Music and Some Highly Musical People Part 24

The paper, "Le Pays," of the 5th of August, 1856, expresses itself in terms none the less flattering:--

"The concourse of violinists has presented this year a beautiful sight. The fight has been one of the most brilliant. The first prize has been awarded to Mr. White, pupil of Mr. Alard.

"... As for Mr. White, he showed himself so much superior, that there ought to have been (so we think) created in his favor an exceptional prize. He has played with an extraordinary animation, not like a pupil, but like a master,--like a great artist who commands his auditory. The jury itself was electrified. In order to compete with that young man, there ought to have been masters there."

It was at this brilliant concourse that Rossini, the great composer, remarked of White, "Since the day he took an interest in him, and protected the young artist, there was no festivity at the maestro's without the violinist playing on his melodious instrument." Besides, this letter from Rossini, addressed to White at the time of his father's sickness, shows how much the master loved him:--

TO MR. WHITE. _Sir_,--Allow me to express to you all the pleasure that I felt Sunday last at my friend Mr. David's.

The warmth of your execution, the feeling, the elegance, the brilliancy of the school to which you belong, show qualities in you as an artist of which the French school may be proud. May it be, sir, that through my sympathetic wishes I may bring you good fortune by finding again in good health the one for whom you fear to-day! Accept my blessings. Sir, I wish you a happy journey, and a speedy return.

G. ROSSINI.

In November, 1858, Mr. White was obliged to return to Havana, called back to his dying father. He then left France; accounts of his success in which, carried to the dying man, were a sweet consolation and happiness,--thus to see, before dying, his son who was called to such a brilliant career. After the death of his father, he started for France again; not, however, without having first obtained great success in different cities of Cuba, where he was received in triumph.

Gottschalk, the celebrated pianist, who was one of the first who had advised White's family to send him to Paris, said that in all his life he had never seen such a beautiful success, and such a deserved one.

After his return to Paris, White gave a great concert.

"L'Ill.u.s.tration" of the 4th of May, 1861, gives an account of that evening's entertainment in the following terms:--

"Mr. White, whom America sent to us a year ago, I think, through a courageous work, developed the talent which had caused him to receive the first prize at the Conservatoire.

He played with equal success the concerto by Mendelssohn, and Paganini's fantasias: which is to say, that he is ready to play every thing you may wish; for there is a place for every thing between these two extremes. He played even his own music; and played at his concert a composition for violin and orchestra, very well instrumentated, full of happy melodies, and where the princ.i.p.al part contained features of a character as ingenious as piquant. He possesses an extreme dexterity in the use of the bow, and makes the staccato with as much audacity as perfection. He has the tone agreeable, the style elegant, and the expression just, and not affected. Here he is, then, placed in the first rank in that glorious phalanx of violinists which Europe envies us."

After having given a splendid description of this concert (which want of s.p.a.ce forces us not to publish here), the "Patrie" of the 30th of April, 1861, speaks thus:--

"We have seen Mr. White begin. We have been present at the concourse at the Conservatoire, where he won successively all the prizes. Then it was but a scholar who gave brilliant hopes: it is a master that we congratulate to-day in him."

Some time after, he left for Spain, where he played at Mme. the Comtesse de Montijo's (mother of the Empress of France), and before the Queen of Spain. Her Spanish Majesty presented him, the brilliant virtuoso, with a magnificent set of diamond studs, and created him chevalier of the order of Isabella the Catholic. We reproduce some lines from "La France Musicale" of the 22d of November, 1863:--

"White, the violinist, has had the honor to be received on the 12th of this month by the Queen of Spain. Her Majesty has accepted the dedication of a piece composed by this eminent artist, and has told him that she would try and find an occasion for hearing him play it; and, in fact, our violinist played at the queen's on the 22d of December."[15]

[Footnote 15: For further accounts of his career in Spain, the reader is referred to La Correspondencia of 23d December, 1863; La Epoca, La Discusion, &c., of about the same date.]

After his return to France, he played at the Tuileries before their Majesties Napoleon the Third and the Empress Eugenie. These sovereigns congratulated the artist most fully. We reproduce an extract from the "Const.i.tutionale:"--

"In the concert given at the Palace of the Tuileries on the 1st of March, Mr. White, violinist, and very distinguished, executed a fantasie on Nabucco by Mr. Alard, in which he displayed all the qualities of a virtuoso. He knows how to make his instrument sing; and, when a difficulty presents itself, he carries it with a fascinating majesty. He is an artist who has succeeded in taking place among the best violinists of France and Italy."

This was going on in the year 1864.

This same year, Alard, White's old professor, was obliged to be absent, and leave his cla.s.s in the care of others. After considering into whose care he should leave his cla.s.s, Mr. Alard thought that White was more able to help him than any other,--White, his old first prize. Since that day, it was he, who, during the absence of the master, has had the directing of his cla.s.s at the Conservatoire. In order to thank him for his services so well given, Alard presented White with a magnificent bow ornamented with gold and with tortoise-sh.e.l.ls.

One reads in the "France Musicale" of the 24th of December, 1864, the following lines:--

"Our celebrated violinist Alard, who has been on a short tour in the country, has just returned to Paris. During his absence, one of his pupils, Mr. White the violinist, took the management of his cla.s.s at the Conservatoire."

The "Art Musicale" of the 15th of January says,--

"Our celebrated violinist Alard is now in Nice, where he expects to spend a month. It is the violinist, Mr. White, who is charged with the direction of his cla.s.s at the Conservatoire."

The "Presse Theatrale" of the 26th of January, 1865, says,--

"In leaving Paris for a journey, the length of which is not fixed, Mr. Alard has confided the care of his violin cla.s.s at the Conservatoire to Mr. White. This choice, there is no need to say, has been approved by the ministry of the emperor's house, and that of the Beautiful Arts. We need not say how much this honors the young artist who is the object of it."

