Italy Leads Vith Three, Leoncavallo,
Puccini and Mascagni. Their
Early Struggles and Subsequent Fame
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W
ITU Edward Grieg, the Norwe
gian, dead, in 190", and Edward
Alexander McDowell, the
. mcr'fcan, dead, less than a month ago,
the. world can boast of very few really
great living romposers. Of these,
Salnt-Pacns is so old that he has quit
writing music, and Dudley Buck, the
American practically went into retire
ment a few years asm when he retired
as organist of Holy Trinity Church,
Brooklyn, where ho had been music
ally Bupreme. for upward of a quarter
of a century.
Italy, with her trio, Mascagni. Leon
cavallo and Puccini, easily leads the
list of the nations in living composers
of international fame. Then there Is
nit-hard Strauss, of "Salome" fame or
notoriety, just as you care to look at It.
In these men we undoubtedly have the "
six most famous living composers.
Among those of lesser fame, but more
or less widely known, are Reginald
De Koven, George W. Chadwlck and
Kdgar Stillman Kelly, Americans all,
the last named being located in Berlin,
where he Is looked upon as a celebrity.
Italy's three all had the traditional
har.d time of it before fickle fame
smiled on them and led them to walk
along the paths of Easy street. All
d".lZ,i""l r '
patriots l seven years older. Puccini
Is the only one who comes of a musi
cal family; there were four genera-'
tions of musical Pucclnis in a line be
fore him. All three, however, early in
boyhood displayed a strong liking for
music, and each has done nothing
much in this world but dream music,
pluy music and write music.
Leoncavallo's Egyptian. Adventure.
HuKglcro Ijjoncavallo did dream
once of a military career, but the ap
pearance of Kngllsh rifles speedily dis
pipatcd the dream and in so doing
probably saved the Neapolitan to the
world of music. Leoncavallo at the
tinm was in Egypt, whither he had
gone as a boy to live with his uncle,
who was director of the press In the
Foreign Office. Through his uncle he
ttot the position of piano player to-the
court of Mahmoud. Ilamdy. That
swarthy son of the Nile fell so much
In love witii the Italian's melodies
that he promised him a regimental
appointment and a big salary at the
proper time.
But before Mahmoud could get
around to the brass button business
there was an uprising against the
English. Mahmoud cast in his lot with
the instigators of the trouble. The
British are still in Egypt Leoncavallo
had to flee in disguise. He made his
way to Port Said, and at the first op
portunity took boat for foreign soil.
J lo "landed eventually in France. But
before he could get aboard ship he
was penniless when he reached Port
Said he had to raise the necessary
passage money by giving a concert. All
the time he was playing he was in
mortal terror lest some Tommy At
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kins' should swagger in and arrest him.
The concert netted him between 500
and 600 francs. 1
About the time that Leoncavallo!
reached Paris he made the discovery
that he was again flat as to pocket
book. The first work that offered it
self was seized quickly and so Leon
cavallo became an accompanist- at a
cafe. In the course of time he filled
similar positions in other cafes. Then
he began to teuch singing,, and, a little
later, to work up artists in their rep
ertoires. In the midst of kis struggle to make
a living by doing such odd musical
Jobs he wrote a poem called "Medici.",
Fortunately for his future, he got an
opportunity to read his lines to Massa
net. who advised him 'to go to Milan
and read them to Ricordi. That is how
Leoncavallo came to pawn the furni
ture of his flat that he might have
enough money to get to Milan and
before M. Ricordi, who commissioned
the cafe player to write music for the
posm, the pay to be 400 francs a month
for 12 months. This meant that the
work must be done in a year, and it
was. Then Leoncavallo anxiously
awaited the Initial production of his
great effort. He waited In vain for
three years.
Meantime he took up teaching again
in order to keep from starving. Mean
time, too, Mascagnl sprang into in
stant popular favor with his "Caval-
lerla Rustioana." As Mascagni's fame
increased
Leoncavallo got bluer and
bluer. Then one day he decided not
to wait any longer for tie production
of "Medici." but to cut loose from Ri
cordi and try to write something that
would make him famous also. That
was how he came to compose "I Pag
llacci" in five months. On May 17,
1892, it was produced for the first
time, and the next morning the name
of Leoncavallo was being coupled with
that of Mascagnl. Leoncavallo was 3 4
when Italy learned of his existence.
Mascagnl was 25. '
There are many persons in Germany
who don't think any too well of Leon
cavallo. This is because Emperor Wil
liam, after hearing Medici," decided
that Its composer was the man best
fitted to write for. him an opera with
Roland as the theme. The opera called
"Roland" was composed by Leonca
vallo after long and arduous work.
