Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1907-01-09
BENEVOLENT VERDI.
His ces~resity 60 ola Friesa. ana "a
All Aged Musicians.

HE Ceneresfty 60 ola fricnss ana 20
All Aged Musicians.
The population OF the little Italian
village where Verdi was born was
made up OF unsducatesi. hardworking
laborers. aud his surroundings were OF
the most prosaic kind. But the FIRE
OF genius was in the lad. says his bIog-
rapher. and these unsymDathetic en-
vironments were powerless to extin-
guish II.
The honor OF first drawing attention
10 the boys gifts lies with poor Itin-
Grant y.Jllnist Bagasset by name. In
his wanderlngs be frequently visited
lie koncole. Little Giuseppe and he
struck up a friendship. and Il was
Bagasset who suggested TO the boys
father that the lad should be allowed
to follow music as profession. In
after years when Yera had become
famous he found Bagasset again, then
very old man and poor. and, remern-
boring the past. did all IN his power to
help him.
When Verdi was eight years old he
became the proud possessor Of an old
spinet This instrument he regarded
with the greatest affection. and to the
day OF his death II occupied a place OF
honor at his estate near Busseto. There
was an interesting and quaint Inscrip-
uon written on part OF II. IL gives
particulars OF certain repairs which
had been effected ard ends. "'rhis do
gratis In consideration OF the good dis
position the boy Giuseppe Verdi shows
In learning 10 play on tbs instrument
which quite satisfies me for any tron-
Die stephen Cavaletu. y. ID. 1871
This spinet meant everything IN tho
world 10 the boy ut this ti,ao. and II
was his enthusiasm in Suhicrtipe n +,
the expression Of latent In,1sic
That was in him thaf e.. Cd the dam
age and necessitatcJ the pairs re-
ferred to.
Once he was playing chords on II
ana was delighted at having discovered
the major third and fifth of q. TrvineS
TO repeat this the following dav no
was unable to end the chord again.
Try as he would, ne could not succeed
so In childish rage h picked up ham
mer and proceeded TO bang the s.,inat
His father came upon 3D.. s.ano ar
this moment. and. taking fhe part of
the spnet in this unequal encounter
he gave his son a lesson which doubt-
less sounded chords In the boys brain
which were revelation TO him.
The benevolence OF Verdi after his
success was byword. aud toward
those less fortunate ones Of his pro.
fRESfnm hnif. ~.
given. But everything was done In the
most unobstrusive way. When his odd
hbrettist Piare was stricken with po-
ralysis Verdi paid all the costs of his
illness, made him an annual allowance
and at his death met the expenses of
the funeral. In addition To this. he
provided for the support of the old
mans daughter.
one day when he was chatting with
Carducci. the famous poet. an organ
outside struck mp an air from "Trova-
tore Thinking that Verdi would he
disturbed, the poet went To the window
10 send the man away. but the co,,-
poser pushed past him and. reckoning
to the organ grinder below. threw a
handful of silver out. saying to his
friend:
Let him 40 on; II pleascs me. and.
besides. we must all live somehow"
The perusal of his VIII shows that
ne never forgot those who had been
Kind 70 him in his struggling DAYS.
The bequcSt which is most widely
known In his own country is the Home
OF Rest For Musicians in Milan.
1t had always been n great idea OF
Nerdfs TO found some institution for
the care OF aged musicians whose Ia
bors had not resulted in making them
independent in the years when their
work had come TO an end. In his will
he devoted large share OF his proper
" 10 this scheme, and his generous
gift affords home TO 100 old musl-
CInnS.-N nnth,s Communion,