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022 - Lucky Peer part 6 · Fairytales and Short Stories by Hans Christian Andersen

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Speaker 1: Section twenty two of anderson Fairytales and Short Stories Volume six.
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Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Ruihuk Hans Christian Anderson
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Speaker 1: Fairy Tales and Short Stories, Volume six, eighteen sixty six
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Speaker 1: to eighteen seventy three by Ann Christian Anderson, translated by HP.
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Speaker 1: Paul The Lucky Pier, Part six fourteen. It was still wintertime.
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Speaker 1: The sleigh bells jingled, and the clouds carried snowflakes in them.
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Speaker 1: But when sunbeams burst through them, there was a heralding
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Speaker 1: of spring. There was a fragrance and a music in
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Speaker 1: the young heart that flowed out in picturesque music and
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Speaker 1: found expression in words a spring song. In swath of snow,
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Speaker 1: the earth is lying over the sea, merry skaters are flying,
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Speaker 1: the frostrin trees are speckled with crow. But tomorrow, tomorrow,
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Speaker 1: the wintertime goes, the sun bursts through the skies, spring
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Speaker 1: comes riding in summer guys. Footnote three. It is a
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Speaker 1: custom at Eastertide for the peasants to come riding into
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Speaker 1: the towns and villages, their horses and themselves decked with
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Speaker 1: green boughs, especially of the beach. And so they go
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Speaker 1: in procession and have a merry dance in the evening.
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Speaker 1: It is then said, it's the people's way. Spring is riding,
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Speaker 1: summer rise into town end of footnote. And the willow
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Speaker 1: pulls off its woolen glove, strike up musicians in leafy grove.
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Speaker 1: Little birds, little birds sing in the sky. Winter's gone by,
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Speaker 1: Winter's gone by. Oh one is the kiss of the
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Speaker 1: sun on our cheek, As violets and stone vought in
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Speaker 1: the woodland. We seek tis as if the old forest
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Speaker 1: were holding its breath for now. In a night, each
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Speaker 1: leaf wakes from death. The cuckoo sings, you know its
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Speaker 1: telltale song, So many years your days will be long?
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Speaker 1: Footnote four. It is a Scandinavian superstition that the first
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Speaker 1: cuckoo one hears in the spring will answer the question
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Speaker 1: how many years shall I live? By a prophetic number
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Speaker 1: of notes. Many other questions were asked, And boys and
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Speaker 1: girls will go out at night, then in the early
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Speaker 1: morning they may hear the cuckoo's answers. End of footnote.
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Speaker 1: The world is young. Be thou too young. Let happy
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Speaker 1: heart and merry tongue, which springtime, lift the song on high.
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Speaker 1: Youth's never gone by, never gone gone by. Youth's never
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Speaker 1: gone by, never gone by. The earth lives a charmed
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Speaker 1: life for eye, with its sun and its storm. It's
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Speaker 1: joy and it's pain. So in our hearts her world
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Speaker 1: has lain that will not be gone like a shooting star.
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Speaker 1: For man is made by God Afar and God in
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Speaker 1: nature keep ever young, So teach us spring the song thus, sun,
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Speaker 1: and pipe in little birds in the sky. Youth's never
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Speaker 1: gone by, never gone by. That is a complete musical painting,
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Speaker 1: said the singing master, and well adapted for chorus and orchestra.
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Speaker 1: It is the best yet of your pieces which have
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Speaker 1: sprung out of words. You certainly must learn through bass,
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Speaker 1: although it is not your vocation to be a composer.
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Speaker 1: Some young music friends meanwhile quickly brought out a song
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Speaker 1: the song at a great concert, where it excited remark
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Speaker 1: but led to nothing. Our young friend's career was open
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Speaker 1: before him his greatness, and importantly, not in the sympathetic
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Speaker 1: tones of his voice, but in his remarkable dramatic power.
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Speaker 1: This he had shown as George Brown and as Hamlet.
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Speaker 1: He very much preferred the regular opera to the singing
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Speaker 1: of pieces. It was contrary to his sound and natural sense,
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Speaker 1: this stepping over from song to talking and back to
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Speaker 1: singing again. It is said he, as if one came
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Speaker 1: from marble steps onto wooden ones, sometimes even onto mere henrus,
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Speaker 1: and then again to marble. The whole poem should live
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Speaker 1: and breathe in its passage through tones. The music of
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Speaker 1: the future, which the new movement in opera is called,
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Speaker 1: and of which Wagner is especially standard bearer, received a
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Speaker 1: response in strong admiration from our young friend. He found
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Speaker 1: here characters so clearly marked, passages so full of thought,
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Speaker 1: the entire handling characterized by forward movement, without any standstill
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Speaker 1: or recurrence of melodies. It is surely a most unnatural thing.
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Speaker 1: The introduction of areas, Yes, introduction, said the singing master.
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Speaker 1: But how they, in the works of most of the
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Speaker 1: great masters, stand prominently forth a large part of the whole.