When produced it pleased the Emperor
immensely, but the German critics and
newspapers "roasted" unmercifully
both the work and the composer, be
cause the War Lord had dared to se
lect an Italian instead of a German to
write a pet opera for him. Outside of
Berlin, Leoncavallo and his works arc
pretty highly thought of the musical
world over.
Composer of "Madama Butterfly.'
Giacomo Puccini, composer of three
popular operas, "La Boheme," "La Tos
ca" and "Madama Butterfly," got his
musical education at the Conservatoire
of Milan, and incidentally while there
lived the life of a true Bohemian, be
cause, forsooth, he had not the means
to live in ordinary comfort.
During the three years that he was
a Conservatoire student his food con
sisted largely of coffee, milk and bread.
He. 'his brother Michael and a friend
all l(ved together in a top-floor hall
THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, FEBRUARY 23, 1903.
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bedroom. Sometimes, when bread and
milk palled on them, they would feast
on an omelet of two eggs. Once they
gave a little dinner party of four, and
then rare treat they served a her
ring. .
' Puccini's landlord ran a restaurant in
connection, with the boarding-house, and.
he naturally forbade cooking in the
rooms. To circumvent the crusty old fel
low by -drowning the noises of cooking
things. Puccini was wont to play ent..us
iastically on the piano while his brother
played chef. On one occasion, when cne
three roommates got hold of a live
chicken, Puceini outdid himself at the
Instrument. Even the brother, who killed
the fowl, declared himself unable to hear
its dying quacks for the racket .of the
piano.
To secure coal in Infinitesimal quanti
fies as needed the trio resorted to a
clever ruse. Arrayed in his best suit of
black. Michael Puccini would take a lit
tle black traveling bag in his hand and
be noisily waved away as for a trip by
his fellow conspirators. At night, when
all the house slept, Michael would softly
steal back to the little top-floor room
with the black handbag full of coal.
Michael, poor fellow, went to South
America to seek his fortune and -died
there of yellow fever, just when Gia
como was coming into his own. Many of
the incidents of his life as a conserva
toire student Puccini has woven into "La
Boheme."
Wlren the government guaranteed Puc
cini's expenses for' a year at the Milan
Conservatory Puccini at first failed to
pass the entrance tests. In other words,
he lined up to his schoolboy reputation.
But this time failure grated on him, and
he went hard to work. At the next trial
he. was successful. Once in the conserva
tory he worked indefatigably, but his
music was wretchedly written on scraps
of paper, and for this reason his teach
ers were almost persuaded not to read
his graduating composition. Only their
fondness for Puccini at last led them to
sit down in an attempt to decipher the
notes. They had not been at the' task
many minutes before they discovered that
they had before them an unusual com
position. Puccini had called his work
"Capriccio Sinfoniea." When it was
played at one of the conservatory con
certs its composer was enthusiastically
hailed as a genius.
A subsequent concert performance
led to Puccini's introduction to Fon
tana, the librettist, then a bcginnei
like himself. Together they wrote a
Bliort opera for a competition. . They
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lost, but, nothing discouraged, they
set to work on another opera, which
became Puccini's first sustained effort,
"La Villi.' For the time and labor
Puccini put in on the score he re
ceived the munificent sum of $80, und
no sooner was it handed to him than
he was compelled to part with all ot
it except a few dollars to- his impor
tunate landlord. This same landlord,
when Puccini was studying on a Gov
ernment pension,- used to take the
registered letters containing the pen
sion Installments to Puccini, wait un
til the latter opened the mail, and then
hold out his hand for the board money
due.
Puccini has made so much out of his
operas that he now has three country
seats, a motorboat, bearing the name
"Madama Butterfly," an automobile or
two, and other luxuries of the rich. One
evening while he, his wife and son,
now. 0 years old, were out for a spin
in their auto, the chauffeur dro-e it
over a 30rfoot embankment, and Puc
cini's leg was fractured. Eight months
passed before the leg healed suffi
ciently to permit its owner to go to
Paris for special treatment. It was
while he was convalescing that he
wrote the greater part of "Madama
Butterfly."
This is probably the favorite Puc
cini opera in this' country. On a trip
to London the composer witnessed the
play of the same name, and though he
did not understand a .word of what
was said, he. nevertheless, then and
there decided to write an opera on the
same theme. He secured the neces
sary permission, obtained "local col
or" from the wife of the Japanese
Minister to Italy, and finished the task
after two years of restless work. When
the opera had its initial production at
La Scaia, In Milan, it was greeted, ac
cording to one account, with "whist
ling, shrilling on house keys, grunting,
roaring, bellowing and laughing." Puc
cini at once withdrew it. but not' his
faith in if. A few months later he had
it produced at Bruscia, where its sue-,
cess was pronounced. Since then It
has triumphed everywhere in Europe,
and become a prime favorite here.
