New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-12-01
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
Mrv6IRs OF BERLIOZ.

psgn COMPRISING his Travels In Italy, Germany.
Rasa and hns."a and r EnnaSSS H vols
Drown svo PIP XVII $50; Vh'' al ""'"'''"" "
90
The substance Of tho autobiography proper OF
Hector Bcrloz appeared ftw years ago IN aUans'a
t,on by Mr. w. T. Apthorp of Boston. and mo
letters of travel originally published rs separate
works have also boon translated Independently III
the pre.ctt combination, following French edition
issnel after the authors death, the Memories and the
To,o,,s which dher considerably in character and
ori,un arc somewhat iuartistically run together;
vet We do not know that the interest of tho BOOK 10
much aiected by the inconruitv of this patch-
work arrangement. Memoirs and Travels alike are
read principally for their comments upon the
authors contemporaries AMI the light which they
throw upon the spirit aud meaning OF ms own
music: and whether he is telling the story oil hs
,ary life and his unhappy career in Paris. or do
.cribing his concert tours in Germany and Russia
and his aimlcss rambos in Italy There is very little
about England, Berlioz is ALWAYS the same III ~
true that the tone OF the Memories is different from
that If the Foydyes Tho letters from abroad were
written under tho cxhIlaration of u brilliant sue
cess the Autobiography was tho record OF the NOR
bid AMI cynical state Of mind which seems to nave
been habitnal with the composer from the beginning
of his career to the end But this difference OF moot
docs not 20 deep Bcrloz is never for many con
or quite sympathetic. or quito natural.
II we coni believe implicitly in the statements OF
his autobiography we should have 90 imagine HIM
A. n wild child of genius tossed from his earliest
years by incessant empess either OF rapture or de
spalr But we cannot do that. lie had an incorrig-
Idle fondneSs for elect aud he would sacrIhcc
great deal for the sake of a sensational confidence
or n telling situation. When he is Ia king about
himself we are always at a loss to distinguish bo-
4 IL. pA
poet that he hardly knew the difference himself. 1t
Is clear that he hal naturally an cxtravagant iond-
moss for music aud q genius for it which no dis
conrarcmcnts could suppress: that he learned tho
ert in spite of the opposition Of his parents ana
mainly by his ill-directed excrtions; that MS
talents were not understood by his instructors; and
that to the very end of his life he was nndervalued
and misroprosentcl in his own COUNTRY where
nearly all his musical enterprises we're failures 1t
was in Germany that the originality of his ideas anu
the extraordinary beauty of his orchestral devices
were first recognized, and there was naturally ring
of defiant eXutatiOn in tho narrative which he
wrote for tho Partisan public of his triunphs III
Weimar and Leipzig and Vienna. We NAV bc sure
that the story lost nothing in the telling. Inc
comical anecdotes of Cherubin who was at the
head of the Paris Conservatore when Bcrlioz was a
student at that institution. credible enough. ami
VIC can easily understand how obnoxious the daring
ana not over mo test young illoNdtoI muSo ""''
male himself to the veteran composer. But as a
rule Berlioz did not love his contemporaries in
music and in writing his Hemoires-well he knew
the taste of the Partisan public, and ho did not
snare the pepper We must remember this in read
ing his highly interesting aud often dramatic ac-
counts of the deliberate attempts OF labeucck and
others to ruin the performances OF his music the
enmty of F6tis the ntrgnes of singers, and all the
various prosecutions and insults to which lie was
exposed by his rivals.
As for the strictly personal history which forms
considerable part OF the autobiography. we confess
that we have never been able to believe much more
than half of it, Berlioz applied himself with so
much enthusiasm to the contemplation OF his own
emotions that he acquired a remarkable stock of self
ignorance In his minute descriptions of the paroX-
ysms of love he is especially theatrical. At the age
of twelve he became desperately enamored of IA
young woman in pink shoes. She vas sixJears his
senior. and he called her his Stella months his Star
of the Mountain. because her name was Estee and
she lived a hill. AT sixteen the thought OF her
(which seems 10 have been dormant for a long
time gave him distress: al suffered agoncs. AMI.
casting myself do on the ground. groancd and
clutchcd the earth wildly tore up the grass and the
innocent ia sizes. with their upturned wondering
eyes in my passionate struggles against tho horrible
feeling of loneliness and sense of anguish" Years
afterward he revisited the scenes of his boyish
fancy. and pcrSualing IN the race OF crush
ing evidence the contrary, that his love for Stella
had never been forgotten he repeated the per-
formances of sixteen. :" flung myself on my knees
and cried to valley, mountains and skies. Estellc
Estellel Estelep clasped the ground in con
vulsive embrace gnawel the grass, and feeling
of indescribabe aud terrible dcsolation surged up
within Bleed. my heart, bleed but
leave me the strength to suffer STILL" At sixty
one near the close of his quarresome and irregular
life. he VISITED the house once inhabited by Stella,
and again his emotions prompted hun to gnaw.
gnawed my pocket handkerchief in my agitation y;
and when the people of the house looked at him in
surprise he made his escape sobbing After this NJ.
Berloz did what it may be thought strange that lie
failel to DO half century earlier: he sheathed his
teeth and made declaration Of his sentiments to
the laly-nO longer u mountain sylph in pink shoes
but an estmabIe widow of sixty seven. Shc ap-
pears to have been kindly but extremely sensible
person. who could not quito understand the ex-
travagant letters Of her tardy admirer, but would
not wound him and in her dscreetly measured
friendship the worn out old man believed that he
found what ho had been looking for all his life.
Alas for romance! lie hal buried two wives and
passed. through long course of mistrcsses
The story Of his first marriage is well known. An
English company came to Paris to play Shakespeare
when Beroz was young man. and he conceived
wild passion for the principal actress of the troupe
On Irish woman named Henrietta Smithson. She
the unconscious inspiration of some OF his best
music, and IL IT, gain her notice that he under
took of his most ambitious concerts. lie
married her after she had lost health. popularity
and fortune. and the union was not happy. She
gave way 10 "a mad and, for some tine, abb
solutey groundess jealousy" At length. having
tho reputation of infdelity, NJ. Berlioz thought
that he might well enjoy the privileges also, and
so separation was arranged. and he took "a
travelling companion" Nevertheless he remained a