Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1903-12-25

l
humble were the homes. and hard the
lives, of many of our most celebrated
musicians. 1t must be remembered
that in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries the art of music was too
great an innovation to be received at
once with enthusiasm by the general
public; the composers had to work
very hard to please their critical audi
ences, who needed special education
before they could appreciate the
| charms and interpret the meaning Of q
great musical composition. The soul
Of music must be alive in the hearts
OF people before they can understand
that 1t is "a kind of inarticulate, I'M
fathomable speech, which leads us to
the edge of the infinite and let's us, for
moment, gaze into that"
The first composer who made any
impression on the world was native
of Holland, called Josquin de PREF,
who lived in 1450-1521, who taught the
first use of the voice in singing, and
started vocal music in the principal
perors of his day.
But the greatest composer of the
age was Pierlingi da Palestrina, who
was born of very poor parents, about
the year 1924, in the town of Pales-
trina, near Rome. He lived a poor
and, at times, precarious life, and la
bored for years to beautify the church
music, with apparently small result.
After Pedestrians death, in 1894,
nearly 100 years passed before the
birth of another great composer. Then,
in the year 1855. two of the most ia
nous musicians were born-Handel
and Bach.
h At No. 6 Nicholai street, not far
from the picturesque market place of
Halle, in Saxony, George Frederick
Handel was born Feb 20, and the old
house, which is still to be seen, is
naturally of great interest. 1t bears
bust of Handel over the doorway,
and wreaths of laurel and carving or
nament the windows.
Sebastian Bach was born into must.
cal surroundings His ancestors, al.
though Woodworking artisans. were all
musical, and several gained distinc-
ton as composers or organists. Bach's
father married the daughter of fur
rier, and lived in the beautiful town
of Eisenach, in SaXeWeimar, where
their younger son was born. The out
side of the cottage bears the follow
ing inscription: "E. S. Bach was born
on 81 March, 1856, in this house. Re-
stored, 1863" The room, however, in
which the musician was born remains
unaltered
Strange to say, although these two
powerful masters, Handel and Bach,
were contemporaries and of the same
age, they neither saw nor even CORE
sponded with each other.
After Bach's death at Leipzig in
1850, the next great musician was
Joseph Haydn, who came of very.
humble birth. His father was a wheel
wright and his mother a cook; they
lived in a tiny cottage matched with
reeds at Rohrau, close to the river
Leitha, which forms the boundary be-
tween Austria and Hungary.
The neighborhood is cheerful and
wooded, and small row of cottages
lead from the little market square
toward the castle of Rohrau. The last
cottage bears tablet with the words,
ITO Haydn" as its only distinction.
On the left side of the door are four
small windows, and little wooden
seat; and the front room contains sew
eral relics of the great musician, in
Guiding his portrait on the wall In
this room Joseph Haydn was born in
the night Of March 81, 1882, the Sec
ond of fourteen children; and in this
humble home he spent the first eight
years of his life.
Only once in after years did Haydn
return to visit his birthplace, and that
was after he had made $4,000 at one
London concert alone. He was invited
by some friends in Vienna to accom-.
pany them to Rohrau, and there he
found the old familiar stove where he