In the early winter of 1903 my mother was taken seriously ill, and Manuel Garcia on hearing of this at once wrote a sympathetic letter.
On January 10, 1904, the end came, and with the announcement in the papers, one of the first tokens of sympathy was a beautiful wreath from the maestro, followed by a telegram expressing his desire to be present at the closing scene in the career of his old pupil. Despite the distance, for the service was held at Golder's Hill, the maestro drove over, stayed for the entire service, and remained behind afterwards to offer a few simple but never-to-be-forgotten words of sympathy.
Two months after this he entered his 100th year. To celebrate the occasion, an address of congratulation was presented to him, signed by 127 professors of the Royal College and Royal Academy of Music.
At the end of the year it was suggested by the editor of 'The Strand Magazine' that I should prepare an article on "Manuel Garcia and his Friends" for publication in the month of his centenary. On my communicating with the maestro, he wrote at once offering to render assistance, and asked me to bring the MS. up when ready. Accordingly, in the January, two months before his 100th birthday, I spent the afternoon with him, and was requested to read aloud the proofs of the article.
It was astonishing how memory enabled him to correct immediately any mistake. He would suddenly stop and say, "No, no; it was in 1827, not 1825." Again, in the case of a story in which some details were wrong, he said, "No, that is not right. I will tell it you again"; with which words he recounted in French the tale of how his sister, Malibran, came to make her début at Paris. And so the afternoon passed, until finally, after signing a photo, he insisted on coming to the door to see me out. This experience served to prepare me for the astonishing ease and energy with which, a few weeks later, he went through the Centenary festivities.
CHAPTER XX.
THE CENTENARY HONOURS.
(1905.)
UPON St Patrick's Day, 1905, Manuel Garcia entered on the "second century of his immortality," as Professor Fränkel felicitously put it.
That 17th of March has become red-lettered in the annals of music by reason of its international character, and the fact that the two professions of music and medicine joined hands with the royalty of three countries, England, Spain, and Germany, in paying honour to whom honour was due.