Volume I Part 5 (1/2)

Swift as a bea up the steps, and with one hand upon the balustrade bowed to the audience In a moment silence seemed to mantle upon the hall

He stood before the score, and as he closed upon the tiers, he raised his eyes to the chorus, and then let the eyes recalled us Every hand was on the bow, every mouthpiece lifted There was still silence, but we ”heard” no ”voice” He raised his thin aran The curiosity of the audience had dilated with such intensity that all who had been standing, still stood, and not a creature stirred The calm was perfect upon which the ”Grave” broke It was not interpretation alone, it was inspiration All knew that ”Grave,” but few had heard it as it had been spoken that day It was _then_ a heard voice,--”a voice fro that was not touched by fire

The tranquil echo of the repeat enabled me to bear it sufficiently to look up and forht, so slight that he see that he could not have nuhts of eternity were far-shadowed in the forehead's e transparency took the place of bloom upon that face of youth, as if from temperament too tender, or blood too rarefied; but the hair betrayed a wondrous strength, clustering in dark curls of excessive richness The pointed fingers were pale, but they grasped the tiy like naked nerve

But not until the violins woke up, announcing the subject of the allegro, did I feel fully conscious of that countenance absolved from its repose of perfection by an exciteht no less than words to describe the aspect of music, thus revealed, thus presented I was a little child then,sensation, and I can only say I remembered not how he looked after all was over The intense i fire struck fron I have since learned to discover, to adore, every express linea, in a spiritual, ebbless excitement,--then I was conscious of the composition that he had made one with himself, that becay, the speed, could only have been colish orchestra by such accurate force The perfection hich the conductor was endued must surely have passed electrically into every player,--there fell not a note to the ground

Such precision ellnigh oppressive; one felt soro not a disturbing sound arose throughout the hall; but on the closing chord of the overture there burst one deep toll of wonderful applause I can only call it a ”toll;” it was sihtly shook his head It was enough, and silence reigned as the heavenly syed with fire Here it was as if he whispered ”Hush!+” for the sobbing staccato of the accompaniment I never heard so low,--it was silvery, aluidly, as the steers

Nor would he suffer any violence to be done to the solehtness of the aria It was not until we all arose that he raised his arm, and ilanced not _a ed the tihtened as the voices firlory upon those waves of sound

I alot the festival I am not certain that I re at every pore I see I had of being irresistibly borne along was so transporting that I can conceive of nothing else like it, until after death

CHAPTER IX

The chorus, I learned afterwards, was never recalled, so proudly true, so perfect, so flexible; but it was not only not difficult to keep in, it was i ht recall how the arias told, invested with that saht naht scarcely mortal: but I dare not anticipate my after acquaintance with a musician who, himself supreme, has alone kno to interpret the works of others I will merely advert to the extraordinary cal the first part

Tree, perfectly tremendous, was the uproar between the parts, for there was a pause and clearance for a quarter of an hour I could not have moved for some moments if I had wished it; as it was, I was nearly pressed to death Everybody was talking; a clamor filled the air I saw Lenhart Davy afar off, but he could not get to me He looked quite white, and his eyes sparkled As forto an end, so thirsty I felt, so dry, so shaken froround, and I could not lift my knees, they were so stiff

But still with infatuation I watched the conductor, though I suffered not my eyes to wander to his face; I dared not look at hientlemen, the , skurrying, and I listened to their intrusive tones As the chorus pressed by ed to advance a little, and I heard, in a quiet foreign accent, delicate as clear, these words: ”Nothing, thank you, but a glass of pure water”

Tre, hot, and dizzy, alh the crowd; it was rather thinner now, but I had to drive roups I dived underneath their arot out, but I literally leaped the stairs; in two or three steps I cleared the gallery Once in the refresh that stood in a pail filled with lumps of ice, and a tumbler, andthat table had turned her head I had never a stuain, I did not spill a drop I knew the hall was half e a short way that led me into it, I came to the bottom of the orchestra I stood the tu it to the brim, left the beaker behind me and rushed up the orchestra stairs

He was still there, leaning upon the score, with his hands upon his face, and his eyes hidden I advanced very quietly, but he heardhimself from the desk, let his hands fall, elevated his countenance, and watched me as I approached him

I trembled so violently then, taken with a fresh shudder of excitement, that I could not lift the tumbler to present it I saw a person fro to be supplanted, I looked up with desperate entreaty The unknown stretched his ar it from me, to his lips Around those lips a shadowy half-sue or excitement, and he drank the water instantly, as if athirst

Then he returned to entle but absent air, paused one arded , those deep-colored eyes upon me seemed distant as the stars of heaven; but there was an al sweetness in his tone as he addressed et that tone, nor howwant to weep

”It was very refreshi+ng,” he said ”Howis water than wine! Thank you for the trouble you took to fetch it And you, you sang also in the chorus It was beautifully done”

”May I tell the able to help speaking in _some_ reply

”Yes, every one; but above all, the little ones;” and again he faintly s over the desk, seemed to pass back into hiony of fear lest I should intrude for a moment even, I sped as fast as I had entered from his mysterious presence

To this hour I cannot find in h I have heard that voice so often since, have listened to it in a trance of life, I can never realize _it_,--it was too unearthly, and beca distilled fro, as I aes as I was running back I fell, in fact, against hiht me in his arms