Evening star., 1960-03-27
NEWS OF MUSIC .s4
Visual Troppings VitoI
In Presenting Music

by the angel Gabriel, or even
by Liberace himself? The
great gift of the phonograph
record is that through its
agency the sight of the be-
loved musician is brought
into the living room-you
put the record on the SPIN
die and you Immediately see
Toscanini's haloed head re-
laxed against your anti
maccaSar.
DO not leave so abruptly,
madam, be afraid to go! I
can see the incredulity, the
suspicious, the pity in your
beautiful eyes. But let me
put my case beyond cavil by
telling you of one of the
greatest performers in the
history of music who played
but indifferently on instru-
ments but was the peer of
Chopin, Paganini, Liszt, or
Heifets when he played on no
instrument whatever. He was
the nephew of Rameau, and
if you are inclined to suspect
all nephews of great COM
poSerS because of the insult
ferable nephew of Beethoven,
remember that the majority
of interesting musicians are
nephews of somebody, and
that, moreover, Rameau was
French, and they order every
thing better in France.
Jean Francois Rameau,
the son of a Dion apothe-
cary and. as I have said, the
nephew of Jean-Baptiste Ra-
meau, lived in Paris the most
exciting and fascinating life
biography tells of any muSi-
clan in history. In the pur-
suit of his profession of mu-
sic in the usual channels he
was not extraordinary. He
composed a little, gave a few
desultory lessons in theory
and harpiSchord, and may
have played in public now
and then. If he had done
no more, history would have
passed him by with a flirt Of
her skirt. But he did much
more-he was a sensational
performer of violin and harp
sichord Sonatas without vio-
lin or harpsichord; he would
perform a four voice fugue
singing soprano and acting
alto. tenor and bass. He
would give an entire opera
by himself, singing and act
ing all the parts not only OF
the stage roles but Of all
the players in the pit.
Denis Diderot. the en-
cyclopediSt, ran across Ram
eau one day in 1852 in the
Cafe de la Regence. the
gathering place OF chess
players. Rameau was con-
temptuous of the games 60
ing on around him. I see
you accept only men OF
genius, remarked Diderot.
Yes replied Rameau, in
chess, checkers, eloquence,
music. and other fol-de-rol
like that, what's the use OF
mediocrity?' During the
course of one of the longest
and most brilliant conver-
sations in the history Of a
country famous for its ex-
tempore talk, Diderot noticed
that Rameau was bending
his fingers back until they
touched his wrists. He was
disturbed. fearing that the
man would injure himself.
"Rameau, however. was just
keeping in practice. Then
"he takes the stance Of a
violin player, and huns an
allegro of Locatelli. His
right arm initiates the
movement Of a bow, his left
hand and fingers seem to
promenade the length of a
finger board. If the sound
is fiat, he stops, and screws
up the pegs and flicks the
string with his fingernail to
see that it's right He
takes up the piece sdst where
he left off, marking time
with his foot, moving his
head, feet, hands, arms,
body. just as you have seen
sometimes at a concert Fer
rari or Chiabran. or some
other virtuoso
AT the end of the piece,
Rameau asks: We'll, what
do you think?" 'Marvelousr
Yes admits Rameau. 'Itll
do. It sounds pretty good
He has made music by means
Of gesture.
II cannot tell you an even
more fantastic performance
of a harpsichord sonata
without harpsichord, but in
writing of it later Diderot
says of this music he has
not heard but only seen I
don't remember whether it
was a piece of Alberti or Ga
luppi.' Notice, madam, that
he is sure it was one or the
other.
u Finally, he attempts a