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Speaker 1: So must and should it be. If the lyric has
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Speaker 1: a home in any place, it is in the opera.
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Speaker 1: And he mentioned in Don Juan Don Octavia's area tears
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Speaker 1: sees your flowing how like is it to a charming
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Speaker 1: lake in the woods, by whose bank one rests and
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Speaker 1: is filled to the brim with the music that streams
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Speaker 1: through the leafy woods. I pay my respects to the
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Speaker 1: profoundity that lies in the new musical movement. And I
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Speaker 1: do not dance with you before that golden calf. Nor
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Speaker 1: is it your heart's feel meaning which you express, or
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Speaker 1: else you are not yourself quite clear about it. I
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Speaker 1: will appear in one of Wagner's operas, said I, young friend.
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Speaker 1: If I cannot show my meaning by the words, yet
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Speaker 1: I will by my singing and acting. The choice fell
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Speaker 1: on Luigrin, the young mysterious Knight, who, in the boat
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Speaker 1: drawn by swans, glides over the shelt to do battle
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Speaker 1: for Elsa of Brabant, who so well as he ever
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Speaker 1: acted and sang the first song of the meeting, the
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Speaker 1: Conversation of two Hearts in the Bridled Chamber, and the
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Speaker 1: song of Farewell, when the Holy Grail's white dove hobbers
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Speaker 1: about the young Knight who came one and vanished. This
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Speaker 1: evening was, if possible, another stepped forward in the artistic
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Speaker 1: greatness and celebrity of our young friend, and to the
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Speaker 1: singing master. It was a step forward in the recognition
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Speaker 1: of the music of the future under certain conditions, he said. Fifteen.
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Speaker 1: At the Great Yearly Exhibition of Painting, Spear and Felix
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Speaker 1: one day met before the portrait of a young and
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Speaker 1: pretty lady, daughter of the widow Baroness, as the other
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Speaker 1: was generally called, whose salon was the rendezvous for the
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Speaker 1: world of distinction and for every one of eminence in
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Speaker 1: art and science. The young Baroness was in his sixteenth year,
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Speaker 1: so an innocent, charming child. The picture was a good
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Speaker 1: likeness and given with artistic skill. Step into the saloon.
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Speaker 1: Here close by, said Felix, There stands the young beauty
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Speaker 1: with her mother. They stood engaged in looking at a
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Speaker 1: characteristic picture. It represented a field where two young married
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Speaker 1: people came riding on the same horse, holding fast to
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Speaker 1: one another. The chief figure, meanwhile, was a young monk
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Speaker 1: who was looking at the two happy travelers. There was
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Speaker 1: a sorrowful, dreamy look in the young man's countenance. One
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Speaker 1: could read in it his thought the story of his
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Speaker 1: life and aim missed great happiness, lost, human happiness and
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Speaker 1: human love he had not won. The elder Baroness saw Felix,
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Speaker 1: who respectfully greeted her at the beautiful daughter. Pierre showed
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Speaker 1: the same customary politeness. The widow Baroness knew him immediately
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Speaker 1: from having seen him on the stage, and after speaking
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Speaker 1: to Felix, she said some friendly, obliging words to Pierre
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Speaker 1: as she pressed his hand. I and my daughter belonged
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Speaker 1: to your admirers. What perfect beauty seemed to possess the
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Speaker 1: young girl at this moment. She looked with her gently
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Speaker 1: clear eyes, almost gratefully, upon him. I see in my house,
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Speaker 1: continued the widow Baroness, very many of the most distinguished artists.
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Speaker 1: We common people stand in need of a spiritual airing.
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Speaker 1: You will be heartily welcome, our young diplomat, she pointed
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Speaker 1: to Felix, will show you the way the first time,
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Speaker 1: and afterward, I hope you will find the way yourself.
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Speaker 1: She smiled on him. The young girl reached out her
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Speaker 1: hand n and cordially, as if they had long known
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Speaker 1: each other. Later in the autumn, one cold, sweaty evening,
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Speaker 1: the two young men went as they had been invited.
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Speaker 1: It was weather for driving and not walking. In for
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Speaker 1: the rich man's son and for the first singer on
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Speaker 1: the stage. Nevertheless, they walked well wrapped up, with galoshes
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Speaker 1: on their feet and rough gaps on their heads. It
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Speaker 1: was like a complete fairy scene to come out from
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Speaker 1: the roar into the apartment, displaying such luxury and good taste.
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Speaker 1: In the vestibule before the carpeted stairs, there was a
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Speaker 1: great display of flowers among bushes and fan palms. A
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Speaker 1: little fountain splashed in the basin, which was surrounded by
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Speaker 1: tall callous The great saloon was beautifully lighted, and a
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Speaker 1: great part of the company had already gathered. Soon there
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Speaker 1: was almost a crowd. People trod on silk trains and laces.
