The festivities at Cambridge began on June 12th (new style) with a concert, the programme of which included a work by each of the five recipients of the musical degree, and one by Dr. Stanford,[190] the director of the society.
The programme was as follows: (1) Fragment from Odysseus for soli, chorus, and orchestra (Max Bruch); (2) Fantasia for pianoforte and orchestra, Africa, the composer at the piano (Saint-Saëns); (3) Prologue from Mefistofele for solo, chorus, and orchestra (Boïto); (4) Symphonic poem, Francesco, da Rimini (op. 32), (Tchaikovsky); (5) Peer Gynt Suite (op. 46) (Grieg); (6) Ode, The East to the West, for chorus and orchestra (op. 52) (Stanford).
The various numbers were conducted by the respective composers, with the exception of Grieg’s Suite and the Fantasia Africa, which were given under the bâton of Dr. Stanford.
The singers were Mr. and Mrs. Henschel, Mme. Marie Brema, and Plunket Green.
In his Portraits et Souvenirs Saint-Saëns has given the following description of this concert, and I cannot refrain from interrupting my narrative in order to quote what the French composer says of my brother’s Francesca.
“Piquant charms and dazzling fireworks abound in Tchaikovsky’s Francesca da Rimini, which bristles with difficulties, and shrinks from no violence of effect. The gentlest and kindest of men has let loose a whirlwind in this work, and shows as little pity for his interpreters and hearers as Satan for sinners. But the composer’s talent and astounding technique are so great that the critic can only feel pleasure in the work. A long melodic phrase, the love-song of Paola and Francesca, soars above this tempest, this bufera infernale, which attracted Liszt before Tchaikovsky, and engendered his Dante Symphony. Liszt’s Francesca is more touching and more Italian in character than that of the great Slavonic composer; the whole work is so typical that we seem to see the profile of Dante projected in it. Tchaikovsky’s art is more subtle, the outlines clearer, the material more attractive; from a purely musical point of view the work is better. Liszt’s version is perhaps more to the taste of the poet or painter. On the whole, they can fitly stand side by side; either of them is worthy of Dante, and as regards noise, both leave nothing to be desired.”[191]
The concert was followed by a banquet in the hall of King’s College, at which a hundred guests sat down to table. As it was purely a musical festivity, only those who were to receive the honorary musical degree were invited to this banquet. The place of honour, next to the chairman, was given to Saint-Saëns, the eldest of the guests. Never had Tchaikovsky greater reason to congratulate himself upon his comparative youth, for, together with the honour, the difficult task of replying to a toast on behalf of his colleagues fell to the lot of Saint-Saëns.