The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-02-04

The man is Herr Ottokar Ma1ek. a
young Bohemian pianist. and his
strangely beautiful story reads like
romance from the pages of the past.
Seldom is it in this prosaic age that
we hear of mans heart bleeding and
breaking because of a woman's faith
lessnesS.
Yet it is for this that Ottokar MaIak
has left the scene of his triumphs.
hoping to drown the cry of his souls
anguish in the clamor and clatter, the
rush and rumble of unsentimental
American life.
A year ago Malek set sail for Amer
lea. It was on the day that his loved
one sent him the message that turned
paradise into a wilderness for him.
Malek was scheduled to appear that
night at a concert in Berlin. In the
rush of DESPAIR that swept over him
when the realization of his beloved's
unfaithfulness smote his brain he de-
stroyed every letter. every token that
would remind him of his unhappy love,
and gathering his belongings together
boarded vessel bound for America.
This happened on the morning of
April g. 1902 That evening an expect
ant audience waited breathlessly for
the appearance of the young pianist.
They were doomed to disappointment.
He was on his way to America to seek
healing for his lacerated heart.
All this Malek told me in his broken
English today. 1t has not been his wish
to appear IN the newspapers. Indeed,
he has purposely avoided such notOriety.
In his room at 1911 Michigan avenue he
public gaze, hoping that the world
would forget him awhile and give him
the oblivion he craved
For, SINGS the cruel disappointment
that has blackened his hearts horizon,
Ottokar Malek has flung ambition to the
winds, finding work impossible while
the shadow enveloped him.
All, it was hard to work when in
craf1-r ion T --J1
then? No. no. I could not! I wanted
never to play again.
1t is thus that Malek described the
state of his feelings when he left Berlin.
Malek. Her name? All, no, l could
never tell it. She was musician, an
artist. She, too. played at concerts. We
loved. We Were engaged. was happy,
so happy until
Sadness crept into his eyes and his
fine strong face dropped suddenly upon
his hands, showing only the high fore
head and the mass of waving brown
hair
Then, with a resoIute squaring of his
shoulders. he flung back his head and
spoke with a brave show of indifference.
But that is all past now and forgot
TEN His hands-fne, slender artists
hands-swept from him In an eloquent
gesture That is over now.
The next moment he was speaking of
the faithless one in the old tone of sad
ness.
I could not bear to stay in my own
country. There I would see her name in
the paperS-accOuntS of her concerts.
could not endure thati"
"Ah!' I said. You have not forgot
Malek laughed and tossed back his head
| again.
~. Yes; I have; I must I am going, to
time of rest is over. | must face the
world and my art again"
You could never give it up. 1t is a
wonderful thing to be a great artist
-Ah, but it means suffering"
Ottakar Malek is too modest to call
himself the peer of Paderewsh or to
are programmes in which he is starred
and Kubelik's name appears in small
type. Yet this is so. I saw the pro-
grammes and the press notices from Flu
ropean cities of rank They call MaIek
the Kubelik Of the piano
OttolSar AIalek commenced to play the
piano when he was seven years old. His
talent was encouraged. He studied under
/ the best overwhelmingly, Greenfield
and others. He soon became known as a
musician of wonderful ability.
He was an instructor in the Conserga-
tory OF Vienna when Kubelik entered it.
kubelik was a protege of the young Bo-
possession a. violin given him by his
father-a violin for which he has since
fused $2,000-this he loaned to Kubelik
when the lad made his debut.
MaIek did not stop in New York when
he landed in America. He came straight
to Chicago. He is not poor struggling
musician nor a failure in any sense. He
terest of managers either here or in New
1 York