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Speaker 1: There was a hum roundabout, conversations, sonorous mosaic, which on
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Speaker 1: the whole was the least worthwhile of all the splendor
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Speaker 1: there had Pier been a vain fellow, which he was not.
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Speaker 1: He couldn't imagined that it was a feast made for him.
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Speaker 1: So cordial was the reception which he had met from
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Speaker 1: the mistress of the house and the beaming daughter. Young
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Speaker 1: ladies and old yes and gentlemen with them said most
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Speaker 1: agreeable things to him. There was music, a young author
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Speaker 1: read a very well written poem. There was singing, and
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Speaker 1: true delicacy was shown in that no one urged our
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Speaker 1: young and honored singer to make the whole affair most complete.
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Speaker 1: The lady of the house was the observing hostess, full
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Speaker 1: of spirits and full of hospitality, in that elegant salon.
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Speaker 1: It was his introduction into the great world. And our
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Speaker 1: young friend was soon here, also one of the select
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Speaker 1: ones in the choice family circle. The singing master shook
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Speaker 1: his head and smiled, How young thou art, dear friends,
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Speaker 1: said he, that thou canst enjoy going among these people.
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Speaker 1: They can be good enough in and for themselves, but
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Speaker 1: they look down on us, plain citizens. For some of
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Speaker 1: them it is only a piece of vanity and amusement,
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Speaker 1: and for others a sort of mark of exclusive culture.
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Speaker 1: When they receive into their circle artists and the lions
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Speaker 1: of the day, these belong in the salon much is
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Speaker 1: the flowers in a vase. They wither, and then they
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Speaker 1: are thrown away. How harsh and unjust, said Pierre. You
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Speaker 1: do not know these people and will not know them, no,
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Speaker 1: answered their singing master. I am not at home with them,
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Speaker 1: nor are you either, And this they all remember and know.
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Speaker 1: They crass you and look at you just as they
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Speaker 1: pat and look at a race horse, that is, to
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Speaker 1: win a wager. You belong to another race than they.
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Speaker 1: They will let you go when you are no longer
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Speaker 1: in the fashion. Do you not understand that you are
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Speaker 1: not proud enough? You are vain? And you show that
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Speaker 1: by seeking these people? How very differently you would talk
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Speaker 1: and judge, said Pierre. If you knew the widow Barrenness
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Speaker 1: and a few of my friends there, I shall not
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Speaker 1: get to knowing them, said the singing master. When is
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Speaker 1: the engagement to come out? Asked Felix one day? Is
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Speaker 1: it the mother or the daughter? And he laughed, don't
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Speaker 1: take the daughter, for then you'll have all the young
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Speaker 1: nobility against you, and I too shall be your enemy
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Speaker 1: and the fiercest one. What do you mean, asked per
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Speaker 1: You are the most favored one. You can go out
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Speaker 1: and in at all hours. You will get the cash
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Speaker 1: along with the mother, and belong to a good family.
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Speaker 1: Stop your joking, said Pier. There is nothing amusing to
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Speaker 1: me in what you say. No, indeed, there is no
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Speaker 1: fun at all in it, said Felix. It is a
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Speaker 1: most serious matter, for you will not let her grace
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Speaker 1: sit and weep and be a double widow. Leave the
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Speaker 1: baroness out of your talk, said peer. Make yourself merry
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Speaker 1: over me if you want to, but over me alone,
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Speaker 1: and I will answer you. No one will believe that
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Speaker 1: it is a love match on your side, continued Felix.
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Speaker 1: She's a little outside of the line of beauty. One
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Speaker 1: does not live on spirit alone. I give you credit
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Speaker 1: for more refinement and good sense, said Pier. Then would
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Speaker 1: let you talk thus of a lady you ought to
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Speaker 1: esteem and whose house you visit? And I won't talk
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Speaker 1: of this longer. What are you going to do about it?
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Speaker 1: Asked Felix. Will you fight? I know that you have
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Speaker 1: learned that, and I have not. But I can learn.
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Speaker 1: And he left Felix. A day or two afterward, the
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Speaker 1: two children of the house met again, the sun from
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Speaker 1: the first floor and the sun from the garret. Felix
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Speaker 1: talked to Pierre as if no quarrel had risen between them.
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Speaker 1: He answered courteously, but curtly too. What is the matter now,
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Speaker 1: said Felix, We too were a little irritable lately. But
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Speaker 1: one may have his joke without being flayed for it.
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Speaker 1: So let us forget and forgive. Can you forgive yourself
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Speaker 1: the manner in which you spoke of a lady to
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Speaker 1: whom we both owe great respect. I spoke very frankly,
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Speaker 1: said Felix. In fine society, one may talk with a
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Speaker 1: baser edge, but that is not taught an ill thing.
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Speaker 1: It is the salt for the tasteless fish dinner, as
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Speaker 1: the poet calls it. We are all just a little wicked.
