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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (photogravure) . . . . Frontispiece Mozart at the Age of Eleven Constance, Wife of Mozart Ludwig van Beethoven Countess Therese von Brunswick "Beethoven at Heiligenstadt" Félix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Fanny Hensel, Sister of Mendelssohn Cécile, Wife of Mendelssohn The Mendelssohn Monument in Leipsic Frédéric Chopin [missing from book] Countess Potocka The Death of Chopin Robert Schumann Robert and Clara Schumann, in 1847 Clara Schumann at the Piano The Schumann Monument in the Bonn Cemetery Franz Liszt Liszt at the Piano The Princess Carolyne, in her Latter Years at Rome The Altenburg, Weimar, where Liszt and Carolyne lived Richard Wagner Cosima, Wife of Wagner Richard and Cosima Wagner Richard and Cosima Wagner entertaining in their Home Wahnfried, Liszt and Hans von Wolzogen
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (photogravure) . . . . Frontispiece Mozart at the Age of Eleven Constance, Wife of Mozart Ludwig van Beethoven Countess Therese von Brunswick "Beethoven at Heiligenstadt" Félix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Fanny Hensel, Sister of Mendelssohn Cécile, Wife of Mendelssohn The Mendelssohn Monument in Leipsic Frédéric Chopin [missing from book] Countess Potocka The Death of Chopin Robert Schumann Robert and Clara Schumann, in 1847 Clara Schumann at the Piano The Schumann Monument in the Bonn Cemetery Franz Liszt Liszt at the Piano The Princess Carolyne, in her Latter Years at Rome The Altenburg, Weimar, where Liszt and Carolyne lived Richard Wagner Cosima, Wife of Wagner Richard and Cosima Wagner Richard and Cosima Wagner entertaining in their Home Wahnfried, Liszt and Hans von Wolzogen
Nearly eight years after Mozart's death his widow, in response to a request from a famous publishing house for relics of the composer, sent, among other Mozartiana, a packet of letters written to her by her husband. In transmitting these she wrote: "Especially characteristic is his great love for me, which breathes through all the letters. Is it not true—those from the last year of his life are just as tender as those written during the first year of our marriage?" She added that she would like
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[Illustration: Mozart at the age of eleven. From a painting by Van der Smissen in the Mozarteum, Salzburg.]
[Illustration: Mozart at the age of eleven. From a painting by Van der Smissen in the Mozarteum, Salzburg.]
Of her two older sisters the second, Aloysia, had a beautiful voice and no mean looks, and the young genius was greatly taken with her from the first. He induced his mother to linger in Mannheim much longer than was necessary. Aloysia became his pupil; and under his tuition her voice improved wonderfully. She achieved brilliant success in public, and her father, delighted, watched with pleasure the sentimental attachment that was springing up between her and Mozart. Meanwhile Leopold Mozart was
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[Illustration: Constance, wife of Mozart. From an engraving by Nissen.]
[Illustration: Constance, wife of Mozart. From an engraving by Nissen.]
Although poor, Mozart, through his music, had become acquainted with titled personages and was known at court. He and Constance, shortly after their wedding, were walking in the Prater with their pet dog. To make the dog bark, Mozart playfully pretended to strike Constance with his cane. At that moment the Emperor, chancing to come out of a summer house and seeing Mozart's action, which he misinterpreted, began chiding him for abusing his wife so shortly after they had been married. When his mis
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[Illustration: Ludwig van Beethoven]
[Illustration: Ludwig van Beethoven]
After the composer's death, in 1827, the portrait was found in the old chest, and also a letter, in his handwriting and evidently written to a woman, whose name, however, was not given, but who was addressed by Beethoven as his "Immortal Beloved." The letter was regarded as a great find, and biographer after biographer has stated that it must have been written to the Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, to whom he dedicated the famous "Moonlight Sonata." There was, however, one woman, who survived Bee
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[Illustration: Countess Therese von Brunswick. From the portrait by Ritter von Lampir in the Beethoven-Haus at Bonn. Redrawn by Reich.]