After this new victory, our eminent violinist was heard at the Societe de Concerts of the Conservatoire of Paris, where he was admitted as a member. He played the piece in F by Beethoven; and, when a second time they encored the artist, he distinguished himself in a cla.s.sic work--the concerto by Mendelssohn--which masters alone dare to confront. The success was complete. One could have heard the buzzing of a fly in the hall. All eyes and hearts were in complete subjection to the bow of the young virtuoso.

Here is how the eminent musical critic of the paper "Le Siecle," Mr.

Commettant, expresses himself on the date of the 13th May, 1872:--

"At the last concert of the Societe de Concerts, Mr. White, violinist of our beautiful French school, a composer learned and inspired, executed the concerto by Mendelssohn, one of the most melodious and the best proportioned of this ill.u.s.trious master. The virtuoso showed himself the worthy interpreter of the composer; and through his playing, full, correct, warm, and well-moderated, Mr. White has obtained a success which is akin to enthusiasm. They unanimously called back the artist; and he came to bow to the public, and then calmly went back to his place in the orchestra, from which he had just stepped forth. These are things which are only to be seen in this celebrated musical company of the Conservatoire, which, in spite of everything, remains the first orchestra of the whole world."

The "Menestrel" of the 12th of May, 1872, says,--

"Let us recognize the great success won last Sunday at the Conservatoire by the violinist White, in the concerto by Mendelssohn. He is an artist now complete, this young rival of the Sivoris and of Vieuxtemps. He is not only a virtuoso, but also a composer of note, having published several very remarkable pieces for the violin. We shall notice his six brilliant 'Studies for the Conservatoire.' He has composed one concerto with large orchestral accompaniment, a quatuor for strings, 'Songs without Words,' several fantasies, and several pieces for one and two violins."

His concerto brought forth the following lines in the "France Musicale" of the 3d of March, 1867:--

"Mr. Joseph White is one of the most distinguished violinists of the French school. While yet very young, he jumped with one bound to the first rank; and since then he has each day strengthened his reputation through new and incontestable successes. He has always distinguished himself as well by the manner, grand and magisterial, with which he renders the masters' works, as by his style, together elegant and sober, when he interprets music of our time. In order to be more than a virtuoso of note, there was only one thing wanting in him; and that was to cause himself to be appreciated as a composer.

"If virtuosity is acquired through obstinate work, guided by good studies, and helped by that indispensable element, natural apt.i.tude, genius is a gift from Heaven, which neither treatise on harmony, nor the works on counterpoint, nor a given song, shall ever procure to those who have no sacred fire.

"Last Tuesday Mr. White gave a concert in the Herz Hall; and here he has had the good fortune to receive, from the delighted audience that surrounded him, a double wreath, given together to the violinist and to the composer. The concerto he played, and whose author he is, is one of the best modern conceptions we ever heard of the kind.

"The style of a concerto must be, at the same time, serious in thoughts and in their developments, graceful and brilliant, in order to bring forth the talent of execution of the virtuoso. Here is a double reef to avoid, and here many artists have been wrecked. Vieuxtemps and Leonard are the modern masters who have been the most successful in this difficult style; but how many have been less happy!

"Mr. White's concerto is very temperate, of unnecessary length. The fabric of it is very well cared for; the mother-thoughts are well separated from the very commencement; the harmonies are unmistakably elegant and fine; and the orchestration is written with a firm and sure hand, without fumblings or failings. The three episodes are naturally united by the _tuttis_; the third movement, '_rondo a la turca_,' is charming in cut and manner, its rhythms original and frank, and has won all approbations, and brought forth several times unanimous _bravos_ from the whole a.s.sembly. This composition of a high value has been, in one word, the object of a true ovation for Mr. White, who was both author and composer."

The "Art Musicale" speaks thus of this concerto:--

"From the first measures one feels himself in presence of a nature strong and individual, and not in the presence of a _proletaire_ of the large tribe of virtuoso composers.

"Not a single note in the composition has been given to _virtuosite_, though the difficulties of execution be enormous. 'With every true artist there is an eternally vibrating chord, which goes to the heart,' says Boileau; and that is why Mr. White asks only that his own emotion shall excite emotion, and, to the astonishment of charlatanry, renounces at once those means of success employed by coa.r.s.e musicians."

Then follows an a.n.a.lysis of the work, which want of s.p.a.ce prevents us from giving. No need to say that it is favorable to our violinist-composer.

We will mention only some of the papers which have spoken of the evening in question,--"La France," "La Liberte," "La Revue et Gazette des Theatres," "La Presse Theatrale," "La Menestrel," "La Semaine Musicale," &c.

On the subject of the "Quatuor for Stringed Instruments" we will cite the article of the "Gazette Musicale" of the 12th of March, 1872:--

"The old Schumann Society, all concerts of which are consecrated to the liberation of the territory, is not as exclusive in the composition of its programmes as its t.i.tle would make you suppose.

"Thus is it that one has there very vivaciously applauded, Sat.u.r.day, a 'Quatuor for Stringed Instruments,' by Mr.

White. We signal this beautiful composition to the amateur's attention. This young master shows in it the most serious qualities united to a perfect clearness and purity of melody, with execution very remarkable, and which received one of the warmest receptions."

Here is the doc.u.ment we have before mentioned:--

IMPERIAL CONSERVATOIRE OF MUSIC AND DECLAMATION.

(_Extract of the Doc.u.ment of the Seating of the Committee on Musical Studies, 16th December, 1868._)

The Committee on Musical Studies for Violin, of the Conservatoire, has read with interest the work which Mr.