e la faccia del sol nascere ombrata. purgatorio, xxx.
he had to surrender. in spite of an obstinate and heroic resistance, blows triumphed over his ill-will. every morning for three hours, and for three hours every evening, jean-christophe was set before the instrument of torture. all on edge with attention and weariness, with large tears rolling down his cheeks and nose, he moved his little red hands over the black and white keys—his hands were often stiff with cold—under the threatening ruler, which descended at every false note, and the harangues of his master, which were more odious to him than the blows. he thought that he hated music. and yet he applied himself to it with a zest which fear of melchior did not altogether explain. certain words of his grandfather had made an impression on him. the old man, seeing his grandson weeping, had told him, with that gravity which he always maintained for the boy, that it was worth while suffering a little for the most beautiful and noble art given to men for their consolation and glory. and jean-christophe, who was grateful to his grandfather for talking to him like a man, had been secretly touched by these simple words, which sorted well with his childish stoicism and growing pride. but, more than by argument, he was bound and enslaved by the memory of certain musical emotions, bound and enslaved to the detested art, against which he tried in vain to rebel.
there was in the town, as usual in germany, a theater, where opera, opéra-comique, operetta, drama, comedy, and vaudeville are presented—every sort of play of every style and fashion. there were performances three times a week from six to nine in the evening. old jean michel never missed one, and was equally interested in everything. once he took his grandson with him. several days beforehand he told him at length what the piece was about. jean-christophe did not understand it, but he did gather that there would be terrible things in it, and while he was consumed with the desire to see them he was much afraid, though he dared not confess it. he knew that there was to be a storm, and he was fearful of being struck by lightning. he knew that there was to be a battle, and he was not at all sure that he would not be killed. on the night before, in bed, he went through real agony, and on the day of the performance he almost wished that his grandfather might be prevented from coming for him. but when the hour was near, and his grandfather did not come, he began to worry, and every other minute looked out of the window. at last the old man appeared, and they set out together. his heart leaped in his bosom; his tongue was dry, and he could not speak.
they arrived at the mysterious building which was so often talked about at home. at the door jean michel met some acquaintances, and the boy, who was holding his hand tight because he was afraid of being lost, could not understand how they could talk and laugh quietly at such a moment.
jean michel took his usual place in the first row behind the orchestra. he leaned on the balustrade, and began a long conversation with the contra-bass. he was at home there; there he was listened to because of his authority as a musician, and he made the most of it; it might almost be said that he abused it. jean-christophe could hear nothing. he was overwhelmed by his expectation of the play, by the appearance of the theater, which seemed magnificent to him, by the splendor of the audience, who frightened him terribly. he dared not turn his head, for he thought that all eyes were fixed on him. he hugged his little cap between his knees, and he stared at the magic curtain with round eyes.
at last three blows were struck. his grandfather blew his nose, and drew the libretto from his pocket. he always followed it scrupulously, so much so that sometimes he neglected what was happening on the stage. the orchestra began to play. with the opening chords jean-christophe felt more at ease. he was at home in this world of sound, and from that moment, however extravagant the play might be, it seemed natural to him.
the curtain was raised, to reveal pasteboard trees and creatures who were not much more real. the boy looked at it all, gaping with admiration, but he was not surprised. the piece set in a fantastic east, of which he could have had no idea. the poem was a web of ineptitudes, in which no human quality was perceptible. jean-christophe hardly grasped it at all; he made extraordinary mistakes, took one character for another, and pulled at his grandfather's sleeve to ask him absurd questions, which showed that he had understood nothing. he was not bored: passionately interested, on the contrary. bound the idiotic libretto he built a romance of his own invention, which had no sort of relation to the one that was represented on the stage. every moment some incident upset his romance, and he had to repair it, but that did not worry him. he had made his choice of the people who moved upon the stage, making all sorts of different sounds, and breathlessly he followed the fate of those upon whom he had fastened his sympathy. he was especially concerned with a fair lady, of uncertain age, who had long, brilliantly fair hair, eyes of an unnatural size, and bare feet. the monstrous improbabilities of the setting did not shock him. his keen, childish eyes did not perceive the grotesque ugliness of the actors, large and fleshy, and the deformed chorus of all sizes in two lines, nor the pointlessness of their gestures, nor their faces bloated by their shrieks, nor the full wigs, nor the high heels of the tenor, nor the make-up of his lady-love, whose face was streaked with variegated penciling. he was in the condition of a lover, whose passion blinds him to the actual aspect of the beloved object. the marvelous power of illusion, natural to children, stopped all unpleasant sensations on the way, and transformed them.
