VI.
THE “LUCA FAMILY,”
VOCALISTS AND INSTRUMENTALISTS.
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"God sent his singers upon earth With songs of sadness and of mirth, That they might touch the hearts of men, And bring them back to heaven again.... But the great Master said, 'I see No best in kind, but in degree: I gave a various gift to each,— To charm, to strengthen, and to teach.'" From Longfellow's The Singers. |
WHILE nearly all persons have to a greater or lesser degree musical sympathy and capability, or, to speak generally, capacity for the enjoyment or production, in one way or another, of harmony; and while, too, a goodly number there are who possess what may be called musical aptitude,—it is yet only once in a great while that we find those who are thus endowed in a degree which may be considered extraordinary. For the Muses, however often and earnestly invoked, are never lavish in the bestowment of their favors. This is especially true as applied to the goddess who presides over the art of music. Only here and there is some one selected to whom is given great musical inspiration; into whose keeping is placed the divine harp, which, when swept by his hands, the people shall hear entranced.
1. ALEXANDER C. LUCA, SEN.
2. CLEVELAND O. LUCA.
3. ALEXANDER C. LUCA, JUN.
4. JOHN W. LUCA.
Occasionally we may observe in families one member who appears particularly favored by nature in the possession of rich and varied musical talents, the same being improved by careful cultivation. Such a one readily attracts attention: his native endowments and his extensive acquirements often form the theme of conversation, of warmest praise; while everywhere he is a most welcome guest. But, if in a family a single instance of this kind produces the effects just described, the latter can but be greatly enhanced when is found a family composed of a number of persons in no wise small, each one of which is a highly-talented and finely-educated musician. It is, however,—for the reasons already mentioned,—so rare a thing to see the musical faculty thus possessed, and its advantages thus fully embraced, by an entire household of nearest relatives, as to render the circumstance a cause of much surprise; while a family so greatly skilled in the most beautiful, the most charming, of all arts, easily attains to high distinction, its members becoming objects of such general private and public interest as to render their careers quite worthy of the best efforts of those who would make the same a matter of history.