The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-03-09
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Several portraits of Gluck and Haydn
adorn the third part, which is notable
also for tail piece of most artistic
design. representing the fresco In the
Vienna Opera house which depicts
Gluck's "Armide.'' Parts four. five
and six are notably rich in illustrations
beginning with a tail piece from the
Viennese fresco illustrating Haydn's
oratorio of THE Creation" and run
ming through the pre-eminently inter-
esting biographies of Mozart and
Beethoven. The first portrait of Mozart,
reproduced from an original silver
crayon taken two years before the
composers death by the daughter-in-
law of Mozart's friend Korner, Is be-
lieved to be the most characteristic life
portrait remaining to us. Its strongly
accentuated features bespeak the ec-
centricity, bordering on madness, of the
man. 1t will be remembered that at
the age of 8 years Mozart dictated
minuets to his father, the Sal2burg
violinist, one of which is preserved in
this work. The earliest portrait OF
Mozart shows him at the age or
years, commanding youngster IN
court dress. Atr9 he had, boy-fash-
ion, grown lanky: at 10 he looked al
most frail and at fourteen there was
evidence of the outcropping or the
man. Altogether these 1--WE portraits
form most interesting series or
human documents" The house in
which the composer was born; also
the room. with its low ceiling, its harp
sichord, its corner bust, and family
portraits, are shown upon opposite
pages. Another view represents his
favorite concert piano (Which sold after
his death for $3.50 and the spnnet or
small clavichord upon which he COM
posed the Magic Flute Titus and
THE Requiem" y page reproduction
of sculpture by Delafosse, showing
the senior Mozart. standing violin in
hand, behind Wolfgang Amadeus, who
is seated at his harpsichord, while the
latters sister, Maria Anna, accom-
panies with her voice is largely IDEAL
lied, as is also the de la Croce oil study
of the Mozart family pictured on the fol-
lowing page. The picture of an unpre-
tentious house in Vienna, in which
Mozart lived, with that interesting fact
duly announced in great letters on its
dngy exterior; also one of the extreme
ly plain Niennese dwelling in which the
poor fellow died. conclude the more no.
table of the Mozart Illustrations, un-
less we except curious comparison of
the composers ear with the average
ear, showing as it does a most uneX-
pected difference in contour.
This brings us to the parts devoted to
that greatest of all masters of sound,
Ludwig van Beethoven. The Won
Elober portrait, made in 1917, at the
time when its subject, then AZ years of
age, had just begun the composition of
the Ninth symphony. which he finished
six years later, rightly occupies the post
of honor. 1t reveals the furious hair,
the violent face and the eccentric dress
of its subject with minute fidelity; but
as studies it these outward char
acteristics fade away and there ap-
pears in their place the spirit of a kind
ly magnanimous and withal affection
ate being despite the fitful savagery
to which his caprices drove him. This
portrait is for US, the most interesting
thing in the entire series. We prefer
It to the half-score of idealiZed repre-
sentations to which 1t has given origin,
and many of which are shown in this
work Just as the life of Beethoven il,
from its Kaleidoscope variety Of incl
dent, by all odds the most interesting Of
all the lives of the great composers,
so this true portrait-true, but not
harsh-is. in our Judgment. the superior
Of all the likenesses of him that exist.
But we must hasten on. BeethOven's
1T
| tainment of Mozart by playing for the
latter on the piano; an idealized view of
Beethoven leading the performance of
one of his quartettes; a view of the
composers latest and much disordered
studio in the SchwarZ-Spanier house
in Vienna. in which Beethoven died,
also view of that houses exterior; his
tomb in Vienna cemetery; life and
death masks, the former taken by
| Franz Klein in 1912 and the latter by
Dannhauser in 1927, two days after
the composers demise; and finally the
Zumbusch figure of Beethoven on the
Vienna monument complete for us
cycle of Illustrations Of interest even
in excess of the readable, but necessari-
" abridged letter-text. Brevity of
space reminds us that we must now
pass lightly over the admirable illus
trations with which Professor Klauser
mas lllunihep the ilNes "l ''cnupe't,
carr Weper' MehuelsSoiln anu. i'oper'
Schumahn' ana cohciuoe inns Scaht
notlce WIN woro concerning the inu-
sical selections maue at 'he suggestion
OF Theodore lhomas'
-.
To Sebastian Bach. in honor of his
pioneership among the great German
composers, Mr.. Thomas has accorded
| representation with no less than six