt, la) Jongleur de Notre Dame, Le (zhohn-gleur deu notr dam, leu) Jota Aragonesa (ho-tah ah-rah-go-nay-sah) K Kyrie Eleison (kii-ree el-lay-son) Lakme (lahk-may) Letzter Friihling (letzter friih-ling) 326 T) THE LURE OF MUSIC Libera me (lee-bay-rah may) Lohengrin (lo-en-grin) Lombard!, I (lom-bahr-dee, ee) Lucia di Lammermoor (loo-cheeah dee lahm-rnair-moor) Lucrezia Borgia (loo-kray-tzeeah, bor-jah) Lucrezia Floriani (los-kray-tzah flo-ree-ah-nee) Luisa Miller (looee-sah meel-lair) M Manon (man-nohn) Manon Lescaut (man-nohn les-koh) Mariage de Loti, Le (mar-ree-azh deu lo-tee, leu) Marseillaise (mar-seh-yehz) Medecin Malgre Lui, Le (mayd-sahn mal-gray luce, leuh) Medici, I (may-dee-chi, ee) Mefistofele (may-fees-to-fay-lay) Meistersinger, Die (mys-ter-seen-ger, dee) Mignon (mee-gnohn) Mireille (mee-reh-yee) Miserables, Les (mee-zay-rabl, lay) Mors et Vita (mors et vee-tah) N Naile, die Quellen Fee (nahee-lah, dee kvel-len fay) Natoma (nah-toh-mah) . Navarraise, La (nav-var-raiz, lah) Noel (no-el) Norm a (nor-mah) Nuit a Lisbonne (niieet tal lees-bon) O Oberto, Conte di San Bonifacio (o-bair-to, kon-tay dee san bo- nee-fah-tsho) Oiseau de Feu (wa-zo deuh feu) Orestia (o-res-tee-ah) Orphee aux Enfers (or-fay ohz dim-fair) Otello (o-tel-lo Pagliacci (pahgl-yaht-tshi) Parsifal (par-si-fal) Pecheurs des Perles, Les (peh-sheur-day pairl, lay) Peer Gynt (peer gint) Pelleas et Melisande (pel-lay-ahs ay may-lee-zdhnd) Petite Suite (peuh-teet sweet) Petrouchka (pay-trootsh-ka) Phaeton (fah-ay-tohn) Pique Dame (peek dam) Pirata, II (pee-rah-tah, eel) Polyeucte (pohl-yookth) Portrait de Manon, Le (por-treh deuh mah-nohn, leuh) Prelude a 1'Apres-midi d'un Faune (pray-liid ah lap-pray mee-dee deuhn fohn) Prince Igor (ee-gor) Promessi Sposi, I (promes-see spo-zee, ee) Prometheus (pro-mee- thy oos) 327 THE LURE OF MUSIC Puritani, I (poo-ree-tah-nee, ee) R Reine de Saba (rehn-deuh sah-bah) Requiem (rey-kwiem) Reve Angelique (raiv-dhn-zhay-leek) Rhapsodic d'Auvergne (rap-so-dee do-vairgn) Rienzi (ree-en-zee) Rigoletto (ree-go-let-to) Rinaldo (ree-nahl-do) Roi Malgre Lui, Le (rwa mal-gray Itiee, leuh) Roi s'amuse, Le (rwa sam-muz, leuh) Rondo Perpetuo (rohn-doh pair-pet-oo-o) Rosamunde (rosa-mund-a) Rouet d'Omphale, Le (rweh dom-fal, leuh) Ruy Bias (ruee blah) Samson et Delilah (sahn-sohn ay day-lee-lah) Sardanapale (sar-dah-nah-pal) Scenes Pittoresques (sen peet^to-resk) Scheherazade (skay-ayr-ah-tzah-day) Semiramide (say-mee-rah-mee-day) Shanewis (shah-noo-is) Siegfried (zeeg-freed) Snegourotchka (shnay-goo-rotch-kah) Solveg's Song (sol-vayghs) Sonata appasionata (so-nah-tah ap-pash-an-ah-tah) Sonnambula, La (son-nahn-boolah, lah) Source, La (soors, lah) Souvenirs de Hapsal (soo-veuh-neer