[Illustration: Countess Therese von Brunswick. From the portrait by Ritter von Lampir in the Beethoven-Haus at Bonn. Redrawn by Reich.]
The tragedy of their romance lay in its non-fulfilment. Beethoven was a man of noble nature, yet what had he to offer her in return for her love? His own love, it is true. But he was uncouth, stricken with deafness, and had many of the "bad moments" of genius. He foresaw unhappiness for both, and, to spare her, took upon himself the great act of renunciation. We need only recall him weeping over the picture of his Therese. And Therese? To her dying day she treasured his memory. Very few shared h
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[Illustration: "Beethoven at Heiligenstadt." From the painting by Carl Schmidt.]
[Illustration: "Beethoven at Heiligenstadt." From the painting by Carl Schmidt.]
Early in July Beethoven left Montonvasar for Furen, a health resort on the Plattensee, which he reached after a hard trip. Fatigued, grieving over the first parting from Therese, and downcast over his uncertain future, he there wrote the letter to his "Immortal Beloved," which is now one of the treasures of the Berlin Library. It is a long letter, much too long to be given here in full, written for the most part in ejaculatory phrases, and curiously alternating between love, despair, courage and
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[Illustration: Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy.]
[Illustration: Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy.]
It may have been a regretful feeling that he had disappointed his father by not marrying which led him, after the latter's sudden death in November, 1835, to consider the matter more seriously. He hastened to Berlin to his mother, and then returned to Leipsic, where he had charge of the famous Gewandhaus concerts. He settled down to work again, and especially to finish his oratorio of "St. Paul." In March, 1836, the University of Leipsic made him a Ph.D. In May or June of this year a friend and
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[Illustration: Fanny Hensel, sister of Mendelssohn.]
[Illustration: Fanny Hensel, sister of Mendelssohn.]
It is a curious coincidence that when Felix left Frankfort for Scheveningen, with the image of this fair being in his heart, the Caecilia Society should have presented him with a handsome dressing-case marked "F. M.-B. and Caecilia.'" [1] He had come to Frankfort to conduct the Caecilia; he had met Caecilia; and now he was at the last moment reminded that he was leaving Caecilia behind; yet he was carrying Caecilia with him. If there is anything prophetic in coincidences, everything pointed to t
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[Illustration: Cécile, wife of Mendelssohn.]
[Illustration: Cécile, wife of Mendelssohn.]
"Les Feliciens" was the title given to Felix and Cécile by his sister Fanny later in life. At this time Mendelssohn himself was indescribably happy. At least, he could not himself find words in which to express all he felt. It is pleasant to find that a great composer is no exception to the rule which makes lovers "too happy for words." "But what words am I to use in describing my happiness?" he writes to his sister. "I do not know and am dumb, but not for the same reason as the monkeys on the O
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[Illustration: The Mendelssohn Monument in Leipsig.]
[Illustration: The Mendelssohn Monument in Leipsig.]
Thus, while Cécile does not seem to have been an extraordinarily gifted woman from an artistic or intellectual point of view, it is quite evident that she possessed a refinement that must have appealed forcibly to a man brought up in such genteel surroundings and as sensitive as Mendelssohn. Such a woman must have been, after all, better suited to his delicate genius than a wife of unusual gifts would have been. For it is a helpmeet, not another genius, that a man of genius really needs most. Th
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[Illustration: Frédéric Chopin (missing from book)]
[Illustration: Frédéric Chopin (missing from book)]
But we have portraits of Delphine by Chopin himself, not drawn with pencil or crayon, or painted with brush, but her face as his soul saw it and transformed it into music. Listen to a great virtuoso play his two concertos. Ask yourself which of the six movements is the most beautiful. Surely your choice will fall on the slow movement of the second—dedicated to the Countess Delphine Potocka, and one of the composer's most tender and exquisite productions; or play over the waltzes—the one over whi
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[Illustration: Countess Potocka. From the famous pastel in the Royal Berlin Gallery. Artist unknown.]
