National Republican., 1883-03-19
DOre as n Musician.

L. IT, W IhustC ana DTN0tI,
On February 30 1864 Rossini celebrated
his eighteenth birthday; and about one week
previous I received letter from Nine. Ros
sini to be sure to be in Paris on that day t.
dine with them. ! say his eighteenth birth
day, because although he was ON that day
~ years old, il was only the eighteenth
time that the twenty-ninth of February
recurred. Rossini had u superstition never
to dine thirteen and he dreaded the
Friday as an unluclSy day. On that
day there were fourteen people to din
ner, and it was strictly necessary fol
them to know who would be sure
to attend, lest one missing they should be
thirteen There are people who say that
there exists no superstition, but that there are
mysterious warnings which we cannot ex-
plain. For the benefit of their doctrines |
will state that Rossini died on Friday, the
thirteenth of November, The dinner was
memorable on more than one account. AS
usual u musical soiree followed; but be-
tween the two, Gustave Doro, the entdH gate
of the house, gave terpsichorean, yoca |,
and instrumental performance in honor of
the host, and the few intimate friends assem-
bled before the soiree, dancing pas Sem
singing, with tenor voice which reached
easily the Q in the chest, song, "Quc c'et
CONNIE az bouquet de femS;" and then lie played
solo on the violin, making an immense
caricature Of II certain violirist, which carica-
ture, however, showed to what an eXt1nt he
mastered the mechanism of the instrument,
After the music we strolled away, and on
those bouevards, which are born for the
faneurS we walked about until 3 o'clock in
the morning when he told me his first
struggles and fights with life--how he had
put all his fate in his illustrations of Dante,
how he had to borrow money at 20
per cent. to set up the work at his own
expense, aud when ii was nearly ready
he wanted money TO finish it, and had
to borrow still higher; and when at last the
first copy was complete, he got one hundred
printed, and, full of confidence, took one TO
llachetto, who looked attentively at it and
told him, 81 will not oppose its being offered
in my shop for sale, but, believe me, a greater
mistake has never been made. / am sorry
to tell you, that to the best of my belief, this
is thrown away money, every franc of
it. | am twenty-four years in busnes4
and have never refused new idea,
but this is n mistake" He told me hox
hoartbroken he left his friend, but how, after
u few days. Uachetto sent to thim, post.
haste, to get the hundred copies bound, how
fully he acknowledged that, although his
first mistake, it was u thorough error ON his
part, Sc. What followed the world knows.
Success after success, glory nearly unprece-
dented at so early an age, envy and jealousy
from cOmpatriots, generous and glorious
recognition ABROAD, mono moro than in Eng
land The story of Berlioz over again. Yeara
passed. ] had not seen him for some time
Suddenly / read that he, too, ON Friday
went to aparty which fetched his death within
three days. ! cannot presume TO write him
a neurology. What he was as an artist has
been stated everywhere; his unusual musical
gifts were known to his private friends only,
and often Rossni scolded him TO use such a
fine tenor voice for mere jokes. III played
nil al ltKF ~ d.
" Kreutzer Sonata" splendidly, aud the stamp
of genius over all his organization would Ger.
tainly have made him great musician had
lie chosen that career in preference to that of
a painter and a sculptor And now that he
is buried, and has been talked about three
days, mentioning him again will be--Old
neWh