Musical Memories

3VIXJSICAL MEMORIES Vf f, - l - i, - - 5 ti . The Master, Camille Saint-Saens Copyright, 1919, BY SMALL, MAYNARD COMPANY INCORPORATED CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I MEMORIES OF MY CHILDHOOD 1 II THE OLD CONSERVATOIRE 14 III VICTOR HUGO 26 IV THE HISTORY OF AN OpERA-CofflQUE ... 35 V Louis GALLET 50 VI HISTORY AND MYTHOLOGY m OPERA ... 61 VII ART FOR ARTS SAKE 76 VIII POPULAR SCIENCE AND ART 83 IX ANARCHY IN Music 91 X THE ORGAN 98 XI JOSEPH HAYDN AND THE SEVEN WORDS . 109 XII THE LISZT CENTENARY AT HEIDELBERG 1912 121 XIII BERLIOZS REQUIEM 133 XIV PAULINE VIARDOT 144 XV ORPHEE 154 XVI DELSARTE 179 XVII SEGHERS 189 XVIII ROSSINI 201 XIX JULES MASSENET 211 XX MEYERBEER 220 XXI JACQUES OFFENBACH 253 XXII THEIR MAJESTIES . . 262 XXIII MUSICAL PAINTERS 273 ILLUSTRATIONS The Master, Canaille Saint-Saens ., Frontispiece PAGE The Paris Opera 36 The First Performance of Defanire . . . . 60 M. Saint-Saens in his Later Years .... 80 The Madeleine where M. Saint-Saens played the organ for twenty years 106 t Hector Berlioz 134 Mme. Pauline Viardot 146 Mme. Patti 206 M. Jules Massenet 216 Meyerbeer, Composer of Les Huguenots . .,242 Jacques Offenbach . . 258 Ingres, the painter famous for his violin, ., 274 MUSICAL MEMOKIES CHAPTER I MEMORIES OF MY CHILDHOOD In bygone days I was often told that I had two mothers, and, as a matter of fact, I did have two the mother who gave me life and my maternal great-aunt. Charlotte Masson. The latter came from an old family of lawyers named Gayard and this relationship makes me a descendant of Gen eral Delcambre, one of the heroes of the retreat from Russia. His granddaughter married Count Durrieu of the Academic des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. My great-aunt was bornin the provinces in 1781, but she was adopted by a childless aunt and uncle who made their home in Paris. He was a wealthy lawyer and they lived magnificently. My great-aunt was a precocious child she 1