Famous composers and their works, Vol. 1

by Unknown

HE full name of this illustrious master is Luigi Carlo Zanobi Salvatore Maria Cherubini. He was born in Florence, on the 14th of September, 1760. From his earliest youth it was intended that he should follow the musical profession, and the first instruction he received was imparted to him by his father, Bartolomeo, who filled the position of musical accompanist at the Teatra della Pergola. Under his direction, the boy soon became proficient in playing from figured bass, and with the help of Bartolomeo Felici, the best teacher of counterpoint in all Tuscany at that time, he acquired a knowledge of the principles of composition. He received lessons in singing and in organ and piano playing; in short, all his musical gifts were developed with such surprising rapidity that at the age of thirteen he composed his first mass, which was performed in church and very favorably received. Cantatas, short dramatic compositions, two more masses, and an oratorio followed in swift succession. It now became Cherubini's ardent wish to visit the important musical centres in Italy, and to enjoy the instruction of the most famous masters. His father's very limited resources being insufficient for the gratification of this desire, a stipend was granted him for the purpose by the Grand Duke Leopold. In 1778, Cherubini betook himself to Giuseppi Sarti, in Bologna, and, on the master's removal to Milan, a year afterward, followed him to that city. Sarti's methods of teaching were those of the old school; that is to say, he regarded the contrapuntal style of composition of the sixteenth century as the foundation of all true art, and exacted complete mastery of its principles from all his pupils. Yet it argued no inconsistency on Sarti's part that he also devoted himself zealously to dramatic composition, a field in which his success was not less marked than in that of church music. To these two forms of art the Italians confined themselves in Sarti's time; for their instrumental music, which served as a model for all Europe until the first half of the eighteenth century, was in a state of almost complete decay. It was chiefly owing to the teaching of Sarti, that Cherubini became the greatest contrapuntist of his time, and excelled even Mozart in purity and severity of style. His famous Credo for eight voices, a cappella, one of the most marvellous artistic achievements of any age, was worked out in part under Sarti's eye. In connection with this style of composition, Cherubini continued to labor diligently in the line of operatic music. Sarti adopted the commendable practice of inserting in his own operas certain airs composed by his most talented pupils, thus affording his young disciples an opportunity of becoming practically acquainted with operatic effects, yet shielding them from the discouraging severity of public criticism. After completing his preparatory studies in this way, Cherubini ventured for the first time to step forward with an entire opera of his own composition. It was called "Quinto Fabio," and was brought out in Alexandria, through Sarti's influence. "Armida" and "Messenzio," performed in Florence, also "Adriano in Siria," produced at Livorno, followed in 1782, but these works seem to have made no permanent impression upon the public. Nevertheless Cherubini's earnest, profound, and eminently artistic nature was revealed in them to an extent that astonished his countrymen, who were accustomed to music of a lighter and more pleasing character, such as the operatic compositions of the Neapolitan and Venetian school. A certain degree of admiration was accorded him, and he was occasionally honored with flattering appellations, as for example "Il Cherubino" (the cherub); but none the less the fact remains that neither the earlier nor the later works of the musician found true appreciation in his native land.

Sarti, meantime, strove without ceasing to secure the advancement of his pupil, and procured for him in 1784 the position of composer at the Haymarket Theatre in London. After Handel's death, Italian music had quickly regained its old place in the popular esteem in England. During the three years of Cherubini's residence in London, he wrote the operas "La Finta Principessa" and "Giulio Sabino," the first of which was received with much applause, while the latter proved a complete failure. Wounded by this want of success, Cherubini repaired to Paris in 1786, and, after one more visit to London in 1787, he took up his permanent residence in the French metropolis. He had found there a true friend in Viotti, the famous violin virtuoso, and with his assistance gained admission to the upper circles of society, even receiving the honor of an introduction to Queen Marie Antoinette. An event of great importance in deciding the direction of his artistic faculties was his attendance at the so-called Concert de la Loge Olympique, where he heard for the first time a symphony of Haydn's, probably one of a series of six, composed in 1786, by especial command of the society. A new world was suddenly opened to Cherubini by this magnificently rendered work. From this hour he began to feel the influence of German instrumental music, and Haydn, in particular, remained to the end of his life the object of his highest veneration.