[Illustration: Countess Potocka. From the famous pastel in the Royal Berlin Gallery. Artist unknown.]
In her salon were heard such singers as Rubini, Lablache, Tamburini, Malibran, Grisi and Persiani. Yet it was her voice Chopin wished to hear when he lay dying! Truly hers must have been a marvellous gift of song! At her salon it was his delight to accompany her with his highly poetical playing. From what is known of his delicate art as a pianist it is possible to imagine how exquisitely his accompaniments must have both sustained and mingled with that " belle voix de soprano ." He had a knack o
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[Illustration: The death of Chopin. From the painting by Barrias.]
[Illustration: The death of Chopin. From the painting by Barrias.]
How long did Delphine survive Chopin? In 1853 Liszt met her at Baden, postponing his intended departure for Carlsruhe a day in order to dine with her. In May, 1861, he met her at dinner at the Rothschilds'. When Chopin's pupil, Mikuli, was preparing his edition of the composer's works, Delphine furnished him copies of several compositions bearing expression marks and other directions in the hand of Chopin himself. Mikuli dated his edition 1879. It would seem as if the Countess still were living
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[Illustration: Robert Schumann.]
[Illustration: Robert Schumann.]
Schumann had been invited by his friends, Dr. and Mrs. Carus, to an evening of music, and especially to hear the piano playing of a wonder-child—a "musical fairy," his hostess called her. In the course of the evening he accompanied Frau Carus in some Schubert songs, when, chancing to look up, he saw a child dressed in white, her pretty face framed in dark hair, her expressive eyes raised toward the singer in rapt admiration. The song over, and the applause having died away, he stepped up to the
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[Illustration: Robert and Clara Schumann in 1847. From a lithograph in possession of the Society of Friends of Music, Vienna.]
[Illustration: Robert and Clara Schumann in 1847. From a lithograph in possession of the Society of Friends of Music, Vienna.]
Schumann entered with enthusiasm upon the career of his choice. He left Heidelberg and took lodgings with the Wiecks in Leipsic. Clara, then a mere girl, though already winning fame as a concert pianist, certainly was too young for him to have fallen seriously in love with, or for her to have responded to any such feeling. Even at that early age, however, she exercised a strange power of attraction over him. His former literary tastes had given him a great fund of stories and anecdotes, and he d
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[Illustration: Clara Schumann at the piano.]
[Illustration: Clara Schumann at the piano.]
However far the affair may or may not have progressed at this time, there was a curious interruption during the following year. Robert appears to have temporarily lost his heart to a certain Ernestine von Fricken, a young lady of sixteen, who was one of Wieck's pupils. Clara consoled herself by permitting a musician named Banck to pay her attention. For reasons which never have been clearly explained, Schumann suddenly broke with Ernestine and turned with renewed ardor to Clara, while Clara at o
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[Illustration: The Schumann Monument in the Bonn Cemetery.]
[Illustration: The Schumann Monument in the Bonn Cemetery.]
Clara survived him forty years, wearing a crown of laurels and thorns—the laurels of a famous pianist, the thorns of her widowhood. It was a widowhood consecrated, as much as her wifehood had been, to her husband's genius. She died at Frankfort, May 19, 1896, and is buried beside her husband in Bonn. In the famous Wagner-Liszt correspondence, Liszt writes from Weimar, under date of April 8, 1853, "Daily the Princess greets me with the lines 'Nicht Gut, noch Geld, noch Göttliche Pracht.'" The lin
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[Illustration: Franz Liszt. Painting by Ary Scheffer.]
[Illustration: Franz Liszt. Painting by Ary Scheffer.]
Liszt's letters to the Princess, written in French and still untranslated, are in four volumes. They were published by the Princess's daughter, Princess Marie Hohenlohe, as a tribute to Liszt the musician and the man. They teem with his musical activities—information regarding the numerous celebrities with whom he was intimate, the musicians he aided, his own great works. But their rarest charm to me lies in the fact that from them the careful reader can glean the whole story of the romance of L
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[Illustration: Liszt at the piano.]
