The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-10-07

Progress Of Music" published In 1893.
also devOtps a large amount OF space
to il. EastcOtt's experience it may,
however, be remarked. were not uni
fOrmly in favor of the poets Conten-
ton that Music can soften pain to
ease, and make despair and madness
please" For example, he recounts the
cases of several men who tainted
upon hearing certain kinds Of music.
One man was taken to the opera, put
the opera was Arnes's 'ArtaxerXes,'
and one does not wonder that a man
tainted after hearing the overture of
that deadly dull work. 1t is Eastcott
again who tells the story of a Mr.. Bur-
ton, a celebrated chorus singer" who
tainted at he Handel commemoration
services in Westminster Abbey. The
overture to Esther SO violently agitated
this gentleman that after lying in a
swOOn for some time he expired. AT
intervals he was able to speak. and
only a few minutes before breathing
his last he declared that it was the
wonderful effect Of the music which
had thus fatally operated on him.
| There is no reason to doubt the gem
uineness of this story, for several other
cases of the kind are OH record.
SENSITIVE NERVES.
There is Il we'll authenticated in
stance of a man upon whose nervous
system il 50 acted that he was obliged
to leave the room previous to music
being introduced. This man made two
final experiments in hope of overcom-
ing the weakness, but both ended in
his being seized with q convulsion In
the Jaw, greatly to the alarm of his
friends. Mime. Malibran. in like man
ner. now and again suffered intensely
from the effect of music. For example,
when she heard Beethoven's G minor
symphony for the first time at the
Paris conservatory, she was seized
with such commissions that she had to
be carried out of the room. Rousseau
says he knew a lady who could not
hear any kind Of music without being
seized with involuntary and convulsive
laughter. In Gaillard's Life of Char
lemagne" we are told of woman who,
when she heard an organ for the first
time, was so transported with rapture
that she never recovered from the eff
feet. and died in consequence. which
is not a bad testimony to the organs
of Charlemagne's time. We all know
that each time the bagpiper of the
HartZ plays a maiden dies: and II
charming writer whose versatility
must not be taken as pointing 10 IL
want of veracty. tells us of death
which was attributed to a neighboring
band If the story is true no doubt the
band was Il brass one.
There is a much quoted anecdOte
about Mozart fainting away at the
sound of a trumpet. IAN instrument or
which, up to the age of 10. he had the
greatest dread" He could not bear
the trumpet" says Holmes. in his life
of the composer. when blown by itself.
"and was alarmed to see it even ham
died. His father thinking to remove
this childish fear, desired that it
should be blown before him. notwith-
standing all his entreaties to the con-
trary. At the first blast he turned
! pale and sank to the ground. and seri-
Gus consequences might have ensued
had the experiment been persisted in
Mozart at any rate seems to have got
pretty quickly over his dislike for the
trumpet. for in the catalogue of his
works produced between his seventh
and twelfth years the instrument fig
ures frequently. There is no doubt,
however. that with some eycitable ma
lures music, from being at first a
voluptuous enjoyment. soon degener-
ates into an acute sense of suffering.
BerlioZ was a witness to this in his
own person: and in one of his works
he has described his feelings in a very
expressive way. To the sensation of
pleasure he says succeeded a general
excitation. a greater activity of circu-
lation, Of beating the arterial vessels
of the head, an Outburst OF tears.
spasmodic and tetanic contractions Of
the muscles. tremOr in all the limbs,
progressive stiffening of the eXtremi-
ties, swimming in the head, an ap-
proach to syncope, a crisis completely