to see an audience cold before a beautiful work. It is
far better to keep to one's self treasures which will be unappreciated.

One thing will always stand in the way of the vogue of Sebastian Bach's
vocal works--the difficulty of translation. When they are rendered into
French, they lose all their charm and oftentimes become ridiculous.

* * * * *

One of the most amazing characteristics of Madame Viardot's talent was
her astonishing facility in assimilating all styles of music. She was
trained in the old Italian music and she revealed its beauties as no one
else has ever done. As for myself, I saw only its faults. Then she sang
Schumann and Gluck and even Glinka whom she sang in Russian. Nothing was
foreign to her; she was at home everywhere.

She was a great friend of Chopin and she remembered his playing almost
exactly and could give the most valuable directions about the way he
interpreted his works. I learned from her that the great pianist's
(great musician's, rather) execution was much simpler than has been
generally supposed. It was as far removed from any manifestation of bad
taste as it was from cold correctness. She told me the secret of the
true _tempo rubato_ without which Chopin's music is disfigured. It in no
way resembles the dislocations by which it is so often caricatured.

I have spoken of her great talent as a pianist. We saw this one evening
at a concert given by Madame Schumann. After Madame Viardot had sung
some of Schumann's _lieder_ with the great pianist playing the
accompaniments, the two great artists played the illustrious author's
duet for two pianos, which fairly bristles with difficulties, _with
equal virtuosity_.

When Madame Viardot's voice began to break, she was advised to devote
herself to the piano. If she had, she would have found a new career and
a second reputation. But she did not want to make the change, and for
several years she presented the sorry spectacle of genius contending
with adversity. Her voice was broken, stubborn, uneven, and
intermittent. An entire generation knew her only in a guise unworthy of
her.

Her immoderate love of music was the cause of the early modification of
her voice. She wanted to sing everything she liked and she sang
Valentine in _Les Huguenots_, Donna Anna in _Don Juan_, besides other
roles she should never have undertaken if she wanted to preserve her
voice. She came to realize this at the end of her life