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Page 25
Buried deep in the heart of old Paris, in one of the narrow, busy
thoroughfares of the city, stands the ancient house in which the master
pianist, Harold Bauer, has made a home.
One who is unfamiliar with Paris would never imagine that behind those
rows of uninviting buildings lining the noisy, commercial street, there
lived people of refined and artistic tastes. All the entrances to the
buildings look very much alike--they seem to be mere slits in the walls.
I stopped before one of the openings, entered and crossed a paved
courtyard, climbed a winding stone stairway, rang at a plain wooden
doorway, and was ushered into the artist's abode. Once within, I hardly
dared to speak, lest what I saw might vanish away, as with the wave of a
fairy's wand. Was I not a moment before down in that dusty, squalid
street, and here I am now in a beautiful room whose appointments are
all of quiet elegance--costly but in exquisite taste, and where absolute
peace and quiet reign. The wide windows open upon a lovely green garden,
which adds the final touch of restful repose to the whole picture.
Mr. Bauer was giving a lesson in the music salon beyond, from which
issued, now and again, echoes of well-beloved themes from a Chopin
sonata. When the lesson was over he came out to me.
"Yes, this is one of the old houses, of the sort that are fast passing
away in Paris," he said, answering my remark; "there are comparatively
few of them left. This building is doubtless at least three hundred
years old. In this quarter of the city--in the rue de Bac, for
instance--you may find old, forbidding looking buildings, that within
are magnificent--perfect palaces; at the back of them, perhaps, will be
a splendid garden; but the whole thing is so hidden away that even the
very existence of such grandeur and beauty would never be suspected from
without."
He then led the way to the music-room, where we had an hour's talk.
[Illustration: HAROLD BAUER]
"I was thinking as I drove down here," I began, "what the trend of our
talk might be, for you have already spoken on so many subjects for
publication. It occurred to me to ask how you yourself secure a
beautiful tone on the piano, and how you teach others to make it?"
Mr. Bauer thought an instant.
"I am not sure that I do make it; in fact I do not believe in a single
beautiful tone on the piano. Tone on the piano can only be beautiful in
the right place--that is, in relation to other tones. You or I, or the
man in the street, who knows nothing about music, may each touch a piano
key, and that key will sound the same, whoever moves it, from the nature
of the instrument. A beautiful tone may result when two or more notes
are played successively, through their _difference of intensity_, which
gives variety. A straight, even tone is monotonous--a dead tone. Variety
is life. We see this fact exemplified even in the speaking voice; if one
speaks or reads in an even tone it is deadly monotonous.
VARIETY OF TONE
"Now the singer or the violinist can make a single tone on his
instrument beautiful through variety; for it is impossible for him to
make even _one_ tone which does not have shades of variation in it,
however slight they may be, which render it expressive. But you cannot
do this on the piano: you cannot color a single tone; but you can do
this with a succession of tones, through their difference, through their
relation to each other. On the other hand you may say any tone is
beautiful if in the right place, no matter how harsh it may be. The
singer's voice may break from emotion, or simulated emotion, in an
impassioned phrase. The exact note on which it breaks may not be a
beautiful one, it may even be very discordant, but we do not think of
that, for we are moved by the meaning back of the tones. So on the piano
there may be one note in a phrase which, if heard alone, would sound
harsh and unpleasant, but in its relation to other tones it sounds
beautiful, for it gives the right meaning and effect. Thus it is the
_relation of tones_ which results in a 'beautiful tone' on the piano.
"The frequent trouble is that piano teachers and players generally do
not understand their instrument. A singer understands his, a violinist,
flutist or drummer knows his, but not a pianist. As he only has keys to
put down and they are right under his hand, he does not bother himself
further. To obviate this difficulty, for those who come to me, I have
had this complete model of piano-key mechanism made. You see I can
touch the key in a variety of ways, and the results will be different
each time. It is necessary for the pianist to look into his instrument,
learn its construction, and know what happens inside when he touches a
key.
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