deuh hap-sal) Stabat Mater (stah-bat mah-tayr) Suite Algerienne (sweet al-zhay-ree-en) Symphonic Fantastique (sahn-fo-nee fahn-tay-tik) Symphonic Pathetique (sahn-fo-nee pah-tay-teek) Tancredi (tahn-kray-dee) Tannhauser (tan-hoi-zer) TeDeum (tay day-oom) Thais (tah-ees) Tosca, La (tos-kah, lah) Traviata, La (trah-vee-ah-tah, lah) Tristan und Isolde (tris-tahn oond ee-zol-dah) Trovatore, II (tro-vah-to-ray, eel) V Vie de Boheme, La (vee deuh bo-em, lah) W Walkiire (vahl-kii-ree) Walkxirenritt (vahl-k ii-ren-rit) Werther (vair-tair) X Xerxes (zeurk-sees) Zoraide di Granata (tzo-rahee-day dee grah-nah-tah) 328 MUSICAL AND FOREIGN TERMS Abbe (ab-bay) Adagietto (ah-dah-jet-toh) A more (ah-moh-ray) Andante (ahn-dahn-tay) Andante Cantabile (ahn-dahn-tay kahn-tah-bee-lay) Anno Domini (ahn-no do-mee-nee) Apropos (ah-pro-po) Aria (ah-reeah) B Bacchanale (bahk-kah-nahl) Ballet (bal-leh) Bambino (bahm-bee-noh) Banderilleros (bahn-day-reegl-yay-ros) Barcarolle (bahr-kah-rol) Berceuse (bair-seuz) Bizarre (bee-zar) Boudoir (booh-dwahr) Boulevardiers (bool-var-dyay) Bravura (brah-voo-rah) Buffo (boof-foh) Cantabile (kahn-tah-bee-lay) Cantata (kahn-tah-tah) Cantor (kahn-tohr) Capellmeister (ka-pel-maee-tehr) Capriccio (kah-preets-shoh) Cavatina (kah-vah-tee-nah) Chorus mysticus (ko-rtis mees-tee-kiis) Chulos (tshoo-los) Coloratura (koh-loh-rah-too-rah) Cornedie humaine (ko-may-dee ii-men) Concerto (kohn-tser-toh) Contrabandista (kon-trah-bahn-dees-tah) Cortege (kor-tehzh) Cuadrilla (kwah-dreegl-yah) Czardas (tshahr-dahs) Debut (day-bii) Dies irae (dee-es ee-rahee) Distrait (dees-treh) Dolore (doh-loh-ray) Cadenza (kah-dents-sah) Cafe (kah-fay) Caleche (kah-lehsh) Campanella (kahn-pah-nel-lah) Ensemble (dhn-s&hmbl) Entree (dhn-tray) Esprit (es-pree) Etude (ay-tiid) 329 THE LURE OF MUSIC Fanfare (fahn-fahr) Fantasia (fahn-tah-zeeah) Farandole (fah-ran-dol) Fete (feht) Feuilletons (feuh-yee-tohn) Fiancee (fee-ahn-say) Finale (fee-nah-lay) Fugue (fyug) Gailos (gahee-tos) Grand Prix de Rome (grahn pree deuh rom) H Habanera (ah-bah-nay-rah) Homard (om-mar) Humoreske (hu-mo-resk) Incognito (een-ko-gnee-toh) Intermezzo (een-tayr-medz-zoh) lo t'amo (eeoh tah-moh) Libretto (lee-brayt-toh) Loge (lohzh) Lorgnette (lor-gnet) M Madrigal (mad-ree-gal) Maestro (mah-es-troh) Mazurka (mah-zoohr-kah) Minuet (mee-niieh) Mulattiere (mool-ah-tee-ay-ray) N Naive (nah-eev) Naivete (nah-eev-tay) Nocturne (nok-ttirn) Note sensible (not sahn-seebl) Obligate (ohb-lee-gah-toh) Ole (oh-lay) Opera comique (op-pay-rah kom-meek) Oratorio (oh-rah-to-reeoh) Orientale (o-ree-ahn-tal) Jettatore (j ayt-tah-toh-ray ) Jota (non-tab) Largo (lahr-goh) Le bon Dieu (leuh bohn dyeuh) Libretti (lee-brayt-tee) Peste! mon