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The adagio of Beethoven's symphonies, certain scenes from Gluck's Alceste and Armide, an air from his Italian opera Telemacco, the Elysian fields of his Orfeo, will bring on rather bad attacks of this suffering; but these masterpieces bring with them also an antidote they make one's tears flow, and then the pain is eased. Who does not know his passion for Henrietta Smithson? It was a sad story.
He caught the trick of Gluck's grand style cleverly, but was hardly more than an imitator. He was not actually a pupil of Gluck, though his later works, written for the Paris stage, show the influence of the composer of 'Alceste' very strongly.
In the long run the soul, constantly strained by shameful and perpetual compromise, sinks lower, the spring of noble thoughts grows rusty, the hinges of familiarity wear easy, and turn of their own accord. Alceste becomes Philinte, natures lose their firmness, talents are perverted, faith in great deeds evaporates.
Like Berlioz in his 'Prise de Troie' he has plainly gone to Gluck for his inspiration, and in its sobriety and breadth of design no less than in its classic dignity of melody and orchestration, his music often recalls the style of the mighty composer of 'Alceste. Saint Saëns's latest opera, 'L'Ancêtre' , has not added materially to his reputation.
I will go further! Such partiality would be a piece of idiocy. A man, not a writer, for in a writer there are many men, an author, rather, should resemble Janus, see behind and before, become a spy, examine an idea in all its phases, delve alternately into the soul of Alceste and into that of Philaenete, know everything though he does not tell it, never be tiresome, and
Schweitzer is a good, worthy, upright man, dry and candid like our Haydn; only his mode of speaking is more polished. There are some very beautiful things in his new opera, and I don't doubt that it will prove a great success. "Alceste" is much liked, and yet it is not half so fine as "Rosamunde."
Shall we try Alceste and Célimène? No? Or a passage from the Two Orphans? Come, now, it will occupy your mind; I will play up to you as I never have played before; I feel art moving in my bones." "Hold your tongue," she cried, "or you will drive me mad! Will nothing solemnise you not even this hideous situation?" "Oh, hideous!" objected Léon. "Hideous is not the word. Why, where would you be?
Throw Celimene into the current of genuine passion I do not mean the brutality of Alceste I will wager that coquetry will be swept away by love. I had such faith in mine that I thought to be able to fix the moment when I should call myself victorious and sure of being obeyed.
Captain Maxwell found the people gentle, simple, and courteous; possessed of no money, no arms, without police, or punishments; whilst the land, he said, was an earthly paradise. I have in my possession an old print entitled "the voyage of the 'Alceste," written by the surgeon of that ship; and that part of it which refers to this visit is most pleasurable reading.
A fine morning, and we are going through the Gaspar Strait in about 2° 30' south, not very far from where Lord Amherst was wrecked in the 'Alceste. We anchored again last night, but in a calm. Yesterday morning Neptune made his appearance, and those of us who had not passed the Line had to pay the penalty.
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