Life and letters of Sir Charles Hallé; being an autobiography (1819-1860)

urn:iso:std:iso:639:ed-3:eng

109-110

text excerpt

One pupil gave me a great surprise. She belonged to a family considered the most musical in the neighbourhood, and brought as a test of her powers a sonata for piano and violin. When I suggested that a piece for the piano alone would be more to the purpose, she said this was a piece of which all at home were very fond, and she hoped I would allow her to play it for me. In answer to my question if her father or a brother played the violin part, she said, ' Oh, no, I always play it alone.' Now the copy she had did not contain the violin part, and I began to feel some curiosity as to how she would deal with certain parts of the composition principally allotted to the absent instrument. The sonata was a simple one by Mozart, and the lady began to play it most correctly. Soon she came to a series of eight bars in which the absent violin had all the melody and the piano nothing but an old-fashioned accompaniment in broken chords. She played them attentively, and after four bars of this unmeaning twaddle, I heard her say to herself with deep emotion, ' Beautiful ! ' Shortly after she omitted about twenty bars, without apparent reason, and when I asked, ' Why don't you play this part ? ' she gave a never-to-be-forgotten answer, ' Oh, that is in a minor key, and papa does not like minor.' How musical must have been the family capable of expunging from every piece of music all the modulations into a minor key ! I did not try to convert the papa, but the daughter had to put up with pieces in minor and soon grew fond of them.

excerpt from 'Life and letters of Sir Charles Hallé; being an autobiography (1819-1860)' pp. 109-110 (296 words)

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1427454661522