Casco Bay breeze. [volume] (South Harpswell, Me.) 1901-1917, 1904-09-08
THE ORIGIN OF GENIUS.
sfystery Surrounding the Cause or cr.a,.
mesa In Men.


ness In Men.
!: The revival OF interest in Cho,;o.
to the appearance OF a biography am
discussion OF his place among mo-
seal composers, has also called astcn-
lion to the fact that there is also no
discovera0le origin Of his genius. His
parents, while not OK the lowest peas
ant class, were not remarkable people
nor did any OF his brothers or sisters
| display any marked characteristics tcJ
| distinguish them from the average blu
| man kind. Chopin, however, from in
fancy, gave evidence OF superior mu
steal development. He speedily Ills
tanced his instructors upon the piano
wrote such difficult music that he wa.
compelled to devise his own method
OF lingering, and improvised long be
fore he knew anything OF technical
counterpart and harmony. His genius
was intuitive. No one can tell whence
1t came. All delighted in its manifasta.
ton.
What is true Of Chopin is true of
nearly every other genius the world
has known. A family pursues its com.
monplace existence for several genera.
tons, and then, without any apparent
reason, son or daughter, endowed
with faculties quite foreign to parents
and relatives, mounts to the highest
pedestal Of fame. Genius, however.
does not beset genius, and so, as soon
as nature has sported with the one
shining example, the glory dies away,
and once more the dead level Of COM
| mon humanity is resumed.
There was not, for instence. n grad.
| ual ascent to nor an equally even de.
scent from the height which Shakes
peare reached. He stands alone, with
nothing before and nothing after.
Neither his father, n reputable mer.
chant in Stratford, nor his mother, the
daughter Of respectable landholder,
was apparently destined to give to the
world so great n son. wagner's father
was the clerk of a police court, nj.
though he passionately loved the the.
atre, and his mother possessed no es.
pecial gifts. Beethoven's father was
an ordinary musician and his mother
was the daughter of a cook. The list
might be indefinitely extended. includ-
ing great leaders of men like Mahomet
and Napoleon; or poets, from Homer to
Tennyson; or painters, from Raphael
to all the famous artists of the present
day.
In all Of these men the mystery of
genius was present. Its presence ex-
cited curiosity, as well as admiration.
and yet its cause remained q sealed
book. All that is said and written is
mere guesswork. No one knows what
peculiar convolution Of the brain, what
particular activity of undiscovered
cells. makes the poet. the musician, the
artist, or the general. We say that a
man is a born poet or born musician,
and there we pause. Science brings
nothing definite to our aid, and leaves
the curtain darkly down.
While it is true, as Carlyle said. that
genius is capacity for taking infinite
pains, 1t is also true that no amount Of
labor can supply the missing element
or genius. A nan who lacks the vital
spark at his birth might as well accept
the place which nature has assigned
him. 1t is not for him to be great.
Perhaps the time will come when the
researches Of the scientists will reveal
to us how genirses are made, discov.
ering the conditions which create the
wonderful gifts which make the whole
world bow in admiration. Until then.
however, the mystery OF genius must
be ignorantly worshiped.
1t is even poor consolation to agree
with Schopenhauer that there is a
touch Of genius I'm every man. He ar
CUES that unless this were the case,
1t would be impossible to explain the
love OF humanity for art and music
and all the concrete manifestations Of
beauty. At the same time this is mere
ly the statement Of fact, not the dis
covery Of cause. With the birth of
every genius the eternal riddle pre-
sents itself unsolved. Some of these
days when the world is not so wholly
given over to materialism, as it is to-
day, some rare. ethereal. spiritual mind
may grasp the secret. Meanwhile, we
of the grosser flesh ca simply wonder
and Observation-Disclosures Post.