garcon! (pest! mohngar-sohn) Piquant (pee-kahn) Pizzicato (peetz-see-kah-toh) Polacca (poh-lahk-kah) Polonaise (pol-o-nehz) Prseludium praee-loo-deeoom) 330 THE LURE OF MUSIC Prelude (pray-liid) Premiere (preum-yair) Prestige (pres-teezh) Prix de Rome (pree deuh rom) R Recitative (reh-sit-euh-tiv) Renaissance (reuh-nehs-sahns) Ridi, Pagliacci (ree-dee, pahgl-yah-tshee) Role (rohl) Romanza (roh-mahn-tha) or (roh-mahn-za) Rondo (rohn-doh) S Saeters (say-teuhrs) Saga (sah-gah) Salterello (sal-tay-rel-loh) Sans-culottes (sahn-kii-lot) Sarafan (sah-rah-fahn) Scenario (shay-nah-reeoh) Scherzi (skayr-tsee) 26 Scherzo (skayr-tsoh) Siciliana (see-tsheel-ee-ah-nah) Signer (see-gnohr) Solfege (sol-fehzh) Sonata (soh-nah-tah) Sono un poeta (so-no oon po-ay-tah) Suite (sweet) T Tarantelle (tah-ran-tel) Toreros (to-ray-ros) Tortillas (tor-teel-yahs) Tour de force (toor deuh fors) Troches (trohks) V Valse (vals) Vaquero (vah-kay-ro) Vice versa (vee-tshay-vair-sah) Virtuoso (veer-too-oh-soh) Viva Vittorio Emmanuele Re d'ltalia (vee-vah veet-to-reeoh em-mah- noo-eh-lay, ray deetah-leeah) PROPER AND GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES Abimelech (ah-bee-may-lek) Abruzzi (ah-broots-see) Academic (ah-kah-day-mee) Adalgisa (ah-dahl-j ee-zah) Adam, Adolph (ah-dahm ah-dolf) Adina (ah-dee-nah) Adoniram (ad-don-nee-rahm) JEneid (ee-nee-id) Jttna (et-neuh) Afzelius (ahf-zay-leeoos) Aida (ah-ee-dah) Ajib (ah-jeeb) Aladdin (euh-lad-din) Alberich (ahl-bay-reek) Alboni (al-boh-nee) Alessandrovitch (al-les-san-dro-vitsh) Alfio (ahl-fee-oh) Alfredo (ahl-fray-doh) Alfven, Hugo (ahlf-ven) Algiers (al-jeerz) Aliaferia (ah-leeah-fay-reeah) Al maviva (ahl-mah-vee-vah) Almirena (ahl-mee-ray-nah) Alsace-Lorraine (al-zas-lor-ren) Alvarez (ahl-vah-reth) Alvaro (ahl-vah-ro) Alvise (ahl-vee-zay) Ambert (ahm-bair) Amelia (ah-may-leeah) Amiens (ah-meeahn) Amina (ah-mee-nah) Aminta (ah-meen-tah) Amneris (ahm-nay-rees) Amonosro (ah-monos-ro) Anacreon (euh-nak-ri-enhn) Anacreontic (euh-nak-ri-on-tik) Andalusia (an-deuh-loo-zheuh) Andalusian (an-deuh-loo-zheuhn) Angelo (ahn-jel-loh) Angeloni (ahn-j ay-loh-nee) Angelotti (ahn-j ay-lot-tee) Anitra (ah-nee-trah) Anna Karenina (ahn-nah kah-ray-nee-nah) Ansel m (ahn-selm) Antonia (ahn-to-neeah) Aphrodite (ah-fro-deet) Arabi Pasha (ah-rah-bee pah-sheuh) 332 THE LURE OF MUSIC Aragon (ar-euh-gon) Arensky (ah-ren-sky) Ariege (ah-ree-ehzh) Armanini (ahr-mah-nee-nee) Armida (ahr-mee-dah) Arnheim (Count) (ahrn-haeem) Arnstad (ahrn-shtat) Arsaces (ahr-zas) Artot, Desiree (ar-toh, day-zee-ray) Ascanio (ahs-kah-neeo) Ase (6h-seuh) Asturias (as-too-reeahs) Athanael (ah-tah-nah-el) Auber (oh-bair) Auerbach (aower-bahkh) Aulin, Tor (oo-lin, tor) Auvergne (oh-vairgn) Avoca (a-vo-ka) Avon (ay-veuhn) or (av-euhn) Azucena (ah-zoo-tshay-nah) Bach, J. S. (bahkh) Baculard -Darnaud (bah-kii-lar-dar-no) Badini (bah-dee-nee) Bagasset (bah-gas-set) Baklanoff, George (bah-klah-nof) Bakounin (bah-koo-neen) Balakireff, Mill (bah-lah-kee-ref, mee-lee) Balalaika (bah-lah-laee-kah) Baldassare, L. (bahl-dahs-sah-ray) Balfe (balf) Balthazar (bal-ta-zar) Balzac (bal-zak) Barbaja (bahr-bah-eeah) Barbaroux (bar-bah-roo) Barbier, Jules (bar-bee-yeh, zhiil) Barezzi (bah-retz-zee) Barnaba (bahr-nah-bah) Barrere, George (bar-rair, zhorzh) Barrientos, Maria (bahr-ree-en-tos, mah-reeah) Bartholdy (bar-tol-day) Bartolo (bahr-toh-loh) Basilio, Don (bah-zee-leeoh) Easily (bah-zee-lee) Bayreuth (bahee-roit) Beaumarchais (boh-mar-sheh) Beckmesser (bek-mes-sair) Beethoven (bay-to-vehn) Belcore (bel-ko-ray) Belgiocoso, Prince (bel-joh-ko-soh) Bellini, Vincenzo (bel-lee-nee, veen-tshen-tso) Belvoix, Flora (bel-vwah) Bendinelli (bayn-dee-nel-lee) Beppe (bep-pay) 333 THE LURE OF MUSIC Be -levjLr- Malrs-f rr-s Be _r'r : : THE LURE OF MUSIC Carmen Cieca, La IBMM (hfcaj-kah, lah) Carre, Michel Cilia dor-ray, mee-shel) (h*ed-lali) Carte, D"'Oyly Cio-Cio-San (kahr-tay, doheelee) (iAii ! um) Cartica, Carlo Circassian ObAr-tee-kah, kahr-Ioh) (aeqr-i ta ) Carvalho Claussen (kahr-vahrlafc) (klafcodtaug Casals, Pablo (kah-sahls, pah-bb) Casselmann-Schumacher Castellor (kahs-tel-ta) WM, looee) cr^; !* (grwh-nobl) Gcnmte Grieg, Kdvard Gerrine-Reacbe, Jeanne Grisi (fj*-t--lff? Gnxrand, Ernst (0iee-TO, airnst) Gustavus (gwen-do-teen) Gi' -' = :^:-i-i H Halevy, Geneviere Halevy, Ludovic ^. Giufio (hmHay-loo-yah) THE LURE OF MUSIC Halvorsen, Johan (hahl-vor-aen, yo-hahn) Handel (ban-del) Hapsal (hap-sal) Harlequin (hah-li-kwin) Havre (ahvrj Haydn (hahee-den) Heiddiger (hahee-dig-geuh) Heine, Heinrich (hahinav, hahin-rikh) Herbeck " (hair-bek) Herodias (ay-ro-dvahs) Herold (hav-roli Hertfordshire (hert-ford-aheer and hart-ford- sht- Hiawatha (hai-euh-wo-theuh) Killer (hil-: Hjaltested, Einan (jahl-teh-sted, aee-nan) Hoffman fhof-man) Hof mann, Josef (hof-man, yo-sef) Holtz (hohlta) Hornacuelos (hor-nah-kuay-los) Huttenbrenner (hut-ten-bren-nayr) Ibsen, Henrik (ib-sen, hen-rik) Illica, Luigi (eel-lee-kah, Iwee-jee) I matra (ee-mah-trah) I meretia fee-ma y-ray-tiah) Inghilterra, d' (deeng-eel-ter-rah) IppolitofF-Ivonoff (ip-pot-i-tcrf-i-Tab-noO Ismailia (ees-mahU-eeah) Isolde (i-zol-day) Ivan (ee-vahn) Izett (ec-et) Izetti (ee-aet-tee) Jacobsen, Sascha (yah-koU*,liah) Janpolski (yahn-pol-akj) Jarnefelt, Armas (yahr-nay-felt, ahr-mahs) Jean (zhahn) Jean de Nivelle (zhahn deu nee-vel) Jenneval (zben-val) Jephthah (ihef-tah) (bo-say) Journal des Debats (xhoor-nal day day-bah) Julien (zhu-keahn) Kankowska (kahn-kow-eha) Karol. Prince (kar-rol) Kashkin (kash-kin) (kaa-aah-va) Khedive (kay-deev) Kittay, Tovio (kee-tay, to-vyo) Kleinzach 1 kLiheen-zahkh) Kli Klopstock (klop-stok) THE LURE OF MUSIC Kongsberg (kongs-bairg) Kosegarten (koh-z ay-gar-ten) Krehbiel (kray-beel) Kreidler (kraheed-lehr) Kreisler (krahees-layr) Lablache (lab-blash) Lachner (lahkh-nayr) Lakme (lak-may) Lamartine (lam-mar-teen) Laschanska, Hulda (lahsh-ahnskah, hool-dah) Lavigna (lah-veegn-ah) Lazaro, Hipolito (lah-tha-ro, ee-pol-ee-to) Leila (layee-lah) Leipsic (laeep-seek) Lena, Maurice (lay-nah, mor-rees) Leoncavallo, Bey (layon-kah-vahl-lo, bay) Leoncavallo, Ruggiero (layon-kah-vahl-lo, ru-jay-ro) Leonore (lay-oh-noh-ray) Leonora (lay-o-no-rah) Lescaut (les-ko) Lesueur (leu-sii-eur) Leuven (leu-ven) Lichnowsky (lish-nov-sky) Lie, Jonas (lee, yo-nahs) Liebestod (leeb-es-toht) Liege (lyayzh) Lille (led) Lindorf (lin-dorf) Lindoro (leen-do-ro) Lipkowska (leep-kows-kah) Liszt, Franz (list, frantz) Lobkowitch (lob-ko-vich) Loch Lomond (lokh loh-mond) Lola (lo-lah) : Lopez -Nunes (lo-peth-noo-nes) Lothario (lo-tah-reeo) Loti, Pierre (lo-tee, pyair) Lucca (look-kah) Lucerne, Lake (lii-sairn) Lucia (loo-cheeah) Ludwig (liid-veegh) Lulli (lool-lee) Lyons (lee-hon) M Maddalena (mahd-dah-lay-nah) Madeleine (mad-len) Maeterlinck, Maurice (met-air-lank, mo-rees) Magdeburg (mahgd-btirgh) Majorca (mah-yor-kah) Manon (man-nohn) Manrico of Urgel (mahn-ree-ko euv oor-jel) Mantua, Duke of (mahn-tooah) Manzoni, Alessandro (mahn-zo-nee, ah-les-sahn-dro) 340 THE LURE OF MUSIC Marcel (mar-sel) Mardones, Jose (mahr-do-nes, ho-say) Margherita, Queen (mahr-gay-ree-tah) Mariani (mah-ree-ah-nee) Mariette Bey (mah-ree-et-ay bay) Marina (mah-ree-nah) Mario (mah-reeo) Martinez (mahr-tee-neth) Martinmas (mah [r]-tin-mas) Mascagni, Pietro (mahs-kahgn-ee, pee-e-tro) Massenet, Jules Frederic (mas-neh, zhiil fray-day-reek) Mattel, Padre (maht-tay-ee, pah-dray) Mattheson (mat-ti-sun) Matzenauer, Margarete (mah-tzen-ow-ehr, mahr-gah-ray- teh) Mayer, Si mon (mah-yair, see-mon) Mayrhofer (mei-euhr-hoh-fayr) Mazzari, Count (mahts-sah-ree) Mazzucato, Alberto (mahtz-zoo-kah-to, ahl-bair-to) Meath (meeth) Mecca (mek-kah) Meek, Nadeshda von (mek, na-desh-dah fon) Media (may-dee-ah) Mefistofele (may-fees-tofay-lay) Mehul (may-ill) Meilhac (may-lak) Mendelssohn (men-dels-sohn) Mendes, Catulle (mahn-dehs, kat-tul) Mephisto (may-fees-to) Mephistofeles (mef-is-tof-el-eez ) Messager, Andre (mes-sah-zhay) Mercadante (mair-kah-dahn-tay) Mercedes (mair-thay-des) Merimee, Prosper (may-ree-may, pros-pair) Merrilies, Meg (mair-ri-less, meg) Mery (may-ree) Metz (metz) Meyerbeer (may-yair-bair) Micaela (mee-kah-ay-lah) Mignon (mee-gnohn) Milan (mi-lun or mi-ld,n) Mincio (meen-cho) Minkous (min-koos) Mi mi (mee-mee) Minna (min-nah) Miracle, Doctor (mee-rahkl) Mirate (mee-rah-tay) Missions des Etrangers (mees-syohn days ay-trdhn-zhay) Mistral, Frederic (mees-tral, fray-day-reek) Miura, Tamaki (myoo-rah, tah-mah-kee) Mochuelo (motsh-oo-ay-lo) Modest (mod-dest) Moldavia (mol-dah-veeah) Monongahela (meu-nong-eu-hee-leu) 341 Montagues (mon-teh-gyooz) Monte Carlo (mon-tay kahr-lo) Monte di Piet& (mon-tay dee pee-ay-tah) Monteaux (mohn-to) Monterone (mon-tay-ro-nay) Montmartre (mohn-martr) Montsalvat (mohn-sal-vah) Moulmein (mool-maeen) Moussorgsky, Modest (moos-sorg-sky, mod-dest) Mozart (mot-sart) Miihlhausen (mul-how-sen) Miirger, Henri (miir-zhay, ahn-ree) Musette (mii-zet) Myrtale (meer-taJ) N Nadir (nad-deer) Nagasaki (nag-gas-sah-kee) Nanki Poo (nahn-kee poo) Nedda (ned-dah) Nemorino (nay-mo-ree-no) Neva (nav-vah) Nibelungen (neebel-lung-en) Nicias (nee-see-ahs) Nicklausse (nik-lows) Nielsen (neel-son) Nietzsche (neet-sheh) Nilakantha (nee-1 ah-kahn-tah) Nordraak (nor-drahk) Norina (no-ree-nah) Nor ma (nor-mah) Novello (no-vel-lo) Nuremberg (noo-rem-bergh) O Odeon, Theatre (o-day-ohiTtay-ahtr) Offenbach, Jacques (of-fen-bahkh, zhahk) Oise (wahz) Olitska (o-leets-kah) Olivieri, Allesio (o-lee-vyeh-ree, ahl-lay-seeoh) Olshansky (ol-shahn-sky) Olympia (o-limp-i-euh) Onaway (on-euh-way) Ophelia (oh-fee-li-euh) Opie (oo-pi) Oppezzo (op-paytz-so) Orpheus (or-fyoos) Orsini (or-see-nee) Ortona (ohr-toh-nah) Ortrud (or-trood) Paganelli (pag-gah-nel-lee) Paganini (pah-gah-nee-nee) Paisiello (pahee-see-ello) Palestrina (pah-les-tree-nah) Palmetto (pahl-met-toh) 342 THE LURE OF MUSIC Pamiers (pam-myay) Pan Antonin (pahn ahn-to-neen) Paphnuce (pahf-niis; Pasquale, Don (pahs-kwah-lay) Passy (pas-see) Pasta, La (pahs-tah, lab) Pastia, Lillas (pahs-teeah, leel-lahs) Patti (paht-tee) Penzance (pen-zans) Pepoli, Count (pay-po-lee) Pere-ia-chaise (pair-lah-shaiz) Perrin (pair-rahn) Pesaro (pay-zah-ro) Petrie, George (pee-try) Petrograd (pay-troh-grad) Petrofsky (pay-trov-sky) Phanuel (fah-nu-el) Phtha (thah) Piave (pih-ah-vay) Pierne, Gabriel (pih-air-nay, ga-brih-el) Pinsuti (peen-soo-tee) Pizarro (Sp. pee-thar-ro) (It. peet-zar-roh) Planer (plan-ayr) Plotinus (plo-toe-noos) Pogany, Willy (pog-ahny, veely) Pollione (pol-leeo-nay) Polovtsian (pol-ov-tsee-an) Polverosi, Manfredi (pol-vay-rosee, mahn-fray-dee) Polynesia (pol-i-nee-zia) Ponchielli, Amilcare (pon- kee-el-lee, ah-meel-kah-ray) Pougin (poo-zhan) Prague (prahg) Prevcst, Abbe (pray-vo, ab-bay) Prinetti (pree-net-tee) Promethean (pro-mee-thi-eun) Provengal (provdhn-sal) Provence (pro-vahns) Puccini, Giacomo (poot-tshee-nee, jah-ko-mo) Punchinello poon-tshee-nel-lo'* Pushkin (push-kin) R Rachmaninoff, Sergei