The Worlds Great Men of Music

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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WORLD'S GREAT MEN OF MUSIC ***

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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