The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-25
How the Composer Works to Produce
His Sweetest Music

now tne composer Works TO frO0uCe
His Sweetest Music.
Homer Bassford, in st. Louis Post-Dis-
Last Sunday evening met Col John
Mahnken, manager for Victor Herbert.
Colonel Mahnken said he was on his way
to the Planters to spend an hour with Mr..
Herbert, who had been busy all of the day
on the closing passages of Peg Voting
ton" the fourth of his complete operas.
There was another-I've forgotten the
name-that came ahead of these four, but
composers of music do not speak of their
first efforts any more than finished and ac-
copied poets talk about their early jingleS.
Colonel Mahnken felt sure that Mr.. Her
bert had completed the days work and
would be glad to see us. So we went up to
the fifth floor and called upon the composer
and band leader Mr. Herbert was glad to
see US. He is persistently glad to see peo-
pie. Indeed, / wonder that he finds time to
entertaining and story telling that he has
in hand | suppose that any one who has
not observed the methods of composer of
good music will be entertained by an ac-
count of how Mr.. Herbert works. There
were cigars about the room-doZens Of them
some smoked and some unsmoked
l didn't count the leavings of the smoked
ones, but it seemed to me that there were
twenty-five-all very black. There were
many empty mineral water bottles. A plate
was evidence that Mr.. Herbert had had
something to eat. Scattered over two or
three tables We're many, sheets of music
rIanuScr1pt-SOme in pencil, some in ink. The
penciled manuscript was much scratched
over. but the linked one was very clean and
workmanlike in appearance There was an
open plano in one corner of the room. A
cello, two hundred years old by the watch,
was In another corner. Somewhere there was
a hddle-Mr Herbert says fiddle" about
half the time. Hanging on the wall was
Chinese musical instrument. 1t had one
string. There was no fingerboard, and the
body of the thing was about twice the size
CT a dollar, with an inch in depth below the
tightly stretched dried skin that covered the
top-tnat is, the place Immediately below the
l>F he cfrff Mr.
that 1 was looking at the freakish music
box from the Orient. He took it down and
began to play familiar airs upon 1t. There
knew where to find the notes. and with the
primitiyeIy constructed bow and the single
asked Mr.. Herbert how long he had worked
on his peg Wofington" opera that day.
'Since $50 this morning" he said.
"And you've written a lot in that time
We'll said Mr. Heroert, "all of that
manuscript you see there represents some
thing like fifteen minutes of the opera-the
finale.
He had worked twelve hours you see, to
evolve something that an orchestra and
opera company would make away with in
fifteen minutes. These twelve hours repre-
sent only the actual work on the manu-
script-no account Is o taken OF , weeks OF
general style. 1t reminds me of the man
who dashes off sonnet-he usually dashes
1t off in about two weeks-if anybody ever
reads it. l spoke to Mr.. Herbert about gifts,
genius and all the rest of it.
Genius is a misused word he said. 1T
rightfully belongs but TO the elemental
quality of the individual. Many persons
have it-only few develop it until 1t is big
enough for the world TO use. Then it is
called genius No credit is due to that fell
low it says; he was born that way
Many another fellow was born the same
way, say /, but he didn't water and feed
and nourish the young thing
Let me say before | forget it that Mr..
Herbert was not discussing himself when
he talked thus wisely. We had drifted to
generalities. / suppose that other ac-
quaintances have told the composer that
he smokes too many cigars and cuts his
sleep hours too frequently to hope for long
life These abuses, combined with really
irving work will bring him to the early
grave-the genius grave. OF course, this
is all very unpleasant, but know that Mr..
Herbert's doctor would tell him the same
thing.
Colonel Mahnken tells me that Mr.. Her
bert has one professional pride-he likes to
point to three successful operas running
the same year-one in London one in Wen
ma one in Paris and all three in America.
Speaking of Colonel Mahnken reminds
that he is an interesting personality. He
told me- when he was at the Yelled
Prophets ball with his young and charm
ing wife that he had represented the Theo-
dore Thomas Orchestra in that very ball
room exactly twenty years before. He has
been managing musicians all his life, yet
he is as young and as cheerful as a vet
eran who has managed simple commercial
nrie