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Speaker 1: You can also let it drop fall, my friend, a
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Speaker 1: little drop of innocence, which makes one smart. So they
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Speaker 1: were soon seen arm in arm. Felix well knew that
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Speaker 1: more than one pretty young lady, who would otherwise have
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Speaker 1: passed him by without seeing him, now noticed him, since
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Speaker 1: he was walking with the ideal of the stage. Lamplight
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Speaker 1: always cast glamour over the theater's hero and lover. It
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Speaker 1: still shines about him when he shows himself on the
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Speaker 1: street in daylight, but it is generally rather extinguished. Then.
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Speaker 1: Most of the artists of the stage are like swans.
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Speaker 1: One should see them in their element, not on the
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Speaker 1: paving stones or the public promenade. They are exceptions, however,
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Speaker 1: and to these belonged to our young friend. His appearance
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Speaker 1: apart from the stage, never disturbed the conception one had
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Speaker 1: of him as George Brown, or Hamlet or no Angering.
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Speaker 1: It was the form associated dust with poetry or music
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Speaker 1: that many a heart made to be the same with
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Speaker 1: the man himself, and exulted into the idea. He knew
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Speaker 1: that it was thus, and found a kind of pleasure
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Speaker 1: in it. He was happy in his art and the
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Speaker 1: means he possessed of exercising it. Yet there would come
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Speaker 1: a shadow over the joyous young face, and from the
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Speaker 1: peace sounded the melody with the words vanishing, vanishing all
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Speaker 1: thy youth, thy hope, and thy friend. Like the winds,
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Speaker 1: they need not thy calm. They vanish nor turn back again.
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Speaker 1: How mournful, said the widow baroness, you have happiness in
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Speaker 1: full measure. I know no one who is so happy
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Speaker 1: as you call, no one happy before he is in
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Speaker 1: his grave. The wise solemn said, replied he, and smiled
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Speaker 1: through his seriousness. It were wrong a sin if I
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Speaker 1: were not thankful and glad of heart. I am. Thus,
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Speaker 1: I am thankful for what is entrusted to me. But
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Speaker 1: I myself set a different value on this from what
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Speaker 1: others do. It is a beautiful piece of fireworks which
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Speaker 1: shoots off and then is all out. The actor's work
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Speaker 1: thus vanishes out of knowledge. The everlasting shining stars may
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Speaker 1: be forgotten for the meteors of a moment, But when
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Speaker 1: these are extinguished, there is no living trace of them,
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Speaker 1: except by the old signs. A new generation does not
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Speaker 1: know and cannot picture to itself. Those who delighted their
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Speaker 1: fathers from the stage. Youth perhaps applaud splendor and brass
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Speaker 1: as delightedly and as loudly as the old folks once
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Speaker 1: did splendor and true gold. Far more fortunately placed than
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Speaker 1: the scenic artists are the poet, the sculptor, the painter,
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Speaker 1: and the composer. They may, in the struggle of life,
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Speaker 1: experience hard fortune and miss the merited appreciation, while those
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Speaker 1: who exhibit their works as the actor and the musician
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Speaker 1: live in luxury and proud taste. Let the many stand
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Speaker 1: and gaze at the bright colored cloud and forget the sun.
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Speaker 1: Yet the cloud vanishes, the sun shines and beams for
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Speaker 1: new generations. He sat at the piano and improvised, with
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Speaker 1: a richness of thought and a power such as he
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Speaker 1: never before had shown. Wonderfully beautiful broke in the widow baroness.
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Speaker 1: Twas as if I heard the story of her whole lifetime.
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Speaker 1: You gave your hearts scanticle in the music. I thought
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Speaker 1: of the thousand and one night, said the young girl
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Speaker 1: of the lamp of fortune of Aladdin, and she looked
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Speaker 1: with pure dewy eyes upon him Aladdin, he repeated, This
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Speaker 1: evening was the turning point in his life. A new
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Speaker 1: section surely began. What was befalling him this befitting year.
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Speaker 1: His fresh color forsook his cheeks, his eyes shone far
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Speaker 1: more clearly than before. He passed sleepless nights, but not
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Speaker 1: in wild orgies, in revels and rioting. As so many
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Speaker 1: great artists, he became less talkative, but more cheerful. What
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Speaker 1: is it that fills you, so said his friend, the
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Speaker 1: singing master. You do not confide all to me. I
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Speaker 1: think how fortunate I am, he replied, I think of
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Speaker 1: the poor boy. I think of Alertin sixteen, measured by
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Speaker 1: the expectations of a poor born child, Pierre now led
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Speaker 1: a prosperous, agreeable life. He was so well to do that,
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Speaker 1: as Felix once said, he could give a good party
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Speaker 1: to his friends. He thought of it, and thought of
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Speaker 1: his two earliest friends, his mother and grandmother for them
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Speaker 1: and himself. He provided a festival. It was charming spring weather.