Physically, Puccini is something of a
Slant. There is no more enthusiastic
sportsman among the living composers,
and he is an expert -with the gun. Coun
try life enthralls him; hence his trio of
country seats, where lie entertains his
friends on a lavish scale. His days are
pretty fully taken up by pleasure; most
of his composing he does at night. While
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at work he is the embodiment of rest
lessness. Maseagnl's Leap to fame.
What music-loving American has not
heard hummed snatches of the intermezzo
from "Cavalleria Rusticana?" Of Pletro
Mascagnl, its composer, it can truly be
said that up to the night the opera was
produced for the first time he was ob
scure and unknown. The next morning
he was famous.
There are stories of men started on the
road to fortune by reading "want ads"
and going after the opportunities named
therein. Mascagni's case is somewhat
similar. While he was still the director
of a band in a small Italian town,' and as
such receiving a salary, of 50 a month.,
he came across a copy of a Milan news
paper and chanced to read therein the
announcement that the paper would pay
G0O to the person submitting to it within
a certain time the best one-act opera.
All the while he had been leading" the
band Mascagni had been studying music
and composing. Thoughts of having $600
all his own fired him to enter the contest,
especially as he was then having a
harder time of it financially than ever
before; and he had been Bhy of money
from his youth up. He succeeded in
getting two friends to adapt a novel for
the libretto and in the eight months that
ensued he wrote "Cavalleria Rusticana."
His joy when he received word that he
had won the prize can easily be im
agined. Mascagni traveled down to Rome to be
present at the opera's production. The
public, the crlclts, everybody, went wild
over it. Mascagni was hailed as a genuls.
His managers rushed to congratulate
him.
"Thank God," he exclaimed fervently,
as they poured out their words of praise,
"now I shall be able to buy my wife a
new dress!" As soon as he could break
away to a telegraph office he sent her
this message: "Come, bring the chil
dren, that I may know I am the same
man."
Mascagni's love for his family has been
what might be called the hobby of his
life. When he composes he likes to have
them about him, and he not infrequently
interrupts . his work to have a gay time
with them. He has a habit of naming
each child and his wife for a character
In the opera under composition.
Mascagni's wife was a member, of an
opera company; he met her after he left
the Milan Conservatory and while he was
traveling about the country as conductor
for an opera company. It was at this
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time that he gained" his practical knowl
edge of the stage, which has stood him
in such good stead .since he became a
writer of operas. After giving up his.
place as conductor Mascagni settled down
as leader of the aforementioned band. He
had been married meanwhile.
The composer's father wan a baker in
leghorn, where Pietro was born. The
father wanted to make a lawyer of him.
but when he saw that the youngster's
head was full of music he let him have
his way, taking him out of the common
school for the purpose. When he wah- 16
Mascagni had progressed so far as to
take a prize at a Milan exposition for an
'Ave Maria." Then an uncle decided to
look after the boy's mufical education,
but before he could do much he dii-d and
Pietro returned home. About this time
he composed a cantata which attracted
the attention of a rich nobleman, who
placed Pietro in the Milan Conservatory.
Of course the youngster was duly grate
ful, but his restless temperament got in
its work and it was not long before.
Mascagnl was waving a baton here and
there over Italy for a traveling opera
compan.".
No,, the "Salome" Strauss is not the
waltz king Strauss, though a great many
persons who should have known better,
so greeted the former when he was In
this country. Strauss took the confusion
good-naturedly, once going so fer as to
let a newspaper reporter remain in bliss
ful ignorance all through an extended In
terview that he was a Stfauss other than
the waltz composer.
Strauss' father was a born player and
the son began his study of music and the
A B Cs simultaneously. At a time wiien
most boys are occupied wholly In wres
tling Richard Strauss was composing
creditably and when he was only 17 he
produced his first symphony. Since then
his whole life has been devoted to music.
One of his pupils, a singer injjrand opera,
became his wife. Mrs. Strauss accompa
nies her husband everywhere and fre
quently sings at social affairs to his
accompaniment. She is very charming
socially, and is much sought after in the
European musical centers, where she is
as famous in her way as her husband is
in his. -
The striking thing physically about
Strauss Is his head, marked by a high
and protruding rounded forehead and
light blue eyes set abnormally far apart
His nose has an African broadness, which
further accentuates him among a multi
tude, and his shock of curly hair is more
or less wonderful. Though of strong
physique he is slight .in btiiid and about
5 feet 7 or 8 in height. He is 43 years old.
