Nocturne of Chopin, and
Beethoven's trio very nicely. But then that was all drilled into her: we
could tell that well enough by hearing it,--Stock and I.

DOMINIE. Did it sound unnatural to you,--mannered? and did you think it
wooden, dry, dull?

MR. BUFFALO. Not exactly that; but the trouble was it sounded _studied_.
The public applauded, it is true; but they don't know any thing. Stock
and I thought--

DOMINIE. Do you not think that the taste for a beautiful interpretation
may be early awakened, without using severity with the pupil? and that
to excite the feeling for music, to a certain degree, even in early
years, is in fact essential? The neglect of this very thing is the
reason that we are obliged to listen to so many players, who really have
mechanically practised themselves to death, and have reduced musical art
to mere machinery,--to an idle trick of the fingers.

MR. BUFFALO. That's all nonsense. I say teach them the scales, to run up
and down the gamut! Gradus ad Parnassum's the thing! Classical,
classical! Yesterday you made your daughter play that Trill-Etude by
Carl Meyer. Altogether too fine-sounding! It tickles the ear, to be
sure, especially when it is played in such a studied manner. _We_ stick
to Clementi and Cramer, and to Hummel's piano-school,--the good old
school. You have made a great mistake with your eldest daughter.

DOMINIE. The world does not seem to agree with you.

MADAME, of the Tz. family (_has listened and lost a trick by it, steps
up quickly, and says maliciously_). You must agree that she would have
played better, if you had left her for ten years with Cramer and
Clementi. We don't like this tendency to Schumann and Chopin. But what
folly to talk! One must be careful what one says to the father of such a
child! It is quite a different thing with us. Mr. Buffalo is bound to
our Stock by no bond of affection. He follows out his aim without any
hesitation or vanity, and looks neither to the right nor to the left,
but straightforward.

DOMINIE. I beg your pardon, madam: you may be right,--from your point of
view. We must be a little indulgent with sensitive people. But will not
your son play to us?

(_Stock plays two Etudes of Clementi, three of Cramer, and four
from the Gradus, but did not even grow warm over them. The horse
his father gave him has made him quite strong._)

* * * * *

I may be asked, "But how did Stock play?" How?