The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1865-08-28
WEST MoNDAYAfoRNINCF AUc0sT 28 1866 @

fIIN a AUGUST %, l8t
ual freq auency of occurrence Of to1,fs de
Jerce m his plHying, and the scientific
precision OF his manner of touch! For
teSslmple, an 2 progression of auRment-
eu chords mis- mode of lingering is In
Hariably that of the schools, not. that
which would seem most natural TO a
blind child never taught to place a
1 hnger. Q Even when seated with his
back TO the piano, and tiilde to play In
That pesitiony(a favOiitGfeat in his com
certs, the touohis dIwtlys scientifically
laeourdtes 1si a3.lsi tus - gilfol- 80
sIhe peculiari power which Tom pos
sess5ss howeyerliis one which requires
no scientific knowledge OF music In his
EAudienees to apprecfate. Placed at the
instruments with any musician, he PLAYS
9 perfect bass aeeompanimentrt to the
treble OF music heC:Td for The first time
as ne, 1ttdys.i Then taking the SEAT va
Gated by the other PERFORMER heinstafit-
" gives the entire piece, intact in, brit
lsly lilis,llSiy ana symmetry, not note lost or
misplnCed. The selections of music l1y
whtehtthis power of TOMS was tested.
two years ago, ,wafe sometimes fourteen
ana sixteen pages in lengths, lone oc-
esasion, at an exhibition Mt the White
l4itouse,I atter..a long concert; he was
tried with two lpieces--on thirteen the
otheg twenty pages long, and was sue.
cessful. '-f',I
Il we know of no parallel cnse to this
IN musical history. Grimm tells, as
one OF the most remarkable manifesta-
lions OF Mozart's infant genius, that Mt
the age of nine he was reuuiredit ito rive
mn accompa to an aria which he
had never heard before, and without
notes. There We're false accOrds In the
first attempt, he acknowledge but the
second was pure. Wien the music to
which Tom plays SecoQllO is strictly
classical, he sometimes balks for an in
stant IN passages; todQ otherwise would
argue a creative power equal to that of
the master composers; but when. nny
chordnpt harmOnYsTuns through 1t, ION
Which the glowing negro soul can seize.
you know there Hreno "false accords. u
as with the infllnt Mozart. / wish 10 |
draw especial attention to this power of
the, boy, not only because it is, SO far as
j know, unmatched in the edeveIopmentl
of any musical talent, but because, coii-
sidered in the contest of his entire in
tellectual structure, it involves n crirf4
OuslprOblem! The nero repetition of
music heard but onco; even when, as ini
Toms .case, 1t is given with such In
credible fidelity, and after the lapse of
years, demands only u command of
and an abnormal COM
dttion of the power of memory; but to /
play SecOndO to music never heard or /
SEEM implies the comprehensi0n of
the full drift of the symphony in its |
capacity TO create, in short. \
Yet such attempts as Tom has,made to |
dictates music for publication do not
sustain any such Inference. Thby ,ire'l
only a few light marches, gallups, etcJ,
simple md ,plaintiye enough. hut with !
easily detected traces of remembered |
harhfonies; very different from the1
strungo, weird improTtisaltions of every |
dny. Qne'would fancy thatlt the mere |
attempt to bring. this ysterious genius |
within him in bodily presence before
the outer world Woke, too, the idiGtic !
nuture to utter its reDrouchful, unublei
cry. Nor is this the only bar by which
poor Toms soul is put in mind of its |
foul Iesti9l prison: After any too pro-
longed effort, such MS those i have al |
luded to, his whole bodily frame gives
way, and a complete exhaustion Of the |
brain follows, accompanied with epi-f
leptfc spaspls. The trial at the White |
House, mentioned before, was success
ful, but was fol lowed by days of illness. |
Being slave, Tom was never taken
his muster refused adyant ageous offers
from European managers. The highest
points North Mt Which his concerts were |
given were Baltimore and the upper
Virginia towns. heard him sometime
i'll 1860. Henemnined a week or two in
the town, playing every night. 81 N
The concerts were unique enough.
They We're given in great barn of d
room, gaudy with hot, sootTstained fres-
Goes, chandeliers, walls splotched With
gilt. The audience was large, always
such as provincial town affords not
the purcst bench of musical criticism |
before which to bring poor Tom. BeRu0l
fflIf1FFS1
lilies whose grandfathers trapped and |
traded and; married. with the Indians,-i
tle snVnge thiekenipg ofwhose blood
told itself in high ek-bones, flashing
champ bibbipg, u compre7
hensioni of the tom-tom music of schot-i
tisClleS and lpollSas'; moneYGInade men
and their wives, coopeduP. by respecta-
ibility, taking concerts when they were
given in town, taking the White Sui
phur or Cape May in summer, taking
beef for dinner, tn king the pork-tradeiIil
winter,-LOHteL la Uie eIl programme the
dc6Tis of n town, the roughs, the boys,
school-chil ldren,-Tom was nearly as
well worth GquHrter as the ncgto-mir-
strels; here and there pair of reserved
home-sicS eyes, a peCulia iar ,retieent face,
some wheyrsk skinned wnrd-t d-teacher's,
perhaps, or some German cobbler's, but
hints of n hungry soul, to whom Bee
.thooven and Mendelssohn knew how to
pIeatyAl Hll luleEEluB BOSpEls -4ne SL{lR9I
was. broadJ plnnked, with a drop-cur-
tain behind 1.-The Doge marrying the
sea, 4 believe in front, n plano and
chair. -
Presently, Mr., Oliver, q Jvell-notured
looking IMAM, One III hong gIit hat, jeatiie
forward, leading and conxing along a
little black boy, dressed,in white linen,
somewhat fnt and stubborn in build.
Tom was not ina good hdfnof that
night. the evening before'had refused
to play altogether SO his master per-
spfred anxiOusly before he could get him
placed in rule before the audience, and
repeat his own 1ittle speech, Which
sounded like d GeorgiIi AFTER inner g6s-
sip. THE boys head, as snid, rested
on his back, his mouth wide open con-
stantly; his great blubber lips and shin
ing teeth, therefore, We're all you saw
when he faced you. He required to be
pettediand bought like any other weak
minded child. The concert was mix
ture of music, whining, eehxing, and
promised candy and cake.
- H .