268 Stories of Living Musicians. [|Sept. 



the performance had redeemed the ill-fortune of the previous evening — 

 that Rome was in ecstacies, and that the audience had adjourned en 

 ■masse to do honour al divino maestro. They bore him in triumph from 

 his house, amid the blaze of a thousand torches and the vociferations of 

 la bocca Romana. He was carried past balconies, crowded with fair 

 spectators and beaming with lights, to the theatre, where he was 

 crowned upon the stage. The deep silence of old Rome was fearfully 

 profaned, as the multitude subsequently accompanied him to an osteria, 

 where a magnificent entertainment had been provided ; and morning 

 dawned ere he and his admirers had terminated the orgies of his 

 ovation. 



Rossini is an inveterate musician ; his whole soul is wrapt in harmony : 

 he thinks, dreams, eats, and drinks music ; it is to him what ale was to 

 Boniface, or what Dr. Johnson was to Boswell. It was late at night, 

 in the summer of 1829, that, on his way to Italy, a foreigner arrived at 

 the inn Les Trois Couronnes, in the lovely town of Vevay, with his cara 

 sposa, wearied both by travel and the excessive heats of the day. It 

 was the season for the transmigration of the northern hordes to the south, 

 and Money (the master of the hotel) coidd but afford them his private 

 sitting-room, and a hastily prepared bed to repose on. Supper was or- 

 dered, but, ere it came, the eye of the guest had fallen on the piano of 

 Madame JI. which was, however, locked. In vain Money repre- 

 sented the lateness of the hour — the number of his guests, who had all 

 retired to rest. No excuse would serve, and the peremptory gentleman 

 attained his end. His fingers swept the keys, and the door being 

 opened to let in air, the sounds penetrated to every quarter of the hotel. 

 The performer had finished one of the airs of Gnillaume Tell, when his 

 attention was called to those around him. This second Orpheus was 

 encircled by a group composed of persons of various nations : men, 

 women, waiters, ostlers, all night-capped, bonnetted, silk-handker- 

 chiefed, or uncoifed, were listening to him, open-mouthed and mute with 

 delight — Swiss, Germans, English, French and Italians. " Dcr Tcu- 

 fel"—" Dill lai Foiiarde"—" Supcrbe ! Divin !"—" Who can he be ?"— 

 " Egli e Italiano Sicitramente !" were the cries of his enraptured audi- 

 tors, in their various tongues. The Ranz des Vaches followed — Henri 

 Qualre — Che bello cUnia e qiiesto, and " God save the King," were 

 successively played, and every listener felt prouder of his fatherland 

 as he hearkened to that piano magico. The police-book next morning 

 bore the name of " Rossini," and explained to all, the mystery of the 

 preceding night. 



The genius of Rossini is inexhaustible, but his learning slight. The 

 sweet and flowing melodies of Tancredi were produced by him at the 

 age of eighteen, and at once gave evidence of his taste ; while all his 

 subsequent compositions, numerous as they are, have the Redgauntlet 

 brand of oi-igin on their foreheads. Flattered, caressed, and feted as 

 he has been, it would be strange were the man not affected by the merits 

 of the author. Elevated rapidly to distinction and public notice, his 

 simple nature was scarcely calculated for the weight of honours with 

 which he has been laden ; and vanity and presumption took place of the 

 homelier and honester qualities of character. Yet he is said to be more 

 sensible to reprehension than to adulation, and if his share of the former 

 has been trifling in amount, in two instances it derived a factitious im- 

 portance from the sources it sprang from. " The Siege of Corinth" was 



