Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-01-17

Some Interesting Fscss About 1aterestin
People I'm Their Youth.

Some Interesting Fact. About interesting
People I'm Their Youth.
! TT Is OFTEN SAID that precccious intellects
Aare doomed TO future the reverse of what
their early brilliancy presages- Exactly howa
| belief so at variance with fact has gained
| credence is not readily applicable. The bright
| est stars that have iIlumined the musical
world are those that displayed meteoric youth.
Mendelssohn, prior to his sixth birthday, had,
by his powerful memory, sensitive ear and
delicate conception won for himself the admire
alton Of critics and large share Of popular
esteem. Berger, Hemming and Zelter became
! his preceptors. His debut in Berlin at the age
| OF nine was an unqualified artistic triumph and
| in the succeeding year he created furore on
his inaugural appearance before the ParisiAn
public His music to the Midsummer Nights
| Dream" was written when he was little beyond
seventeen, and this, together with the songs and
the oratorios Of st. Paul and Elijah. constitute
| his heritage. Meyerbeer Is another instance
| of Juvenile promise faithfully fulfilled. he
made his initial appearance at the age Of six,
and by his ninth year had attained inter-
national fame and was regarded - the best
pianist IN musical Berlin. In his fiff year little
| Giacomo could extemporiEe with grace and
play at sight His first operas, being built on
purely technical basis, met With no popular
| favor. His success as composer was made
posterior to his journey TO Italy, where he i'm
bibed a love for the italian method and hence
| forward initiated it.
Mozart sprang from . musical family. Dull
| Get tenderness was the predominant feature Of
his mind and his heart seems to have been the
embodiment and incarnation Of melody and
pafhos. Mozart the elder was, in his genera
ton, violinist Of distinction. Mozart the
junior at the tender age Of four composed sew
eral tuneful minuets which have been pre-
served In the music books Of his sister Maria
HIS first public appearance was in the univer-
slty hall of his native Salzburg during his fifth
year. The accounts Of this performance dwell
| rapturously upon the beauties Of his playing.
Although feted and lionized by royalty his life
was a pecuniary struggle and oft wrought with
penury and want After composing the re-
QUEEN he died at the premature age Of thirty
six and was buried in pauper's grave. Moth
ing can exceed in sadness the career Of this
man and no career could be more caustic
ciety.
l77O. His father was q musical mediocrist Of
absolute habits. Young Ludwig was prodigy,
though the glorious promise OF his future was
blurred by deafness in 1902, but he continued
to compose till his death in 1927 at Vienna. In
1s4S a statue was erected to him in the Munster
platz, but his "Fidelis'' and Mount Of Olives"
are more enduring monuments than piles Of
| stone.
Schumann, Haydn and Handel merit con-
epicuous places in the category Of phenomena
Adele aus der Ohe, Patti, Sembrich, Salchi,
Sontag and Gerster were precocious, but
space prevents due tribute to their genius.
The triumphs of little Hoffman are still fresh
In the minds Of news readers, but whether the
extraordinary promise of this wonder win be
substantiated remains for time to determine.
Jeanne Douste at the age Of five and half
was famed for her Interpretation Of the mas
tiers and her piano skill.
Metastasio, the father Of italian opera, ex-
temporized poetry at ten, as did Adam Oehlen-
sclaeger, the laureate of the Scandinavian
tongue.
Theodore Hook produced his well-nigh in
imitable Soldiers Return" at seventeen; John
Howard Payne edited the Thespidn Mirror
with marked ability at thirteen, while John
Okeef inaugurated his career as dramatist at
fifteen by writing most agreeable comedy.
The statue of Joan dare in the museum Of
Versailles, sculptured by the Princess Marie Of
Orleans before her twentieth year, proves her
to have been marvel Of high degree.
Landseer, the animal painter; Turner, the
portrayor Of the London fog; Stevens, the
creator Of the Wellington monument In St.
Paul 6, and Maria Shurman, the artist, linguist
and musician, were noted prodigies.
Francis Bacon at eleven was specializing on
the laws Of the imagination; at sixteen was
criticising the Aristotilian deductive system and
formulating his inductive philosophy. He was
queens counsel extraordinary at twenty-eight.
his essays No'um Orgarum" and the I'D
vancement of Learning" testify that the rose
made good the pledges Of the bud.
Grotious edited "Maricanus Capella" at four
teen, thus displaying familiarity with Pliny
Euclid, Strobs and Aristotle; began his diplo-
matte life at sixteen and at an early age was &C.
cepted as authority on international law. His
definition of equity, "that wherein the law by
reason of its universally il deficient" is Of
itself an immortelant.
passed. published tractate on comic sections
at sixteen, at seventeen anticipated Torricelli
in hydraulics and at twenty-four was . Napoleon
Of the higher mathematics.
Gibbon was Latin scholar at seven. I sub
init his history as evidence, nay, IS proof, that
his was not an abortive life.
John Barratier, a Frenchman, wrote learnedly
in Latin and translated Hebrew at the age of
ten.
Dorothy Scholozer of Hanover was q geome-
trician, mineralogist and walking pollyglot ut
nine and doctor of philosophy Of the Univer-
sity Of Gottingen at seventeen.
Hamilton, Pitt, Raphael, Agassiz, Whitfield,
Cowley, Pope, Master Betty and Buxton are en-
titled to consideration in any column dedicated
to precocity. s.