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He probably is the most restless noted
composer of today. His nerves are on
edsje not only when he is composing, but
at all times else. For instance, when he
is in an automobile he i. forever chang
ing seats, fur no other reason than that It
is impossible for him to keep still while
tile machine spins more than a mile or
two. White directing lie shows his cx
tremo nervousness by working his whole
body. This habit lias led to his being
called eccentric as a director.
VnHko a great many "big" men, Strauss
has tint been a. bit "swelled up" over his
succeys He is as simple anil uimffected
as a child: fond of his home; a lover of
the outdoors, to which he escapes at
every opportunity: and an enthusiastic
and expert skat player. Like Puccini, lie
does most of his composing at nisht. and
once he has settled down to work he will
not brook interruption.
Charles Camllle Saint-Saens. the pre
mier of Jiving French composers. nd
who visited us last year, began taking
piano lepsons from his great aunt when
he was 3 years old. At . he was compos
ing little waltzes: at 7 he began to study
tiie piano under a professional teacher,
and a few weeks later he tackled the
o-g;in in addition. In IStfi, when he was
11. he made l-.ls first public appearance
in Paris as a child prodigy. This anil
subsequent performances on the piano
won him unstinted praise. Three years
later he took second prize for piano ,
playing at the Paris Conservatoire: the
first prize for organ playing was his in
1831. He was 16 and already full of
honors. Meanwhile ho had written nu
merous difficult things, a symphony
among them.
Saint-Saens was nearing 40 before lie
composed any operatic musnc. When he
produced his first opera. "The Young
Princess," lie had been organist at the
Church of St. Mary, in Paris, for 14 years.
He remained at this post until 1877. Dur
ing this time lie composed an enormous
quantity of church music, in accordance
with his contract all this music has been
left with the church and will not be pub
lished until after his death. It is now
inaccessible in the church library.
Saint-Saens' habitation In his conser
vatoire days was a little attic room al
most as barren of furniture as the Sahara
is of trees. One day. as the boy was
playing scales. Henri Appy. a violinist,
heard and was so charmed witii the
l.ielody of the notes that be climbed up
ueveral flights of stairs to get a sight
of the person at the piano. Asking and
learning the boy's name. Appy made him
blush by declaring that a great future
was ahead of him. Some time after this
Appy left France and never saw Salnt
Paens again, but when the latter had
become famous he proudly put this little
Incident into circulation.
Anierk-an Writers of Music.
With Edward Alexander Mae.Dowcll re
cently dead. Dudley Buck is, perhaps,
the leading living American composer,
and. us lias been said, he Is in retiretiient.
A legion of churchgoers of three genera
tions have sung his songs and listened to
his music. Tor a quarter of a century
he was organist in Holy Trinity Church.
Brooklyn, and director and organist of
the Apollo Club, a really great power In
the American musical world. Since 186!,
when he became organist for St. John's
Church. Chicago, he has been the best
known church organist in this country.
He hod not left St. John's when the
Chicago fire oeeurred, but was in Albany.
N. Y., ready to give a concert when he
received word from his wife that their
home was threatened. He nevertheless
went on with the concert and when it
was over lie received another telegram
telling him that his house had been
burned, togethev with many valuable
music manuscripts, and that his wife had
gone to a neighbor's for shelter.
Shortly after this Buck moved to Bos
ton, where he became organist in St.
Paul's Church. It was here that he met
Theodore Thomas, who persuaded him to
go to Xew Yonk as assistant conductor
of the Thomas concerts. This was in
1S76. That year Buck became an organist
in Brooklyn and from then on until his
retirement his work was solely in what
is now Greater New York.
After Buck. Reginald De Koven is. per
haps, the most widely-known American
composer; what theatergoer has not lis
tened time without end to DeKoven's
comic opera and orchestral music? The .
son of an Episcopalian clergyman, it is
interesting to note that DeKoven turned
to the stage for his career. As a member
of New York's "400" lie is as successful
as he is as a writer of light opera music.
Forty-six years of age. he is a Yankee by ,
birth, Connecticut giving both him and
Buck to the musical world. He got h's
college and conservatoire education in
England and Germany respectively.
Mai-Dowell, who died in January, like
Buck, took to music as a boy, and un
less watched would neglect his piano
practice and compose instead. Vnlike
Buck he made his musical reputation
abroad, where, in company with his
mother, he went to study. When he re
turned to this country, in 1888, after an
absence of 12 years, he found that his
fame had preceded him home. From
then on till the day of his death he was
called by the critical America's best com
poser. He was 46 when he died, and he
passed away with his mind- like that of a
child's, a sad occurrence due to over
work. (Copyright, 11)08, by Dexter Marshall.)