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Speaker 1: The two old people must drive with them out of
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Speaker 1: town and see a little country place, which the singing
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Speaker 1: master had lately bought. As he was about seating himself
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Speaker 1: in the carriage, there came a woman, humbly clad, about
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Speaker 1: thirty years old. She had a begging paper recommending her
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Speaker 1: from Madame Court. Don't you know me, said she, little
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Speaker 1: curly head they used to call me. The curls are gone.
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Speaker 1: There is so much that is gone, but there are
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Speaker 1: still good people left. We two have appeared together in
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Speaker 1: the ballet. You have become better off than I. You
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Speaker 1: have become a great man. I am now separated from
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Speaker 1: two husbands and no longer at the theater. Her paper
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Speaker 1: begged that she might come to own a sewing She did,
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Speaker 1: What ballet have me to perform together? Ask peer? In
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Speaker 1: the tyrant of Padua, she replied, we were two pages
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Speaker 1: in blue velvet and feathered cap. Do you not remember
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Speaker 1: little Mary can mallow rock. I walked just behind you
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Speaker 1: in the procession and stepped on the side of my foot,
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Speaker 1: said Pierre, laughing. Did I said she? Then? I took
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Speaker 1: too long a step. But you have gone so far
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Speaker 1: of me, you have understood how to use your legs
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Speaker 1: in your head. And she looked with her her melancholy
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Speaker 1: face coquettishly who as simple at him. Quite sure she
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Speaker 1: had passed quite a pretty compliment. Pierre was a generous fellow.
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Speaker 1: She should have the sewing machine, he promised. William Mally
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Speaker 1: had indeed been one of those who specially drove him
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Speaker 1: out of the ballet into a more fortunate career. He
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Speaker 1: stopped soon outside the merchant's house and stepped upstairs to
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Speaker 1: his mother and grandmother. They were in their best clothes
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Speaker 1: and had accidentally a visit from a damn court, who
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Speaker 1: was at once invited to join them, whereupon she had
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Speaker 1: a sore struggle with herself, which ended in her sending
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Speaker 1: a messenger to her court to inform him that she
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Speaker 1: had accepted the invitation. Pierre gets all the salutations, said she.
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Speaker 1: How stylishly we are driving, said mother, And in such
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Speaker 1: a roomy great carriage, said grandmother. Near the town, close
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Speaker 1: by the royal park, stood a little cozy house surrounded
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Speaker 1: by vines and roses, hazels and fruit breathes. Here the
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Speaker 1: carriage stopped. This was the country seat. They were received
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Speaker 1: by an old woman well known to mother and grandmother,
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Speaker 1: and she often helped them in their Washington hroland. The
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Speaker 1: garden was visited, and they went over the house. There
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Speaker 1: was one specially charming thing, a little glass house with
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Speaker 1: beautiful flowers. It was connected with the sitting room. There
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Speaker 1: was a sliding door in the wall. That is just
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Speaker 1: like a coolie, said Madame Court. It moves my hand,
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Speaker 1: and one can sit here just as in a birdcage.
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Speaker 1: The chickweed all about it is called a winter garden.
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Speaker 1: The sleeping chamber was also very delightful, after its kind,
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Speaker 1: long close curtains at the windows, soft carpets, and two
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Speaker 1: armchairs so commodious that mother and grandmother must be strive me.
23:01
Speaker 1: One would get very lazy sitting in them, said mother.
23:04
Speaker 1: One loses his weight, said Madame Court. Ah, hear you,
23:08
Speaker 1: two music people can swim easily enough through the seas
23:12
Speaker 1: of theatrical labor. I have known what they are. I
23:16
Speaker 1: believe me. I can still dream of making whatmore and
23:20
Speaker 1: Court makes Baltimores at my side? Is it not charming?
23:25
Speaker 1: Two souls and one thought, there is fresher air here
23:30
Speaker 1: and more room than in the two small rooms up
23:33
Speaker 1: in the garret, said pair, with leaving eyes. That there is,
23:38
Speaker 1: said mother. Still home is so good day? Did I
23:43
Speaker 1: bare thee, my sweet boy, and lived with thy father?
23:47
Speaker 1: It is better here, said grandmother. Here there are all
23:50
Speaker 1: the conveniences of a rich man's place. I do not
23:53
Speaker 1: grudge you, and that noble man, the singing Master his
23:57
Speaker 1: home of peace. Then I do not tragic to you, grandmother,
24:01
Speaker 1: And you, dear blessed mother, you too shall always live here,
24:05
Speaker 1: and not as in town, go up so many steps
24:08
Speaker 1: and be in such narrow and close quarters. You shall
24:11
Speaker 1: have a servant to help you, and see me as
24:15
Speaker 1: often as in town. Are you glad at this? Are
24:18
Speaker 1: you content with it? What is all this? The boy
24:22
Speaker 1: stands here and says, said mother, The house, the garden,
24:27
Speaker 1: all our dying mother, and buying Grandmother. It is for
24:30
Speaker 1: this I have labored to lay up money. My friend,
24:33
Speaker 1: the singing Master has faithfully helped me by getting it ready.
