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
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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 | |

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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