Willey Francis Gates

“ To be neither a Lisztian nor a Thalbergian was to admit that one had no standing whatever in society. Thalberg's playing was the acme of elegance and grace. In velvety smoothness he was held to be the superior of his fiery antagonist. On the other hand Liszt was full of brilliancy and startling effect.
Schumann said that Thalberg's playing "kept him in a tension of expectancy, not on account of the platitudes which were sure to come, but on account of the profound manner of their preparation. He deceives one by brilliant hand and finger work in order to pass off his weak thoughts." ”

“ He dreamed he had made a compact with his satanic majesty, by the terms of which the gentleman with the cloven hoof was, contrary to the usual order of things, always to be at the service of the violinist. After some little time spent in getting acquainted, Tartini handed his violin to his new servant to find out what kind of a fiddler he was; when, to Tartini's utter astonishment, he heard a solo so beautiful, so bewitching, and played with such skill and taste, that it surpassed all the playing that he had ever heard in his life. ”

“ By all of the composers whom we call great, with one notable exception, other men's ideas have been held sacred. Genius is sufficient unto itself. No more would Mendelssohn have thought of stealing musical ideas from Beethoven than Beethoven would of appropriating them from Mozart, or Mozart from Bach. True, after a man once gives his ideas to the world they become the world's property. ”

“ We can hardly realize at this day of the world the furore created by the marvelous performances of Paganini. The gaunt, cadaverous figure, the eccentric poses, the bewitching music, the undreamed-of technic, seconded by the terrible tales which had been circulated about his selling his soul to the devil in exchange for his wonderful powers—all this created such an interest and excitement as has hardly been paralleled in musical records. ”

“ That the rising young composer was in town, was not generally known.
At the opera his seat was beside a bright-eyed and enthusiastic young lady, who, when she saw the composer did not join in the general applause, but remained quiet, turned to him with the question:—
"Why do you not applaud? Does it not suit you?"
The composer, much amused, replied: "No, on the contrary, it displeases me. It is the work of a mere beginner, not to call him anything worse." ”

“ A good composer will turn to account a suggestion from any source, however humble. Mendelssohn took pleasure in acknowledging his debt to nature in these matters. While Mendelssohn was not a Beethoven, while he could not so well depict the rugged, the grand, the heroic, as did that musical Jupiter, yet Mendelssohn was the tone poet of the forest and field, the bright sun, and the blue sky. ”

“ While this is true, while the greatest students of music that ever lived and those to whom most genius was given were eager and anxious to study as hard and as long as possible, we have, on the other hand, many who, relying on the mite of talent that has been given them, attempt to strike out for themselves, and who are so blind as not to see that with their untutored splashings they do not make the most dignified and successful progress in the tonal sea. ”

“ Poor Mozart! In life pushed from pillar to post; in sickness working to the last moment to bring bread to his family; in death occupying an unknown grave!
After Mozart's death, that night of December 4, 1791, the little house on Roughstone Lane, in Vienna, was almost deserted. Only two or three callers came. The men who made money by the dead master's genius stayed away. The widow was left almost destitute, as Mozart's fortune amounted to five pounds in money and his effects were valued at about twenty-six pounds more. ”

“ Another kidnapped musician, seeing the danger the great composer was in, thrust a violin into his hands and persuaded him that his only safety was in playing for them. The whole day these musicians had to play for the revolutionary and blood-thirsty mob, and at last were mounted on some casks in a public square, and made to play till the riotous feasters had devoured an impromptu banquet and had dispersed at a late hour. ”

“ When Mozart was taken to Rome in his youth, by his father, he went to the service at St. Peter's and heard the service in all its impressiveness. Mozart, senior, could hardly arouse the lad from his fascination with the music, when the time came to leave the cathedral. That night after they had retired and the father slept, the boy stealthily arose and by the bright light of the Italian moon, wrote out the whole of that sacredly guarded "Miserere." The Pope's locks, bars, and excommunications gave no safety against a memory like Mozart's. ”

“ This winter I devoted several musical performances almost exclusively to the bringing forward duets, trios, and quintets of Beethoven. I was sure of being wearisome, but I was also sure that no one dare say so. There were really brilliant displays of enthusiasm; one might have easily been deceived, and thought that the crowd were subjugated by the power of genius; but at one of the last performances an inversion in the order of the programme completely put an end to the error. Without any explanation, a trio of Pixis was played in the place of one by Beethoven. ”

“ This would seem to prove that poverty is an impetus to great works. Affluence and ease have produced little in this field of labor. They seem to enervate the mind and to stifle genius. Doubtless, there have been many talented men among the wealthy classes of different countries, perhaps some with the genius of Haydn or Weber; but the motive power was lacking. They were born under the same condition that Rossini secured for himself—a condition that was fatal to even his energy. ”

