Story-Lives of Great Musicians

Story-Lives of Great Musicians, by

Francis Jameson Rowbotham This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Story-Lives of Great Musicians
Author: Francis Jameson Rowbotham
Release Date: November 10, 2006 [EBook #19748]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | Transcriber's Note: | | | | Inconsistent hyphenation and unusual spelling in the | | original document have been preserved. | | | | A small number of musical symbols (flat, sharp and natural) | | have been transliterated for this document. | | | | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected in this | | text. For a complete list, please see the end of this | | document. | | | +--------------------------------------------------------------+
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[Illustration: BEETHOVEN. Frontispiece. From photo RISCHGITZ.]

STORY-LIVES
OF
GREAT MUSICIANS
BY FRANCIS JAMESON ROWBOTHAM AUTHOR OF 'STORY-LIVES OF GREAT AUTHORS,' 'TALES FROM PLUTARCH,' ETC.
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS

TO THE MEMORY OF FREDERICK WESTLAKE, R.A.M.

PREFACE
Following the plan of his previous volume of Great Authors, the writer has here endeavoured to weave into more or less story form a few of the facts and incidents in the lives of some great musicians. It is hoped that young readers--and especially those to whom music is a subject of study--will take a greater interest in some of the masterpieces of composition when they have learnt something about the composers themselves, and the circumstances under which they wrote.
The author desires to express his acknowledgments for the assistance he has derived from the following works:
Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians; Bitter's Life of Sebastian Bach (translated by J.E. Kay-Shuttleworth); Rockstro's Life of George Frederick Handel; Williams's Handel in 'The Master Musicians'; Townsend's Haydn in 'The Great Musicians'; Jahn's W.A. Mozart (translated by P.D. Townsend); Schindler's Life of Beethoven; Nohl's Life of Beethoven; von Hellborn's Franz Schubert (translated by A.D. Coleridge); Benedict's Sketch of the Life and Works of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy; Hensel's The Mendelssohn Family; Hiller's Mendelssohn: Letters and Recollections; Devrient's Recollections of F.M. Bartholdy (translated by C.N. Macfarren).

CONTENTS
PAGE
BACH 3
HANDEL 37
HAYDN 89
MOZART 151
BEETHOVEN 215
SCHUBERT 269
MENDELSSOHN 315

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
GAZING AT ITS COVERS THROUGH THE LATTICE DOORS OF THE CUPBOARD 4
BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON HE BEGAN HIS TASK 9
CHRISTOPH SEIZED THE MANUSCRIPT BOOK AND THE COPY 10
DURING THE WINTER MONTHS THE SCHOLARS WERE SENT OUT TO SING IN THE STREETS 12
THE KING EXCLAIMED REPEATEDLY: 'ONLY ONE BACH! ONLY ONE BACH!' 30
HANDEL'S BIRTHPLACE, HALLE, SAXONY 38
BECKONED SILENTLY TO THE REST TO FOLLOW HIM 41
HE CALLED TO THE COACHMAN TO STOP 44
THE DUKE PRAISED HIS PERFORMANCE 46
A RESORT TO SWORDS 55
A GRAND PROCESSION OF DECORATED BARGES FROM WHITEHALL TO LIMEHOUSE 63
THE STROKES OF HIS HAMMER ON THE ANVIL KEPT TIME TO HIS SONG 66
'DID NOT YOU SAY YOU COULD SING AT SIGHT?' 'YES, SIR, BUT NOT AT FIRST SIGHT!' 76
HE WAS IMITATING THE PLAYING OF A VIOLIN 94
ST. STEPHEN'S CATHEDRAL, VIENNA 101
HE MANAGED TO SAVE SUFFICIENT TO PURCHASE TWO VOLUMES 104
THE TANTALISING PIGTAIL 109
'WHOSE MUSIC IS THAT WHICH YOU WERE PLAYING JUST NOW?' 117
HAYDN ENJOYED HIS FIRST SIGHT OF THE WAVES 133
LISSON GROVE A CENTURY AGO 135
HAYDN'S EYES FILLED WITH TEARS 145
HE PAID NO HEED TO THE ENTRY OF A SERVANT 152
THEY REMAINED STANDING, ROOTED TO THE SPOT 160
PLAYED BEFORE THE COURT AT VERSAILLES 164
CHELSEA AT THAT TIME WAS A RIVERSIDE VILLAGE 167
THE CARRIAGE WHICH WAS TO CONVEY THE TRAVELLERS DREW UP AT THE DOOR 188
'THERE IS THE DOOR!' 199
'NOW THEN, LUDWIG, TIME FOR PRACTICE!' 220
'PAY ATTENTION TO THIS YOUNG MAN, FOR HE WILL MAKE A NOISE IN THE WORLD SOME DAY' 228
SEATED BEFORE AN OLD, WORN-OUT PIANO 230
HAYDN PRAISED THE COMPOSITION HIGHLY 233
TAKING HIS HAND, TURNED HIM ROUND TO THE AUDIENCE 255
THEY INDULGED IN JOKES AT THE EXPENSE OF THE SPECTACLED BOY 273
HIS CLEVER PLAYING ATTRACTED THE ATTENTION OF THE LEADER 275
MANY EVENINGS WERE PASSED IN MUSICAL ENJOYMENT 282
THEY FOUND SCHUBERT HARD AT WORK 291
SCHUBERT FLED FROM THE ROOM 302
'HERE IS A GENTLEMAN WHO KNOWS ALL ABOUT THE NEW OPERA' 325
THE TUTOR'S CARRIAGE MET THEM 330
'THE SUCCESS WAS BEYOND WHAT I COULD HAVE DREAMED' 348
'WOULD NOT THAT BE SPLENDID FOR AN ORATORIO!' 362
PORTRAITS
BEETHOVEN Frontispiece
BACH 5
HANDEL 39
HAYDN 91
MOZART 153
SCHUBERT 271
MENDELSSOHN 317

BACH

STORY-LIVES OF GREAT MUSICIANS

BACH
'Christoph, I wish you would let me have that book of manuscript music which you have in your cupboard--the one which contains pieces by Pachelbel, and Frohberger, and Buxtehude, and ever so many others--you know which I mean. I will take such care of it if you will only lend it to me for a little while.'
Christoph was about to leave the room, but