24:39
Speaker 1: What is all this? You are saying, child? Burst forth
24:42
Speaker 1: the mother? Will you give us a gentleman's seat, My
24:45
Speaker 1: dearest boy, thou wouldst do it if thou couldst? It
24:49
Speaker 1: is all true, said he the house is dying in grandmother's.
24:53
Speaker 1: He kissed them both. They burst into tears, and Madame
24:56
Speaker 1: Court shed quite as many. It is the happiest moment
25:01
Speaker 1: of my life. At scaped Pierre as he embraced them all.
25:07
Speaker 1: And now they had to see everything all over again,
25:10
Speaker 1: since it was their own. In place of their roxy
25:13
Speaker 1: of five or six plants in cuts out on their roof,
25:17
Speaker 1: they now had this beautiful little conservatory. Instead of a
25:21
Speaker 1: little closet, they had a great roomy bandry, and the
25:25
Speaker 1: kitchen itself was a complete little warm chamber. The chimney
25:29
Speaker 1: had an avenyne cooking stove. It looked like a great
25:32
Speaker 1: shining box iron, said mother. Now you too have at
25:37
Speaker 1: lost a chimney corner, just like me, said Madame Court.
25:40
Speaker 1: It is royal. Here you have got all that man
25:44
Speaker 1: can get on this earth, and you too, my own
25:47
Speaker 1: quoted friend, not all, said Pierre. To be sure, the
25:52
Speaker 1: little wife comes, said Madame Court. I have her already
25:55
Speaker 1: for you. I have her in my feeling, But I
26:00
Speaker 1: shall keep my mouth shut. Thou nobleman, Is it not
26:05
Speaker 1: like a ballet? All this? She laughed with tears in
26:08
Speaker 1: her eyes, and so did mother and grandmother seventeen, to
26:14
Speaker 1: write the text and music for an opera, and to
26:17
Speaker 1: be himself the interpreter of his own work on the stage.
26:21
Speaker 1: This was his great aim. Our young friend had a
26:24
Speaker 1: talent in common with Wagner in that he could himself
26:28
Speaker 1: construct the dramatic poem. But had he, like him the
26:32
Speaker 1: fullness of musical power, so that he could fashion a
26:35
Speaker 1: musical work of any significance. Courage, in doubt alternated in him.
26:41
Speaker 1: He could not dismiss this constant thought from his mind.
26:45
Speaker 1: I hear in a day, since it had shown forth
26:47
Speaker 1: as a picture of fancy. Now it was a possibility,
26:52
Speaker 1: an end in his life. Many free fancies were welcomed
26:56
Speaker 1: at the piano, as birds of passage from that country
27:00
Speaker 1: of perhaps the little romances, the characteristic spring song Kate,
27:06
Speaker 1: promise of the still undiscovered land of Tone. The widow
27:10
Speaker 1: Baroness saw in them the sign of promise, as Columbus
27:13
Speaker 1: saw it in the fresh green weed which the currents
27:17
Speaker 1: of the sea bore toward him, before he saw the
27:20
Speaker 1: land itself on the horizon. Land was there the child
27:24
Speaker 1: of fortune could reach it? A word thrown out was
27:27
Speaker 1: the seed of thought. She the young, pretty, innocent girl
27:32
Speaker 1: spoke the word Aladdin. A fortunate childlike Aladdin, was our
27:37
Speaker 1: young friend. This was the light that broke into him.
27:40
Speaker 1: With this light, he read and reread the beautiful Oriental story.
27:45
Speaker 1: Soon it took dramatic form. Seen after scene, grew into
27:49
Speaker 1: words and music, And the more it grew, the richer
27:52
Speaker 1: came the music thoughts. At the close of the work,
27:55
Speaker 1: it was as if the well of tone were now
27:57
Speaker 1: for the first time pierced, and all the abundant fresh
28:01
Speaker 1: water gushed forth. He composed his work anew, and in
28:05
Speaker 1: stronger form. Months afterward arose the opera Aladin. No one
28:13
Speaker 1: knew of this work. No one had heard any measures
28:16
Speaker 1: at all of it, not even the most sympathetic of
28:19
Speaker 1: all his friends, the singing Master. No one at the
28:22
Speaker 1: theater when of an evening the young singer, with his
28:26
Speaker 1: voice and his remarkable plague in trance, the public had
28:29
Speaker 1: a thought that the young man who seemed so to
28:32
Speaker 1: live and breathe in his role, lived far more intensely.
28:36
Speaker 1: I for hours afterward, lost himself in a mighty work
28:40
Speaker 1: of music that flowed forth from his own soul. The
28:45
Speaker 1: singing master had not heard a bar of the opera
28:48
Speaker 1: Aradin before it was laid upon his table for examination,
28:53
Speaker 1: complete in notes and text, what judgment would be passed assuredly?