While on the way from Italy to England the musician promised, when he had discharged his obligations in London, to compose an opera for the Royal Theatre in Turin. In 1788 he fulfilled his promise by the production of "Iphigenia in Aulis." This opera was given during the carnival season in Turin, where it was enthusiastically received, and was also performed in other Italian theatres. It was the last work which he wrote for the stage of his fatherland. The impressions produced upon him by the French opera, the works of Gluck, and Haydn's orchestral music had filled his mind with new ideals. Before his visit to Turin, he had already begun to compose the music of "Démophon," an operatic poem by Marmontel, and he now proceeded with the work. This, his first French opera, was performed in the Academie royale de musique on the 2d of September, 1788, but proved only a partial success,—a fact which was due partly to the character of the piece, partly to unfavorable external influences. Before Cherubini was commissioned to undertake the composition for the poem, it had been intrusted to Johann Christoph Vogel of Nuremberg, an imitator of Gluck, but he advanced so slowly with his task that Marmontel became impatient. Vogel had resided in Paris since 1776 and had won many friends for himself through his opera "La Toison d'Or," which appeared in the year 1786. On the 26th of June, 1788, he died, while still in the prime of life, and, as the completed score of "Démophon" was found among his papers, the wish was expressed by many that his composition should be performed before Cherubini's. This, however, did not happen, and a feeling of dissatisfaction existed in consequence. The overture, which was played in February, 1789, at a concert of the Loge Olympique, was received with unusual favor, and gave rise to disparaging comments upon Cherubini's work. But Vogel's opera, taken as a whole, could lay as little claim to permanent success as that of his rival, though it was more frequently put upon the stage.

In this same year of 1789, Cherubini first found definite employment in Paris. Here Léonard, the coiffeur of the queen, had obtained permission, through the good offices of her Majesty, to organize an Italian opera. Viotti collected in Italy a number of superior singers, who at first gave their performances in the Tuileries and afterwards in a newly erected theatre in the Rue Feydeau. Cherubini was invited to become musical director of the enterprise, and entered upon the work with youthful ardor. His extraordinary talents, his exactness and inexorable firmness, accomplished the desired result, that of securing performances uniformly of the highest order. The works presented to a delighted public were those of the most famous Italian composers of the day, Guglielmi, Gazzaniga, Paisiello, Cimarosa, and others. Cherubini himself composed a considerable number of detached arias, which were inserted in the operas of the before-mentioned masters, and served to heighten their charm. For the concerts of the Loge Olympique, in which the queen showed the liveliest interest, he wrote in the course of the first year the cantatas "Amphion" and "Circe." He also began an opera, "Marguerite d'Anjou," which was to be brought out at the Tuileries theatre, but its completion was hindered by the progress of the French Revolution, the terrors of which, in 1792, entirely put an end to Italian opera in Paris. Viotti fled to England, and his singers were dispersed. Cherubini sought to escape the incalculable dangers to which every one who had been connected with the royal court was then exposed, by living in the greatest seclusion, and associating only with a very small circle of intimate friends. In addition to his musical studies, he began to occupy himself with the natural sciences, botany in particular possessing great attractions for him. Yet he could not wholly avoid coming in contact with the forces at work in the Revolution, and was obliged to enter the National Guard, in whose service he guarded the prisons and escorted the condemned to the scaffold. On one occasion his own life stood in danger. A troop of sansculottes marched roaring through the streets, looking for musicians to accompany their songs, and among others, they pounced upon Cherubini, who refused to assist them. The crowd assumed a threatening attitude, whereupon a friend pressed a violin into his hand and took position with him at the head of the procession. In his youth Cherubini had learned a little violin playing for his own pleasure, and this slight knowledge now proved his salvation. He was obliged to wander about all day with the rioters, and when they halted in a desolate spot, the musicians took their places upon some barrels and played down to their vile audience. It was amid all the terrors and excitement of this wild period that Cherubini composed his opera "Lodoiska," the work which decided his position in the artistic world. Within a short time a company of French singers had been performing in alternation with an Italian troupe at the Théâtre Feydeau, and here the opera was produced for the first time. Its success was so pronounced that during the following year no less than two hundred repetitions of the work were demanded in Paris, and its fame soon spread in every direction. In this composition the new ideal which Cherubini had cherished for so many years was happily realized.

