Part 9 (2/2)
Mr Quelson looked interrogatively at the committee when the doctor finished
”The personal note, you know,” he said, ”the note that is so valued nowadays in criticisrunted the doctor, and Mr Slehbell joyously laughed
”Give us one with more matter and less manner,” remarked Mr Sanderson, who had quietly but none the less determinedly eaten up all the sandwiches and drunk seven bottles of beer Mr Van Oven, of the _Morning Foas, as usual, fast asleep [This was the manner in which he composed hi:
_Solid Musical Meat_
”The small hall of the Mendelssohn Glee Club was crowded to listen to the polished playing of the Boston Squintet Club last night It was a graciously inclined audience, and after
Haydn, Grieg, and Brahms had been disclosed, it departed in one of those frames of mind that the chronicler of music events can safely denominate as happy There were many reasons, which may not be proclaimed nohy this should be thus The first quartet, one of the blithest, airiest, and most serene of Papa Haydn's, was published with absolute finish, if not with abandon Its naveafteris hardly strict quartet music It has a savor, a flavor, a perfume, an odor, even a sturdy s woefully in repose and euphony, and at ties perilously on the cacophonous Mr Casnoozle and his gifted associates played atonal precipices, but, heavens, how they did perspire! The Brahms Quartet--”
”I protest,” said Mr Blink, hastily rising ”I've been insulted ever since I entered the building Why, the very name of the institution is an insult to ood heavens, Brahpoisoned by such antique rot as Brahs howling and jabbering; poor Mr Quelson vainly endeavoring to keep order After ten ht That Larry Was Stretched_, Dr Nopkin was pushed over the piano and fell on the treble and hurt his lungs The noise brought to their senses the irate men, and then, to their consternation, they discovered that the class had sneaked off during the racket, and on the blackboard ritten: ”Oh, we don't know, you're not so critical!”
”My Lord,” groaned Mr Quelson, ”they have gone to that infernal Gregorian chant-cricket et hold of that Palestrina McVickar!”
The committee left in a bad humor on the next train, and the principal of Brahave his class a vacation Hereafter he will do his own exa
XX
A WONDER CHILD
A recent event in the musical world of Laputa has been of such extraordinarysoh in these days of electricity one ine the cable would have outstripped me, still by careful exare mention of the remarkable musical occurrence that shook all Laputa to its centre last hly rams and our operatic repertory contain all the novelties that are extant To be sure, we are a little conservative in our tastes and relish Mozart, and, must it be confessed, even Haydn; but, on the other hand, we have a penchant for the Neo-Russian school and hope some day to found a trans-Asiatic band of composers whose names will probably be as hard as their harmonies are to European and A in the prodigy line that we have ever encountered, for while we have been deluged with boy pianists, infant violinists, and baby singers, _ad nauseam_, still it must be confessed that a centenarian piano virtuoso ould make his debut before a curious audience on his hundredth birthday was a novelty indeed, particularly as the aged artist in question had been studying diligently for some ninety-five years under the best masters (and hat opportunities!) and would also on this most auspicious occasion conduct an orchestral composition of his own, a _Marche Funebre a la Tartare_, for the first tiy that promised to throw completely in the shade all co an event that had no historical precedence in the annals of ht of the concert aited I need not describe, nor of the papers tee with anecdotes of the venerable virtuoso whose narandchildren (ere also his randfather had never played in public before, and with, of course, the exception of his early masters, had never even played for anybody outside of his own family circle Born in 1788, he first studied technics with the faer His parents early imbued him (by the aid of a club) with the idea of the extrehtfully used, in furthering technique So, fro he actually succeeded in practising eighteen hours out of the twenty-four, which commendable practice (literally) he continued in his later life