28:59
Speaker 1: A strong and just the young composer passed from highest
29:02
Speaker 1: hope to the thought that the whole thing was only
29:05
Speaker 1: a self delusion. Two days passed by, and not a
29:10
Speaker 1: word was interchanged about this important matter. At length, the
29:14
Speaker 1: singing master stood before him with a score in his hands.
29:18
Speaker 1: That now he knew. There was a peculiar seriousness spread
29:22
Speaker 1: over his face that would not let his mind be guessed.
29:27
Speaker 1: I had not expected this, said he I had not
29:30
Speaker 1: believed it of you. Indeed, I am not yet sure
29:33
Speaker 1: of my judgment. I dare not express it here. And
29:37
Speaker 1: there There are faults in the instrumentation, faults that can
29:41
Speaker 1: easily be corrected. There are single things, bold and novel,
29:45
Speaker 1: that one must hear under fair conditions, as there is
29:49
Speaker 1: with Wagner a working over of Karl Maria Weber. So
29:54
Speaker 1: there is noticeable in you a breath of Hayden. That
29:58
Speaker 1: which is new in what you a I have given
30:00
Speaker 1: is still somewhat far off from me, and you, yourself
30:05
Speaker 1: are too near for me to give an exact judgment.
30:08
Speaker 1: I would rather not judge I would embrace you. He
30:12
Speaker 1: burst out with a rush of gladness. How came you
30:15
Speaker 1: to do this? And he expressed him in his arms,
30:19
Speaker 1: happy man. There was soon a rumor through the town,
30:25
Speaker 1: in the newspapers and in society, gossip of the new
30:29
Speaker 1: opera by the young singer, whom all the town was flattering.
30:34
Speaker 1: He's a poor tailor who could not put together a
30:36
Speaker 1: child's trousers out of the scraps left over on his board,
30:40
Speaker 1: said one to another. Write the text, compose it, and
30:45
Speaker 1: sing it all himself. Was also said, that is a
30:48
Speaker 1: three story genius. But he really was born still higher
30:53
Speaker 1: in a garret. There are two at it, he and
30:56
Speaker 1: the singing master, they said. Now they'll begin to beat
31:00
Speaker 1: the signal trumpet of the Mutual Admiration Society. The opera
31:06
Speaker 1: was given out of study. Those who took part would
31:09
Speaker 1: not give any opinion. It shall not be said that
31:12
Speaker 1: it is judged from the theater, said they, and almost
31:15
Speaker 1: all put on a serious face that did not let
31:18
Speaker 1: any expectation of good show itself. There are many good
31:23
Speaker 1: horns in the piece, said a young man who played
31:26
Speaker 1: that instrument and also composed. Well, if he doesn't run
31:30
Speaker 1: a horn into himself footnote five, alluding to a Danish
31:35
Speaker 1: popular phrase in which a man is supposed to gore himself.
31:39
Speaker 1: End of footnote. It has genius. It is sparkling, full
31:45
Speaker 1: of melody and character. That was also said tomorrow. At
31:50
Speaker 1: this time, said Pierre, the scaffold will be raised. The
31:53
Speaker 1: judgment is perhaps already passed. Some say that it is
31:58
Speaker 1: a masterpiece, said the singing master, others that it is
32:01
Speaker 1: a mere patchwork. And where in life's truth truth, said
32:06
Speaker 1: the singing master. Pray, show me look at that star yonder,
32:10
Speaker 1: tell me exactly where its place is. Shut one eye,
32:13
Speaker 1: do you see it? Now? Look at it with the other,
32:16
Speaker 1: Only the star has shifted its place. When each eie
32:20
Speaker 1: and the same person sees so differently, how variously must
32:24
Speaker 1: the great multitude see happen? What may? Said our young friend.
32:29
Speaker 1: I must know my place in the world, understand what
32:32
Speaker 1: I can and must put forth or give up. The
32:36
Speaker 1: evening came, the evening of the representation a popular artist
32:41
Speaker 1: was to be exalted to a high place or plunged
32:43
Speaker 1: down in his gigantic proud effort, a shot or a drop.
32:48
Speaker 1: The matter concerned the whole city. People stood all night
32:52
Speaker 1: in the street before the ticket office to secure places.
32:56
Speaker 1: The house was crammed frill. The ladies came with bouquets.
33:01
Speaker 1: Would they carry them home again? Or cast them at
33:03
Speaker 1: the victor's feet. The widow baroness and the young beautiful
33:08
Speaker 1: daughter sat in a box above the orchestra. There was
33:11
Speaker 1: a stir in the audience, a murmuring, a movement that
33:16
Speaker 1: stopped at once as the leader of the orchestra took
33:18
Speaker 1: his place, and the overture began. Who does not remember
33:23
Speaker 1: hence eelspeace, sailor? That is like a twittering of birds.
33:29
Speaker 1: This was something again, merry playing children, happy child voices.
33:35
Speaker 1: The cuckoo gave its note with them. The thrush struck in.
33:40
Speaker 1: It was the play and carol of innocent childhood, the
33:45
Speaker 1: mind of Aladdin. Then there rolled upon it a thunderstorm.