LUIGI CHERUBINI

Reproduction of a portrait by Quenedey, Paris, 1809.

A second opera, "Koukourgi," had been nearly completed in the year 1793. But the overthrow of the monarchy on the 10th of August, 1792, and the confused condition of public affairs at this juncture, took away all prospect of its immediate production. In the mean time the composer had left Paris and was residing in Normandy with a family of his acquaintance. When he returned, in 1794, he brought with him the completed score of the opera "Elisa." It was brought out on the 13th of December, 1794, in the Théâtre Feydeau, but was less successful than "Lodoiska." During the next few years there was a considerable falling off in Cherubini's activity as a composer, owing to his appointment as teacher of counterpoint in the Conservatoire de Musique, just established, in which he became also one of the inspectors of the institution. Exact and conscientious by nature even to the point of pedantry, the musician devoted himself with unflagging energy to the duties of his office, yet occasionally returned with fresh ardor to operatic composition. In 1737 appeared "Medée," his most powerful dramatic work; in 1800, "Les Deux Journées" (Water-Carrier), the most admired and effective of all. Between the two stand the lesser operas, "L'Hôtellerie Portugaise" (1798) and "La Punition" (1799). A number of short vocal compositions belonging to this same period show that Cherubini was obliged to contribute his quota to the French Revolution. Among them are "Hymne à la Fraternité" (22d September, 1793), "Hymne du Panthéon," "Chant pour le dix Août," the ode on the 18th Fructidor and others. The most important and almost the last work of this kind was the beautiful music composed in memoriam of the noble Gen. Hoche, which was performed in public on the 1st of October, 1797.

There was an element of harshness and defiance in Cherubini's character, which rendered it impossible for him to bend to the will of others, and he never modified his severe criticisms of art and artists in conversing with the loftiest personages. In the presence of Napoleon, whether as First Consul or as the all-powerful Emperor of France, it was impossible for him to dissimulate, and he excited the displeasure of the potentate by speaking disparagingly of Zingarelli, one of his favorite composers. Paisiello, on the other hand, who was equally a favorite of Napoleon, Cherubini was willing to tolerate. Yet on one occasion, when the Emperor, who had no comprehension of the earnestness and refinement of Cherubini's style, was, as usual, extolling the two much-admired artists, and characterized our musician's orchestral accompaniments as overladen with ornament, he is said to have received the reply, "You love the music which does not prevent you from thinking of the affairs of state." This remark was probably never forgiven; certain it is that during Napoleon's reign, Cherubini never attained the eminence which he so richly deserved, but for twenty years was obliged to content himself with his position at the Conservatory which afforded him barely sufficient means for his own support and that of his family. Paisiello, meantime, obtained a remunerative appointment as director of a musical organization established by Napoleon, in 1802. When the jealousy of the Paris musicians caused him to forsake his post in disgust, the Emperor wished that Zingarelli should be his successor. The latter declining, the choice now fell upon Méhul, who, out of regard for Cherubini, also refused to accept. The place, however, was eventually given to Lesueur. This proved a trying experience to Cherubini, and had an injurious effect upon his mental and physical condition. The failure of his musically charming but dramatically uninteresting opera "Anacréon" could only increase the bitterness of his disappointment. It was therefore with pleasure that he accepted an invitation to Vienna, for the sake of producing there some of his earlier operas, and of composing a new one exclusively for the Austrian capital. He reached the city in July, and the warmth of his reception, the love and admiration shown him by Haydn and Beethoven, both of whom he held in the highest veneration, made up to him for much that he had previously suffered. Before the production of his new opera, "Faniska," on the 25th of February, 1806, he listened to a performance of "Fidelio." Cherubini admired the greatness of Beethoven, but was less powerfully attracted by him than by Haydn, a fact for which the former's peculiar personality might very well account. With respect to the opera he criticised in it, as was very natural for an Italian, the lack of vocal style, and also found fault with the great C major overture on account of its abrupt modulations. Beethoven, on his part, had great respect for Cherubini as an artist, as is not only attested by many of his utterances, but distinctly seen in his compositions. If "Fidelio" shows a resemblance to any other operas whatever, it is to those of Cherubini, and this master's influence is also perceptible here and there in Beethoven's Fourth Symphony in B flat major, written in 1806.