[Illustration: Liszt at the piano.]
If it was not love at first sight between these two, it must have been nearly that. Liszt came to Kiew in February, 1847. The same month Carolyne invited him to visit her at one of her country seats, Woronince. Brief correspondence already had passed between them. To his fifth note he adds, as a postscript, "I am in the best of humor~.~.~. and find, now that the world contains Woronince, that the world is good, very good!" The great pianist continued his tour to Constantinople. When he writes to
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[Illustration: The Princess Carolyne in her later years at Rome.]
[Illustration: The Princess Carolyne in her later years at Rome.]
One of the billets relates to an incident that has become historic. Wagner had been obliged, because of his participation in the revolution, to flee from Dresden. He sought refuge with Liszt in Weimar, but, learning that the Saxon authorities were seeking to apprehend him, decided to continue his flight to Switzerland. He was without means and, at the moment, Liszt, too, was out of funds. In this extremity, Liszt despatched a few lines to the Princess. "Can you send me by bearer sixty thalers? W
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[Illustration: The Altenburg, Weimar, where Liszt and Carolyne lived.]
[Illustration: The Altenburg, Weimar, where Liszt and Carolyne lived.]
And yet—convention is the result of the concentrated essence of the experience of ages; and no one seems able to break through it without the effort leaving a scar. It cast its shadow even over the life at the Altenburg. There remained one great longing to the Princess, the nonfulfilment of which was as a void in her soul. She yearned to bear the name of the man she adored. During the twelve years of their Weimar sojourn she battled for it, but in vain. Then she transferred the battlefield to Ro
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[Illustration: Richard Wagner. From the original lithograph of the Egusquiza portrait.]
[Illustration: Richard Wagner. From the original lithograph of the Egusquiza portrait.]
Even now the reader can begin to realize the rôle Cosima has played in music. That she is the daughter of Liszt is not in itself wonderful, but that she should have fulfilled the mission to which she was born is one of the most exquisite touches of fate. Liszt was one of Wagner's first champions and friends. He came to the composer's aid in the darkest years of his career—during that long exile after Wagner had been obliged to flee from Germany because of his participation in the revolution of 1
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[Illustration: Cosima, wife of Wagner. From a portrait bust made before her marriage.]
[Illustration: Cosima, wife of Wagner. From a portrait bust made before her marriage.]
Whoever takes the trouble to read Liszt's correspondence, which is in seven volumes and nearly all in French, will have little difficulty in discerning that Cosima was his favorite child. He speaks of her affectionately as "Cosette" and "Cosimette." Like his own, her temperament was artistic and responsive, and she also inherited his charm of manner and his exquisite tact, which, if anything, her early bringing up in Paris enhanced. In 1857, when she was twenty, Wagner saw her again and describe
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[Illustration: Richard and Cosima Wagner.]
[Illustration: Richard and Cosima Wagner.]
Doubtless, the ill success of "The Flying Dutchman" and "Tannhäuser," works which, after "Rienzi," puzzled people, engendered her first misunderstanding of Wagner's genius. Some may be surprised that this lack of appreciation did not bring about a separation sooner, instead of after nearly a quarter of a century of married life. But when a man is struggling with poverty, the woman who unobtrusively aids him in bearing it is regarded by him as an angel of light, and the question as to whether she
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[Illustration: Richard and Cosima Wagner entertaining in their home Wahnfried, Liszt, and Hans von Wolzogen. Painting by W. Beckmann.]
[Illustration: Richard and Cosima Wagner entertaining in their home Wahnfried, Liszt, and Hans von Wolzogen. Painting by W. Beckmann.]
Were it not for Liszt's letters, meagre would be the information regarding Cosima before her marriage to Wagner. But by going over his voluminous correspondence and picking out references to her here and there, I am able to give at least some idea of her earlier life. This extraordinary woman, who brought Wagner so much happiness and of whom it may be said that no other woman ever played so important a part in the history of music, came to her many graces and accomplishments by right of birth. S
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