33:49
Speaker 1: Noureddin displayed his power. A flash of lightning rent the rocks,
33:53
Speaker 1: general beckoning stones followed a sound from the enchanted groto
33:58
Speaker 1: where the lamp shot in the petrified cavern, while the
34:02
Speaker 1: wings of mighty spirits brooded over it. Now they sounded
34:07
Speaker 1: forth in notes of a bugle, a psalm so gentle
34:12
Speaker 1: and soft as if it came from the mouth of
34:15
Speaker 1: a child. A single horn was heard, and then another.
34:19
Speaker 1: More and more were blended in the same tones, and
34:22
Speaker 1: rose in fullness and power, as if they were the
34:25
Speaker 1: trumpets of the judgment day. The lamp was in Aladdin's hand,
34:29
Speaker 1: and there swell forth a seal of melody and majesty,
34:32
Speaker 1: as if the ruler of spirits and master of music
34:36
Speaker 1: held sway. The curtain rolled up in a storm of applause,
34:40
Speaker 1: which sounded like a fanfare under the conductor's baton. A
34:44
Speaker 1: grown up boy played there, so big and yet so simple.
34:48
Speaker 1: It was Aladdin who frolicked among the other boys. Grandmother
34:52
Speaker 1: would at once have said that his spear, as he
34:55
Speaker 1: played and jumped about between the stove and the chest
34:58
Speaker 1: of drawers at home in the gal he is not
35:01
Speaker 1: a year older in his soul? With what faith an
35:05
Speaker 1: earnest prayer he sang the prayer Noureddin bade him offer
35:08
Speaker 1: before he stepped down into the crevice to obtain the lamp.
35:12
Speaker 1: Was it the pure religious melody or the innocence with
35:15
Speaker 1: which he sung that drew all hearts after him? The
35:19
Speaker 1: applause was unbounded. It would have been a profane thing
35:23
Speaker 1: to have repeated the song it was called for, but
35:26
Speaker 1: it was not given. The curtain fell, the first act
35:30
Speaker 1: was ended. Every critic was speechless. People were overcome with gladness.
35:35
Speaker 1: They could not speak out their gratitude. A few chords
35:39
Speaker 1: from the orchestra, and the curtain rose. The strains of music,
35:43
Speaker 1: as in Glux Armada and Mozart's magic flute, arrested the
35:47
Speaker 1: attention of each as the scene was disclosed. Where Aldin
35:51
Speaker 1: stood in the wonderful garden, a soft, subdued music, surrounded
35:55
Speaker 1: from flowers and stones, from springs and deep caverns, different
35:59
Speaker 1: melodies blending in one great harmony. A soussurus of spirits
36:03
Speaker 1: was heard in the chorus. It was now far off,
36:07
Speaker 1: now near, swelling in might, and then dying away. Borne
36:11
Speaker 1: upon this unison was the monologue of Aladdin. What one
36:14
Speaker 1: needs calls a great area, but so entirely in keeping
36:18
Speaker 1: with character and situation that it was a necessary dramatic
36:23
Speaker 1: part of the whole. The resonant, sympathetic voice, the intense
36:28
Speaker 1: music of the heart, subdued all listeners and seized them
36:32
Speaker 1: with a rapture that could not rise higher. When he
36:36
Speaker 1: reached forth for the lamp, it was fanned by the
36:39
Speaker 1: song of the spirits. Bouquets rained down from all sides.
36:43
Speaker 1: A carpet of living flowers was spread out before his feet.
36:48
Speaker 1: What a moment of life for the young artists. The highest,
36:52
Speaker 1: the greatest, a mighty one could never again be granted him.
36:56
Speaker 1: He felt a wreath of laurel glanced upon his breast
37:00
Speaker 1: and fell down before him. He had seen from whose
37:03
Speaker 1: hand it came. He saw the young girl in the
37:06
Speaker 1: box nearest the stage, the young baroness rising like a
37:10
Speaker 1: genius of beauty, singing a pine over his triumph. A
37:16
Speaker 1: fire rushed through him. His heart swelled as never before.
37:20
Speaker 1: He bowed, took the wreath, pressed it against his heart,
37:24
Speaker 1: and at the same moment fell backward, fainted dead. What
37:31
Speaker 1: was it? The curtain fell dead, hang the word through
37:36
Speaker 1: the house, dead in the moment of triumph, like the
37:39
Speaker 1: Fhocules at the Olympian Games, like their Wolston in the
37:44
Speaker 1: theater during Beethoven's sympathy. An artery in his heart had burst,
37:49
Speaker 1: and as by a flash of lightning, his stay here
37:53
Speaker 1: was ended, ended without pain, ended in an earthly jubilee,
37:58
Speaker 1: in the fulfillment of his miss on earth. Lucky Pier
38:03
Speaker 1: more fortunate than millions. End of the Lucky Peer Part
38:10
Speaker 1: six