New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-09-25
A New Volume of Musical
Portraits by c. ID. Isaacson
=. THE WEEK OPERA HOUSE
Moussorgsky. R"biastein, Stephen Foster and Other
Celebrated composers Strikingly Portrayed in
'Face to Face With Great Musicians,

ANTON kubsnsten at Pcterhof is On a
little hui, which faces the sea and
stands sentinel at the edge Of baby
forest. 1T is gray-green house, spa
clous and beautiful At the left of the
ehtrsnce Is fruit garden, though An
TON kuhinstein himself said that only
ladies' or milkson men like raw fruit
We enter the porch and walk
through the long hallway 20 the tur
ret staircase at the rear Round and
round these steps. as you might climb
the height of a ship from deck to deck,
We ascend into the tower.
1T might be called coming tower,
for through the large window we can
look again toward the water, and again
giistening leaves and the swayiny
branches of the forest. A rapid glance
at the circular room discloses piano.
bust of Mephistopheles (is it sisni-
ticsnt?l. a writing table, divan-and
man.
His clothes show signs of wear and
lack of care. A very narrow tic, scarce
ly shoestring in width, is about his
low collar. Russian to the backbone,
there's no doubt about that, in the way
he looks swarthy complexion, high
cheekbones. little heshy nose, high
forehead, surmounted by mountain
OF thick. bushy dark brown hair! Such
hair. 1t is combed high and grows
densely, framing the face and touchinc
the shoulders. Women would glory in it.
Wig makers would pay fabulous prices
for it, It is Samsonian. 1t is almost
barharic.
The face is large. the head Is large
for the body. The forehead is massive.
Ugly, absolutely? Beautiful, beyond a
doubt Something about the physiog-
nomy is reminiscent OF Beethoven
there is that Gibraltar-likc strength to
the mass composition. But the COMPARE
son is no sooner made than it is With
drawn, for the faces are utterly unlike.
Strange eyes of Rubinstein. The
upper lids are half closed, drawn at
the outer corners and sheathing the
eyes. Only narrow strip of the
white peers through, giving an eternal
look, searching, scrutinizing, CLOSELY
analyzing, deeply thinking, broodiny.
plotting, suspecting, weighing, soar
ing, dreaming. The eyelids scarcely
ever open wide, except when fire and
fury consume the man. A Russian.
indeed, with American Indian eyes!
Blue, We thought, but then at times
they seemed gray or black or brown.
He greets us unsmilingly, taking
our profered hand in his two huge
paws, which touch with the softness of
velvet; yielding, gentle, feminine like,
we feel as if our hands were drowning
in his. Very broad hands, not so long,
fingers thick at the base and taperinc
rapidly to the tips. Those are the
hands of Rubinstein, which even dur
ing his boyhood were declared to be
AS light rs feathers and strong as
IRON"
A thread Of romance flows through
Mr.. Issacson's chapters, reaching it's
widst girth in the story of Coucy,
foremost of the troubadours.
The portrait of the authors father,
Mark N. Isaacson, is sketched in soft
shades with genuine tenderness and
the sincerity Of deep affection.
The readers reaction to MIR. Isaac
sons second volume is regret at hav-
ing overlooked the first-a determine
ton to take immediate steps to rec
tify tho omission. No doubt years
have been spent in accommodating the
facts which in their present attractive
form cannot fail to provide both pleas
ure and profit to laymen as we'll as
students.