the music especially worked wonders. it bathed the whole scene in a misty atmosphere, in which everything became beautiful, noble, and desirable. it bred in the soul a desperate need of love, and at the same time showed phantoms of love on all sides, to fill the void that itself had created. little jean-christophe was overwhelmed by his emotion. there were words, gestures, musical phrases which disturbed him; he dared not then raise his eyes; he knew not whether it were well or ill; he blushed and grew pale by turns; sometimes there came drops of sweat upon his brow, and he was fearful lest all the people there should see his distress. when the catastrophe came about which inevitably breaks upon lovers in the fourth act of an opera so as to provide the tenor and the prima donna with an opportunity for showing off their shrillest screams, the child thought he must choke; his throat hurt him as though he had caught cold; he clutched at his neck with his hands, and could not swallow his saliva; tears welled up in him; his hands and feet were frozen. fortunately, his grandfather was not much less moved. he enjoyed the theater with a childish simplicity. during the dramatic passages he coughed carelessly to hide his distress, but jean-christophe saw it, and it delighted him. it was horribly hot; jean-christophe was dropping with sleep, and he was very uncomfortable. but he thought only: "is there much longer? it cannot be finished!" then suddenly it was finished, without his knowing why. the curtain fell; the audience rose; the enchantment was broken.
they went home through the night, the two children—the old man and the little boy. what a fine night! what a serene moonlight! they said nothing; they were turning over their memories. at last the old man said:
"did you like it, boy?"
jean-christophe could not reply; he was still fearful from emotion, and he would not speak, so as not to break the spell; he had to make an effort to whisper, with a sigh:
"oh yes."
the old man smiled. after a time he went on:
"it's a fine thing—a musician's trade! to create things like that, such marvelous spectacles—is there anything more glorious? it is to be god on earth!"
the boy's mind leaped to that. what! a man had made all that! that had not occurred to him. it had seemed that it must have made itself, must be the work of nature. a man, a musician, such as he would be some day! oh, to be that for one day, only one day! and then afterwards … afterwards, whatever you like! die, if necessary! he asked:
"what man made that, grandfather?"
the old man told him of françois marie hassler, a young german artist who lived at berlin. he had known him once. jean-christophe listened, all ears. suddenly he said:
"and you, grandfather?"
the old man trembled.
"what?" he asked.
"did you do things like that—you too?"
"certainly," said the old man a little crossly.
he was silent, and after they had walked a little he sighed heavily. it was one of the sorrows of his life. he had always longed to write for the theater, and inspiration had always betrayed him. he had in his desk one or two acts written, but he had so little illusion as to their worth that he had never dared to submit them to an outside judgment.
they said no more until they reached home. neither slept. the old man was troubled. he took his bible for consolation. in bed jean-christophe turned over and over the events of the evening; he recollected the smallest details, and the girl with the bare feet reappeared before him. as he dozed off a musical phrase rang in his ears as distinctly as if the orchestra were there. all his body leaped; he sat up on his pillow, his head buzzing with music, and he thought: "some day i also shall write. oh, can i ever do it?"
from that moment he had only one desire, to go to the theater again, and he set himself to work more keenly, because they made a visit to the theater his reward. he thought of nothing but that; half the week he thought of the last performance, and the other half he thought of the next. he was fearful of being ill on a theater day, and this fear made him often, find in himself the symptoms of three or four illnesses. when the day came he did not eat; he fidgeted like a soul in agony; he looked at the clock fifty times, and thought that the evening would never come; finally, unable to contain himself, he would go out an hour before the office opened, for fear of not being able to procure a seat, and, as he was the first in the empty theater, he used to grow uneasy. his grandfather had told him that once or twice the audience had not been large enough, and so the players had preferred not to perform, and to give back the money. he watched the arrivals and counted them, thinking: "twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five…. oh, it is not enough … there will never be enough!" 'and when he saw some important person enter the circle or the stalls, his heart was lighter, and he said to himself: "they will never dare to send him away. surely they will play for him." but he was not convinced; he would not be reassured until the musicians took their places. and even then he would be afraid that the curtain would rise, and they would announce, as they had done one evening, a change of programme. with lynx eyes he watched the stand of the contra-bass to see if the title written on his music was that of the piece announced. and when he had seen it there, two minutes later he would look again to make quite sure that he had not been wrong. the conductor was not there. he must be ill. there was a stirring behind the curtain, and a sound of voices and hurried footsteps. was there an accident, some untoward misfortune? silence again. the conductor was at his post. everything seemed ready at last…. they did not begin! what was happening? he boiled over with impatience. then the bell rang. his heart thumped away. the orchestra began the overture, and for a few hours jean-christophe would swim in happiness, troubled only by the idea that it must soon come to an end.
