The San Francisco call., 1904-03-06

always practced his concertos with him
in London. OF course 1 went. Natur-
ally, Paderewsh assumed that I was
a pianist, and asked me afterward to
play some solos for him-just out of
Kindness. 1 told him / couldn't, of
course, and then told him 1 was a vio
linist. He was interested, and asked
me to come over to Paris and play
for him if 1 decided to leave the vio-
lin for the piano-and he rather advised
it,
And so it was decided?"
Not at all" the pianist laughed. "I
never thought of it then. But 1 went
to Paris soon afterward and decided
forty-eight hours after got there that
it should be my home forever That
meant starving just then-those garret
stories are occasionally true"-they
might be as humorous as true from
Mr.. Bauer's keenly apparent delight
in the memory of his own garret days.
He looks backward, not unimportantly.
over a goodly shoulder.
Latin Quarter?" I asked.
Latin quarter" he nodded. 'T
wouldn't have missed it for anything.
You mustn't take the starving too Sc
riously; We spanged on our friends
when We were hungry-and when they
were not sponging on u.s."
'Oh. Colline, and Schaunard, and Ru-
dolf!" I laughed.
But we did starve for cigarettes.
That is why'-he looked with drolI
tenderness at the one in his hand
that is why we value them so highly
now. We used to keep the ends in
2 nd
strong TO make them go further. But
it was really a very happy time.
Achille Rivarde, the violinist, he has
been here
L remember him."
Lived with me. I gave violin les
sons for the pot-au-feu, and studied
the violin steadily for year; the piano
also for fun"
With Paderewski?"
No. 1 saw very little Of him that
year. He was away on tour a great
deal But 1 played for him when he
was in Paris, and you can understand
profited a great deal. But by sheer
hazard it came my way to go with a
singer TO Russia as a pianist, her own
accompanist having disappeared
would have done anything, you know,
and accepted joyfully. There were fifty
concerts in four months. Still the af-
fair was simply little joke musically-
not as to the pot-au-feu. Then came
violinist of the Lamoureux orchestra
with a demand that 1 should play
piano for him. Then the leading Lamou-
reux cellist invited me to be the pianist
at some concerts of his. I wanted TO
play the violin, but he insisted on my
playing piano. Some are born pianists
you see; others have the piano thrust
upon them. II was the same afterward,
another singer, then another violinist."
Fate
Apparently. yes. Ny experience. is
probably unique If'-Mr. Bauer spec
ulated through the pleasant haze of his
cigarette-'if l had not been hard up.
if my teacher in London had not one
day been III, fits all fit might
have happened that I should not have
been a pianist. OF course, then I began
TO play seriously"
Some Of US were trying the other
day TO put piano playing into a SEN
tence," 1 remarked here. rs this a
complete definition to play the right
notes in the right time with the right
weight2' ."
"Ah! That's very interesting" the
pianist said. He leaned forward to look
with keen impersonal scrutiny at the
definer. The right notes, in the right
time, with the right weight, you said?
II is-nOthing else"
But some Of US feel that there Is an
immaterial something else" 1 ventured.
Look at the deadly ugliness of the me-
chanical piano"
NO. there is nothing else" Mr. Bauer
said slowly. He went to the piano and
struck harshly a note and its neighbor
to illustrate. THE mechanical piano
has only this touch, from the top to
the bottom of the sound That is why
it is so ludicrously imperfect. The fin
ger'-he struck, caressed, stroked the
note until it purred and sang luscious
ly, never reaching the hard bottom of
it, nor touching its sharp upper edge
''the finger has all sorts of possibilities.
But the difference is ALL WEIGHT.
IT can be only louder or softer Give the
same dynamic capacities to the me-
chanieal piano and your result would
be the same"
But one feels"
I'm afraid it is shocking to say that
! think there is nothing immaterial
about piano playing" and Mr.. Bauer
shook back his bronze locks and
laughed most infectiously- 1T is exact
ly what you say, the right notes, the
right time and the right weight One
feels that it is derogatory to the art to
take away some mysterious magic fluid
whatever you like TO call it. Not so;
the further you can go in analysis the
more respect one should have for the
art. Such bricks from such straw"
Somehow, then programme music
came I'D, with the question of whether
it was possible for a piece of music to
suggest a definite idea. Wagner's lett
motif, Of course suggested itself.
"Of course, association plays a large
part in programme music. For exam
ple-Why does the king theme in Lob
engrin' suggest a king? 1t is the COM
mon chord, with trumpets. and the her
aids never play anything but common
chords on trumpets- The Elsa theme is
more subtle. yet also with a physical
E,a Mo ,,Io