Although he had only studied with one master, the Gospadin Bundelcund, as he was nareat virtuosi of his day, and had heard Beethoven, Steibelt, Czerny, Woelfl, Kalkbrenner, Cramer, Hummel, Field, Hiller, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Henselt, and also hts of pianisreat simplicity and modesty, he retired rew, and even after his e he could not be induced to play in public, for his ideal was a lofty one, and though his children, and even his grandchildren, often urged hireat-grandchildren, however, were shrewd, and, taking advantage of the aged pianist's increasing senility, they finally succeeded in iven at the capital of Laputa, and, despite his oes without saying that the attendance at our National Opera House was one of the largest ever seen there The wealth and brains of the capital were present, and all eagerly watched for the novel apparition that was to appear The prograed for one piano by the Gospadin; a movee_, by Steibelt; a fugue for the left hand alone, by Czerny, and a set of etudes after Czerny, being free transcriptions of his famous _Velocity Studies_, roused the deepest curiosity in ourtechnique were rife And, finally, when the stage doors were pushed wide open and a covered litter was slowly brought forward by six dusky slaves and gently set down, the pent up feelings of the audience could not be restrained any longer, and a shout that was almost barbaric shook the hall to its centre
An Echtstein grand piano, with the action purposely lightened to suit the pianist's touch, stood in the centre of the stage, and a large, coh-backed chair was placed in front of it The attendants, after setting the litter down, rolled the chair up to it, and then parting the curtains carefully, and even reverently, lifted out what appeared to be a mass of black velvet and yellow flax This bundle they placed on the chair and wheeled it up to the piano and then proceeded to bring forth a quantity of strange looking iymnasiums, wires and pulleys, and placed theindividual ca to his extreme feebleness, had been hypnotized previous to the concert, as it was the only et him to play, and that he would be restored to consciousness at once and the prograht inclination on the part of the audience to hiss, but its extreme curiosity speedily checked it and it breathlessly awaited results The doctor, for he was one, bent over the recuht position,into his ear through a long tube A wonderful change at oncehiaunt oldyellohite hair, eyes so sunken as to be invisible, and a nose that would defy all co from side to side in his efforts to make a bow, the Gospadin (or, as you would say, Mister or Herr) Bundelcund fell back exhausted in his seat, and while a h the house his attendants adorously fanned him By this time the audience had worked itself up to a fever pitch (at least eight tones above concert pitch) and nothing short of an earthquake would have dispersed it; besides the price of admission was enormous and naturally every one wanted the worth of his erly exaers that resembled claws, a cadaverous face and an air of abstraction one notices in very old or deaf persons
Tohie trumpet and then it dawned on me that the ht hand neighbor infor feeble and exhausted by piano practice hardly ever spoke; so he was practically dus, and thened when I saw the attendants place the oldorously proceeded to exercise his fingers, wrists, and forear, while two other attendants flapped hi to sleep
Again hbor, who appeared to be loquacious, inforrandchildren kept hihteen hours a day What a cruelty, I thought, but just then a few hts and I directed all un
Never shall I forget the curious sensation I experienced when the aged prodigy began the perforement for piano solo of the Bach concerto in D minor for three pianos, and I instantly discovered that the instruan pedals attached, otherwise some of the effects he produced could not have been even hinted at His touch eird, his technique indescribable, and one no longer listened to the piano, but to one of those instrulass andfrom the piano was _brittle_, so to speak; in a word, sounded so thin, sharp, and at tiht at any moment break
And then it ers threading their way through the mazes of the concerto, which was a tax on any player, and though the three piano parts were but faintly reproduced, the arrange of it But a vague, far-away sort of a feeling pervaded the whole performance, which leftthe uproarious applause that followed h the old man did not appear to be as much exhausted as he had anticipated, still he feared the worst fro before such a public and under such exciting circu confidential he whispered to ents for the Paul von Janko keyboard had approached the venerable pianist, but after inspecting the invention the latter had replied wearily that he was too old to begin ”tobogganing” now My neighbor seemed to be aun the tutti of the G minor concerto of Dussek (an intimate friend of the Gospadin's, by the way) did he cease his chuckling