some time after that a musical event brought even more excitement into jean-christophe's thoughts. françois marie hassler, the author of the first opera which had so bowled him over, was to visit the town. he was to conduct a concert consisting of his compositions. the town was excited. the young musician was the subject of violent discussion in germany, and for a fortnight he was the only topic of conversation. it was a different matter when he arrived. the friends of melchior and old jean michel continually came for news, and they went away with the most extravagant notions of the musician's habits and eccentricities. the child followed these narratives with eager attention. the idea that the great man was there in the town, breathing the same air as himself, treading the same stones, threw him into a state of dumb exaltation. he lived only in the hope of seeing him.
hassler was staying at the palace as the guest of the grand duke. he hardly went out, except to the theater for rehearsals, to which jean-christophe was not admitted, and as he was very lazy, he went to and fro in the prince's carriage. therefore, jean-christophe did not have many opportunities of seeing him, and he only succeeded once in catching sight of him as he drove in the carriage. he saw his fur coat, and wasted hours in waiting in the street, thrusting and jostling his way to right and left, and before and behind, to win and keep his place in front of the loungers. he consoled himself with spending half his days watching the windows of the palace which had been pointed out as those of the master. most often he only saw the shutters, for hassler got up late, and the windows were closed almost all morning. this habit had made well-informed persons say that hassler could not bear the light of day, and lived in eternal night.
at length jean-christophe was able to approach his hero. it was the day of the concert. all the town was there. the grand duke and his court occupied the great royal box, surmounted with a crown supported by two chubby cherubim. the theater was in gala array. the stage was decorated with branches of oak and flowering laurel. all the musicians of any account made it a point of honor to take their places in the orchestra. melchior was at his post, and jean michel was conducting the chorus.
when hassler appeared there was loud applause from every part of the house, and the ladies rose to see him better. jean-christophe devoured him with his eyes. hassler had a young, sensitive face, though it was already rather puffy and tired-looking; his temples were bald, and his hair was thin on the crown of his head; for the rest, fair, curly hair. his blue eyes looked vague. he had a little fair mustache and an expressive mouth, which was rarely still, but twitched with a thousand imperceptible movements. he was tall, and held himself badly—not from awkwardness, but from weariness or boredom. he conducted capriciously and lithely, with his whole awkward body swaying, like his music, with gestures, now caressing, now sharp and jerky. it was easy to see that he was very nervous, and his music was the exact reflection of himself. the quivering and jerky life of it broke through the usual apathy of the orchestra. jean-christophe breathed heavily; in spite of his fear of drawing attention to himself, he could not stand still in his place; he fidgeted, got up, and the music gave him such violent and unexpected shocks that he had to move his head, arms, and legs, to the great discomfort of his neighbors, who warded off his kicks as best they could. the whole audience was enthusiastic, fascinated by the success, rather than by the compositions. at the end there was a storm of applause and cries, in which the trumpets in the orchestra joined, german fashion, with their triumphant blare in salute of the conqueror, jean-christophe trembled with pride, as though these honors were for himself. he enjoyed seeing hassler's face light up with childish pleasure. the ladies threw flowers, the men waved their hats, and the audience rushed for the platform. every one wanted to shake the master's hand. jean-christophe saw one enthusiast raise the master's hand to his lips, another steal a handkerchief that hassler had left on the corner of his desk. he wanted to reach the platform also, although he did not know why, for if at that moment he had found himself near hassler, he would have fled at once in terror and emotion. but he butted with all his force, like a ram, among the skirts and legs that divided him from hassler. he was too small; he could not break through.