“ Hummel took one of the themes that Field had just finished playing, and developed it into a brilliant fantasia in which were displayed all the intricacies of technic and beauties of expression.
Field was thunderstruck. He sprang to his feet and, catching his visitor by the shoulders, he gave him a shake and then embraced him in the hearty European fashion, crying, "You can't fool me! You are Hummel. No other man in the world can improvise like that!" ”

“ The border-land between great genius and insanity is narrower than we sometimes realize. Some of the great minds in the music life have passed over the dividing line; some have come back to a correct mental balance, but others suffered this mental affliction until relieved by the Grim Reaper.
It is not generally known that Hans von Bülow spent some time in an asylum. But such was the case, and the rest and quiet restored his tired and slightly unbalanced mind to its usual strength.
Next to Beethoven in intensity of thought and feeling, stands Robert Schumann. ”

“ On one of his concert programmes he had a long and abstruse Brahms symphony. Now Brahms is not a writer to be easily understood or generally enjoyed, and in this case, what applause there was, came from gratitude that the end of the lengthy work had been reached, rather than from appreciation of the work itself. Not satisfied with this half-hearted applause, Bülow turned to the audience and said:—
"What, do you not like it? I will teach you to!" and ordered a repetition of the whole work. Succeeding audiences applauded Brahms' symphonies out of sheer self-defense, if for no other reason. ”

“ The circumstances of some of them would tend to show that even this century does not always repay genius with honor and riches. Still, the contrast between the last half century and the time that preceded it is certainly in our favor. Perhaps the twentieth century will repay all its debts to genius.
But, be that as it may, the greatest success genius achieves is in the conscious fulfilment of its high mission and not in the accumulation of riches. The possession of genius is the rarest fortune, and "Whoever fortune gives a touch, everywhere succeeds." ”

“ One night, in the midst of a brilliant concert, a respectable citizen arose from his seat, and facing the audience, interrupted the proceedings with the following impromptu speech:
"Gentlemen, do you not blush at spending a guinea to come and hear a miserable player, a mountebank, who knows only how to get sounds out of a wooden box, mounted with catgut? Could you not make better use of your money? Would you not do better to give it to the poor? Look at that big charlatan, who is just like the devil; he laughs at your simplicity and puts your money into his pockets. ”

“ This, of course, annoyed Mendelssohn, who, unlike Schumann or Chopin, would never take a hint or advice from any one. Moreover, Mendelssohn, who, although a refined pianist, was not a virtuoso, and never could play my compositions with any kind of effect, his technical skill being inadequate to the execution of intricate passages. So the only course open to him, he thought, was to vilify me as a musician. And, of course, whatever Mendelssohn did, Leipzig did also. ”

“ Franz Liszt, although not attaining the great pre-eminence as a composer that fell to the lot of those we have mentioned, was one of the most prominent musical figures of our century. His life reads like a dream. It is a continual ascendancy, reaching to the greatest heights of virtuosity and popularity. ”

“ Sometimes, musicians who were famous in their own day have had their very names forgotten in our times, were it not that some such dedication keeps their memory alive.
So it was with Rudolph Kreutzer, once a famous violinist and composer. To him Beethoven dedicated his great sonata for violin and piano, Opus 47, the sonata universally known as the "Kreutzer Sonata."
But it was only an accident and a whim of the composer's that gave Kreutzer this celebrity. Beethoven had intended to dedicate this sonata to Bridgetower, a young violinist of his day, and, by the way, a native of Africa. ”

“ No matter what other talents a musician may have, if he has not a very strong and retentive memory his musical genius will probably remain obscure. It is fortunate, however, that a strong inventive power or talent for composition will generally be accompanied by an adequately developed memory. For this reason, when one begins to write of the retentive memories of the great composers, there seems to be no stopping place short of the end of the list.
It goes without saying that an opera singer must be able at all times to place perfect reliance on his memory. ”

“ The musical world should be thankful that this young German musician was not attracted by the flaxen-haired daughter of that old organist. Had it been otherwise, Händel might have settled down to an honorable obscurity in that ancient German town and been diverted from that wonderful career of composition which has left the world so much his debtor. ”

“ It would save trouble, though it might lose the teacher an occasional pupil, if he were always to be as honest as was the great French teacher and composer, Cherubini.
One day he was appealed to by a singer, a man with a tremendous voice, to tell him what art he had better follow,—if he had not better become a singer. Cherubini at once asked him to sing, whereupon he opened his mouth and the foundations well nigh trembled with his bellowing. ”