Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1898-04-18

the bridge Whispering gallery of the
soul The human voice is Gods eulogy
| the ear That voice capable of produc-
| ing II, 500, 1856, 044, 415 sounds, and all
| that variety made not for the regale-
ment of beast Or bird, but for the hu
| man ear.
About Is years ago, in Venice, lay
down in death one whom many consid-
cred the greatest musical composer OF
the century. Struggling on up from 6
years of age when he was left father
less, Wagner rose through the obloquy
of the world and ofttimes all nations
seemingly against him until he gained
the favor Of king and won the enthusi
asm of the opera houses of Europe and
| America. Struggling all the way on to
| 20 years OF age to conquer the worlds
| ear In that same attempt to master the
| human ear and gain supremacy over
| this gate of the immortal soul great
battles were fought by Mozart, G1uck
and Weber and by Beethoven and Mey-
erbeer, by Rossini and by all the roll of
! German and Italian and French COM
posers, some of them in the battle leav
ing their blood on the keynotes and the
musical scores. Great battle fought for
the ear-fought with baton, with organ
pipe, with trumpet, with cornet-a-pis-
| ton, with all ivory and brazen and sill
yer and golden weapons of the orchestra;
royal theater and cathedral and acad-
envy of music the fortresses for the con-
| test for the ear. England and Egypt
| fought for the supremacy OF the Suez
canal and the Spartans and the Persians
fought for the defle at Thermopyl@,
| but the musicians of all ages have
| fought for the mastery of the auditory
canal and the defile Of the immortal
soul and the ThermopylB of struggling
! cadences.
Conquest of the Ear.
| For the conquest of the ear Haydn
struggled on up from the garrett, where
he had neither fire nor food, on and on
until under the too great nervous strain
of hearing his own oratorio Of the
stCreation" performed he was carried
out to die. but leaving as his legacy to
the world 11S symphonies, 1913 pieces
for the baritone, 5 Masses oratorios,
| AZ German and Italian songs, 80 canons
365 English ana Scotch songs, with ac-
compartment, and ], $50 pages of libret
ii. All that to capture the gate Of the
| body that swings in from the tympanum
to the ''snail shell'' lying on the beach
of the ocean of the immortal soul
To conquer the ear Handel struggled
on from the time when his father would
not let him go to school lest he learn
the gamut and become a musician, and
from the time when he was allowed in
the organ loft just to play after the eu-
dience had left to the time when he left
to all nations his unparalleled oratorios
of esther, - Deborah, - Sampson,
"Jephthah, - ''Judas Maccab3us, - "Is-
rael In Egypt" and the "Messiah" the
soul of the great German composer still
weeping i'll the dead march of our great
obsequies and triumphing in the rap
lures of every Easter morn.
To conquer the ear and take this gate
of the immortal soul Schubert composed
his great "Serenade," writing the
slaves of the music o. the bill of fare
in a restaurant, and went on until he
could leave as a legacy to the world
over l 200 magnificent compositions in
music. To conquer the ear and take this
gate of the soul s castle Mozart strug-
gled on through poverty until he came
to pauper's grave, and one chilly,
wet afternoon the body of him who
gave to the world the Requiem and
the &C Minor Symphony was crunch
ed in on the top of two other paupers
into grave which to this day is cpl
taphless.
For the ear everything mellif1uous,
from the birth hour when our earth was
wrapped in swaddling clothes of light
and serenaded by other worlds, from
the time when Jubal thrummed the first
harp and pressed key Of the first or
gan down to the music of this Sabbath
day. Yea, for the ear the coming over
lures of heaven, for whatever other
part of the body may be left in the dust
the ear, we know, is to come to celes-
tial life; otherwise why the "harpers
harping with their harps?' For the ear,
carol of lark, and whistle of quail, and
chirp of cricket, and dash of cascade,
and roar of tides oceanic, and doxology
of worshipful assembly and minstrelsy,
cherubic, seraphic and archangelic. For
the ear all Pandean pipes, all flutes, all
clarinets, all hautboys, all bassoons all
bells and all organs-Luzerne and West
minister abbey, and Freiburg, and Ber-
lin, and all the organ pipes set across
Christendom, the great Giants Cause
way for the monarchs Of music to pass
over. For the ear, all chimes, all tick
ings of chronometers, all anthems, all
dirges. all glees, all choruses, all lula
bies, all orchestration. Oh, the ear, the
God honored ear. grooved with divine
sculpture and poised with divine grace
fulness and upholstered with curtains
of divine EN- broidery, and corridored by
divine carpentry, and pillared with di-
vine architecture, and chiseled in bone
of divine masonry, and conquered by
professions of divine marshaling! The
earl nprDptna1 DOiuE ,,f iptorrooation