fortunately, when the concert was over, his grandfather came and took him to join in a party to serenade hassler. it was night, and torches were lighted. all the musicians of the orchestra were there. they talked only of the marvelous compositions they had heard. they arrived outside the palace, and took up their places without a sound under the master's windows. they took on an air of secrecy, although everybody, including hassler, knew what was to come. in the silence of the night they began to play certain famous fragments of hassler's compositions. he appeared at the window with the prince, and they roared in their honor. both bowed. a servant came from the prince to invite the musicians to enter the palace. they passed through great rooms, with frescoes representing naked men with helmets; they were of a reddish color, and were making gestures of defiance. the sky was covered with great clouds like sponges. there were also men and women of marble clad in waist-cloths made of iron. the guests walked on carpets so thick that their tread was inaudible, and they came at length to a room which was as light as day, and there were tables laden with drinks and good things.
the grand duke was there, but jean-christophe did not see him; he had eyes only for hassler. hassler came towards them; he thanked them. he picked his words carefully, stopped awkwardly in the middle of a sentence, and extricated himself with a quip which made everybody laugh. they began to eat. hassler took four or five musicians aside. he singled out jean-christophe's grandfather, and addressed very flattering words to him: he recollected that jean michel had been one of the first to perform his works, and he said that he had often heard tell of his excellence from a friend of his who had been a pupil of the old man's. jean-christophe's grandfather expressed his gratitude profusely; he replied with such extraordinary eulogy that, in spite of his adoration of hassler, the boy was ashamed. but to hassler they seemed to be pleasant and in the rational order. finally, the old man, who had lost himself in his rigmarole, took jean-christophe by the hand, and presented him to hassler. hassler smiled at jean-christophe, and carelessly patted his head, and when he learned that the boy liked his music, and had not slept for several nights in anticipation of seeing him, he took him in his arms and plied him with questions. jean-christophe, struck, dumb and blushing with pleasure, dared not look at him. hassler took him by the chin and lifted his face up. jean-christophe ventured to look. hassler's eyes were kind and smiling; he began to smile too. then he felt so happy, so wonderfully happy in the great man's arms, that he burst into tears. hassler was touched by this simple affection, and was more kind than ever. he kissed the boy and talked to him tenderly. at the same time he said funny things and tickled him to make him laugh; and jean-christophe could not help laughing through his tears. soon he became at ease, and answered hassler readily, and of his own accord he began to whisper in his ear all his small ambitions, as though he and hassler were old friends; he told him how he wanted to be a musician like hassler, and, like hassler, to make beautiful things, and to be a great man. he, was always ashamed, talked confidently; he did not know what he was saying; he was in a sort of ecstasy, hassler smiled at his prattling and said:
"when you are a man, and have become a good musician, you shall come and see me in berlin. i shall make something of you."
jean-christophe was too delighted to reply.
hassler teased him.
"you don't want to?"
jean-christophe nodded his head violently five or six times, meaning "yes."
"it is a bargain, then?"
jean-christophe nodded again.
"kiss me, then."
jean-christophe threw his arms round hassler's neck and hugged him with all his strength.
"oh, you are wetting me! let go! your nose wants wiping!"
hassler laughed, and wiped the boy's nose himself, a little self-consciously, though he was quite jolly. he put him down, then took him by the hand and led him to a table, where he filled his pockets with cake, and left him, saying:
"good-bye! remember your promise."
jean-christophe swam in happiness. the rest of the world had ceased to exist for him. he could remember nothing of what had happened earlier in the evening; he followed lovingly hassler's every expression and gesture. one thing that he said struck him. hassler was holding a glass in his hand; he was talking, and his face suddenly hardened, and he said:
"the joy of such a day must not make us forget our enemies. we must never forget our enemies. it is not their fault that we are not crushed out of existence. it will not be our fault if that does not happen to them. that is why the toast i propose is that there are people whose health … we will not drink!"
everybody applauded and laughed at this original toast. hassler had laughed with the others and his good-humored expression had returned. but jean-christophe was put off by it. although he did not permit himself to criticise any action of his hero, it hurt him that he had thought ugly things, when on such a night there ought to be nothing but brilliant thoughts and fancies. but he did not examine what he felt, and the impression that it made was soon driven out by his great joy and the drop of champagne which he drank out of his grandfather's glass.
on the way back the old man never stopped talking; he was delighted with the praise that hassler had given him; he cried out that hassler was a genius such as had not been known for a century. jean-christophe said nothing, locking up in his heart his intoxication of love. he had kissed him. he had held him in his arms! how good he was! how great!
