The Worlds Great Men of Music

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The World's Great Men of Music

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Title: The World's Great Men of Music Story-Lives of Master Musicians
Author: Harriette Brower
Release Date: August 25, 2004 [EBook #13291]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE WORLD'S GREAT MEN OF MUSIC
BY
HARRIETTE BROWER
_Author of "Piano Mastery, First and Second Series," "Home-Help in Music Study," "Self-Help in Piano Study," "Vocal Mastery," etc_.
Also Published Under the Title of "Story-Lives of Master Musicians"

1922
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
Printed in the United States of America

FOREWORD
The preparation of this volume began with a period of delightful research work in a great musical library. As a honey-bee flutters from flower to flower, culling sweetness from many blossoms, so the compiler of such stories as these must gather facts from many sources--from biography, letters, journals and musical history. Then, impressed with the personality and individual achievement of each composer, the author has endeavored to present his life story.
While the aim has been to make the story-sketches interesting to young people, the author hopes that they may prove valuable to musical readers of all ages. Students of piano, violin or other instruments need to know how the great composers lived their lives. In every musical career described in this book, from the old masters represented by Bach and Beethoven to the musical prophets of our own day, there is a wealth of inspiration and practical guidance for the artist in any field. Through their struggles, sorrows and triumphs, divine melody and harmony came into being, which will bless the world for all time to come.

CONTENTS




CHAPTER FOREWORD
I PALESTRINA
II JOHN SEBASTIAN BACH
III GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL
IV CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK
V JOSEF HAYDN
VI WOLFGANG MOZART
VII LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
VIII CARL MARIA VON WEBER
IX FRANZ SCHUBERT
X FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY
XI ROBERT SCHUMANN
XII FREDERIC CHOPIN
XIII HECTOR BERLIOZ
XIV FRANZ LISZT
XV GIUSEPPE VERDI
XVI RICHARD WAGNER
XVII CéSAR FRANCK
XVIII JOHANNES BRAHMS
XIX EDWARD GRIEG
XX PETER ILYITCH TSCHAIKOWSKY
XXI EDWARD MACDOWELL
XXII CLAUDE ACHILLE DEBUSSY
XXIII ARTURO TOSCANINI
XXIV LEOPOLD STOKOWSKY
XXV SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY
[Illustration: LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN]
[Illustration: JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH]
[Illustration: JOHANNES BRAHMS]
[Illustration: PETER ILYITCH TSCHAIKOWSKY]

STORY-LIVES OF
MASTER MUSICIANS

I
PALESTRINA
To learn something of the life and labors of Palestrina, one of the earliest as well as one of the greatest musicians, we must go back in the world's history nearly four hundred years. And even then we may not be able to discover all the events of his life as some of the records have been lost. But we have the main facts, and know that Palestrina's name will be revered for all time as the man who strove to make sacred music the expression of lofty and spiritual meaning.
Upon a hoary spur of the Apennines stands the crumbling town of Palestrina. It is very old now; it was old when Rome was young. Four hundred years ago Palestrina was dominated by the great castle of its lords, the proud Colonnas. Naturally the town was much more important in those days than it is to-day.
At that time there lived in Palestrina a peasant pair, Sante Pierluigi and his wife Maria, who seem to have been an honest couple, and not grindingly poor, since the will of Sante's mother has lately been found, in which she bequeathed a house in Palestrina to her two sons. Besides this she left behind a fine store of bed linen, mattresses and cooking utensils. Maria Gismondi also had a little property.
To this pair was born, probably in 1526, a boy whom they named Giovanni Pierluigi, which means John Peter Louis. This boy, from a tiniest child, loved beauty of sight and sound. And this is not at all surprising, for a child surrounded from infancy by the natural loveliness and glory of old Palestrina, would unconsciously breathe in a sense of beauty and grandeur.
It was soon discovered the boy had a voice, and his mother is said to have sold some land she owned to provide for her son's musical training.
From the rocky heights on which their town was built, the people of Palestrina could look across the Campagna--the great plain between--and see the walls and towers of Rome. At the time of our story, Saint Peter's had withstood the sack of the city, which happened a dozen years before, and Bramante's vast basilica had already begun to rise. The artistic life of Rome was still at high tide, for Raphael had passed away but twenty years before, and Michael Angelo was at work on his Last Judgment.
Though painting and sculpture flourished, music did not keep pace with advance in other arts. The leading