"ah," he thought in bed, as he kissed his pillow passionately, "i would die for him—die for him!"
the brilliant meteor which had flashed across the sky of the little town that night had a decisive influence on jean-christophe's mind. all his childhood hassler was the model on which his eyes were fixed, and to follow his example the little man of six decided that he also would write music. to tell the truth, he had been doing so for long enough without knowing it, and he had not waited to be conscious of composing before he composed.
everything is music for the born musician. everything that throbs, or moves, or stirs, or palpitates—sunlit summer days, nights when the wind howls, flickering light, the twinkling of the stars, storms, the song of birds, the buzzing of insects, the murmuring of trees, voices, loved or loathed, familiar fireside sounds, a creaking door, blood moving in the veins in the silence of the night—everything that is is music; all that is needed is that it should be heard. all the music of creation found its echo in jean-christophe. everything that he saw, everything that he felt, was translated into music without his being conscious of it. he was like a buzzing hive of bees. but no one noticed it, himself least of all.
like all children, he hummed perpetually at every hour of the day. whatever he was doing—whether he were walking in the street, hopping on one foot, or lying on the floor at his grandfather's, with his head in his hands, absorbed in the pictures of a book, or sitting in his little chair in the darkest corner of the kitchen, dreaming aimlessly in the twilight—always the monotonous murmuring of his little trumpet was to be heard, played with lips closed and cheeks blown out. his mother seldom paid any heed to it, but, once in a while, she would protest.
when he was tired of this state of half-sleep he would have to move and make a noise. then he made music, singing it at the top of his voice. he had made tunes for every occasion. he had a tune for splashing in his wash-basin in the morning, like a little duck. he had a tune for sitting on the piano-stool in front of the detested instrument, and another for getting off it, and this was a more brilliant affair than the other. he had one for his mother putting the soup on the table; he used to go before her then blowing a blare of trumpets. he played triumphal marches by which to go solemnly from the dining-room to the bedroom. sometimes he would organize little processions with his two small brothers; all then would file out gravely, one after another, and each had a tune to march to. but, as was right and proper, jean-christophe kept the best for himself. every one of his tunes was strictly appropriated to its special occasion, and jean-christophe never by any chance confused them. anybody else would have made mistakes, but he knew the shades of difference between them exactly.
one day at his grandfather's house he was going round the room clicking his heels, head up and chest out; he went round and round and round, so that it was a wonder he did not turn sick, and played one of his compositions. the old man, who was shaving, stopped in the middle of it, and, with his face covered with lather, came to look at him, and said:
"what are you singing, boy?"
jean-christophe said he did not know.
"sing it again!" said jean michel.
jean-christophe tried; he could not remember the tune. proud of having attracted his grandfather's attention, he tried to make him admire his voice, and sang after his own fashion an air from some opera, but that was not what the old man wanted. jean michel said nothing, and seemed not to notice him any more. but he left the door of his room ajar while the boy was playing alone in the next room.
a few days later jean-christophe, with the chairs arranged about him, was playing a comedy in music, which he had made up of scraps that he remembered from the theater, and he was making steps and bows, as he had seen them done in a minuet, and addressing himself to the portrait of beethoven which hung above the table. as he turned with a pirouette he saw his grandfather watching him through the half-open door. he thought the old man was laughing at him; he was abashed, and stopped dead; he ran to the window, and pressed his face against the panes, pretending that he had been watching something of the greatest interest. but the old man said nothing; he came to him and kissed him, and jean-christophe saw that he was pleased. his vanity made the most of these signs; he was clever enough to see that he had been appreciated; but he did not know exactly which his grandfather had admired most—his talent as a dramatic author, or as a musician, or as a singer, or as a dancer. he inclined, to the latter, for he prided himself on this.
a week later, when he had forgotten the whole affair, his grandfather said mysteriously that he had something to show him. he opened his desk, took out a music-book, and put it on the rack of the piano, and told the boy to play. jean-christophe was very much interested, and deciphered it fairly well. the notes were written by hand in the old man's large handwriting, and he had taken especial pains with it. the headings were adorned with scrolls and flourishes. after some moments the old man, who was sitting beside jean-christophe turning the pages for him, asked him what the music was. jean-christophe had been too much absorbed in his playing to notice what he had played, and said that he did not know it.
"listen!… you don't know it?"
yes; he thought he knew it, but he did not know where he had heard it. the old man laughed.
"think."
jean-christophe shook his head.
"i don't know."
a light was fast dawning in his mind; it seemed to him that the air….
but, no! he dared not…. he would not recognize it.
"i don't know, grandfather."
he blushed.
"what, you little fool, don't you see that it is your own?"
he was sure of it, but to hear it said made his heart thump.
"oh! grandfather!…"
beaming, the old man showed him the book.
"see: aria. it is what you were singing on tuesday when you were lying on the floor. march. that is what i asked you to sing again last week, and you could not remember it. minuet. that is what you were dancing by the armchair. look!"
on the cover was written in wonderful gothic letters:
"the pleasures of childhood: aria, minuetto, valse, and marcia, op. 1, by jean-christophe krafft."
jean-christophe was dazzled by it. to see his name, and that fine title, and that large book—his work!… he went on murmuring:
"oh! grandfather! grandfather!…"
the old man drew him to him. jean-christophe threw himself on his knees, and hid his head in jean michel's bosom. he was covered with blushes from his happiness. the old man was even happier, and went on, in a voice which he tried to make indifferent, for he felt that he was on the point of breaking down:
"of course, i added the accompaniment and the harmony to fit the song. and then"—he coughed—"and then, i added a trio to the minuet, because … because it is usual … and then…. i think it is not at all bad."
he played it. jean-christophe was very proud of collaborating with his grandfather.
"but, grandfather, you must put your name to it too."
"it is not worth while. it is not worth while others besides yourself knowing it. only"—here his voice trembled—"only, later on, when i am no more, it will remind you of your old grandfather … eh? you won't forget him?"
the poor old man did not say that he had been unable to resist the quite innocent pleasure of introducing one of his own unfortunate airs into his grandson's work, which he felt was destined to survive him; but his desire to share in this imaginary glory was very humble and very touching, since it was enough for him anonymously to transmit to posterity a scrap of his own thought, so as not altogether to perish. jean-christophe was touched by it, and covered his face with kisses, and the old man, growing more and more tender, kissed his hair.
"you will remember me? later on, when you are a good musician, a great artist, who will bring honor to his family, to his art, and to his country, when you are famous, you will remember that it was your old grandfather who first perceived it, and foretold what you would be?"
there were tears in his eyes as he listened to his own words. he was reluctant to let such signs of weakness be seen. he had an attack of coughing, became moody, and sent the boy away hugging the precious manuscript.
jean-christophe went home bewildered by his happiness. the stones danced about him. the reception he had from his family sobered him a little. when he blurted out the splendor of his musical exploit they cried out upon him. his mother laughed at him. melchior declared that the old man was mad, and that he would do better to take care of himself than to set about turning the boy's head. as for jean-christophe, he would oblige by putting such follies from his mind, and sitting down illico at the piano and playing exercises for four hours. he must first learn to play properly; and as for composing, there was plenty of time for that later on when he had nothing better to do.
melchior was not, as these words of wisdom might indicate, trying to keep the boy from the dangerous exaltation of a too early pride. on the contrary, he proved immediately that this was not so. but never having himself had any idea to express in music, and never having had the least need to express an idea, he had come, as a virtuoso, to consider composing a secondary matter, which was only given value by the art of the executant. he was not insensible of the tremendous enthusiasm roused by great composers like hassler. for such ovations he had the respect which he always paid to success—mingled, perhaps, with a little secret jealousy—for it seemed to him that such applause was stolen from him. but he knew by experience that the successes of the great virtuosi are no less remarkable, and are more personal in character, and therefore more fruitful of agreeable and flattering consequences. he affected to pay profound homage to the genius of the master musicians; but he took a great delight in telling absurd anecdotes of them, presenting their intelligence and morals in a lamentable light. he placed the virtuoso at the top of the artistic ladder, for, he said, it is well known that the tongue is the noblest member of the body, and what would thought be without words? what would music be without the executant? but whatever may have been the reason for the scolding that he gave jean-christophe, it was not without its uses in restoring some common sense to the boy, who was almost beside himself with his grandfather's praises. it was not quite enough. jean-christophe, of course, decided that his grandfather was much cleverer than his father, and though he sat down at the piano without sulking, he did so not so much for the sake of obedience as to be able to dream in peace, as he always did while his fingers ran, mechanically over the keyboard. while he played his interminable exercises he heard a proud voice inside himself saying over and over again: "i am a composer—a great composer."
from that day on, since he was a composer, he set himself to composing. before he had even learned to write, he continued to cipher crotchets and quavers on scraps of paper, which he tore from the household account-books. but in the effort to find out what he was thinking, and to set it down in black and white, he arrived at thinking nothing, except when he wanted to think something. but he did not for that give up making musical phrases, and as he was a born musician he made them somehow, even if they meant nothing at all. then he would take them in triumph to his grandfather, who wept with joy over them—he wept easily now that he was growing old—and vowed that they were wonderful.
all this was like to spoil him altogether. fortunately, his own good sense saved him, helped by the influence of a man who made no pretension of having any influence over anybody, and set nothing before the eyes of the world but a commonsense point of view. this man was louisa's brother.
like her, he was small, thin, puny, and rather round-shouldered. no one knew exactly how old he was; he could not be more than forty, but he looked more than fifty. he had a little wrinkled face, with a pink complexion, and kind pale blue eyes, like faded forget-me-nots. when he took off his cap, which he used fussily to wear everywhere from his fear of draughts, he exposed a little pink bald head, conical in shape, which was the great delight of jean-christophe and his brothers. they never left off teasing him about it, asking him what he had done with his hair, and, encouraged by melchior's pleasantries, threatening to smack it. he was the first to laugh at them, and put up with their treatment of him patiently. he was a peddler; he used to go from village to village with a pack on his back, containing everything—groceries, stationery, confectionery, handkerchiefs, scarves, shoes, pickles, almanacs, songs, and drugs. several attempts had been made to make him settle down, and to buy him a little business—a store or a drapery shop. but he could not do it. one night he would get up, push the key under the door, and set off again with his pack. weeks and months went by before he was seen again. then he would reappear. some evening they would hear him fumbling at the door; it would half open, and the little bald head, politely uncovered, would appear with its kind eyes and timid smile. he would say, "good-evening, everybody," carefully wipe his shoes before entering, salute everybody, beginning with the eldest, and go and sit in the most remote corner of the room. there he would light his pipe, and sit huddled up, waiting quietly until the usual storm of questions was over. the two kraffts, jean-christophe's father and grandfather, had a jeering contempt for him. the little freak seemed ridiculous to them, and their pride was touched by the low degree of the peddler. they made him feel it, but he seemed to take no notice of it, and showed them a profound respect which disarmed them, especially the old man, who was very sensitive to what people thought of him. they used to crush him with heavy pleasantries, which often brought the blush to louisa's cheeks. accustomed to bow without dispute to the intellectual superiority of the kraffts, she had no doubt that her husband and father-in-law were right; but she loved her brother, and her brother had for her a dumb adoration. they were the only members of their family, and they were both humble, crushed, and thrust aside by life; they were united in sadness and tenderness by a bond of mutual pity and common suffering, borne in secret. with the kraffts—robust, noisy, brutal, solidly built for living, and living joyously—these two weak, kindly creatures, out of their setting, so to speak, outside life, understood and pitied each other without ever saying anything about it.
jean-christophe, with the cruel carelessness of childhood, shared the contempt of his father and grandfather for the little peddler. he made fun of him, and treated him as a comic figure; he worried him with stupid teasing, which his uncle bore with his unshakable phlegm. but jean-christophe loved him, without quite knowing why. he loved him first of all as a plaything with which he did what he liked. he loved him also because he always gave him something nice—a dainty, a picture, an amusing toy. the little man's return was a joy for the children, for he always had some surprise for them. poor as he was, he always contrived to bring them each a present, and he never forgot the birthday of any one of the family. he always turned up on these august days, and brought out of his pocket some jolly present, lovingly chosen. they were so used to it that they hardly thought of thanking him; it seemed natural, and he appeared to be sufficiently repaid by the pleasure he had given. but jean-christophe, who did not sleep very well, and during the night used to turn over in his mind the events of the day, used sometimes to think that his uncle was very kind, and he used to be filled with floods of gratitude to the poor man. he never showed it when the day came, because he thought that the others would laugh at him. besides, he was too little to see in kindness all the rare value that it has. in the language of children, kind and stupid are almost synonymous, and uncle gottfried seemed to be the living proof of it.
one evening when melchior was dining out, gottfried was left alone in the living-room, while louisa put the children to bed. he went out, and sat by the river a few yards away from the house. jean-christophe, having nothing better to do, followed him, and, as usual, tormented him with his puppy tricks until he was out of breath, and dropped down on the grass at his feet. lying on his belly, he buried his nose in the turf. when he had recovered his breath, he cast about for some new crazy thing to say. when he found it he shouted it out, and rolled about with laughing, with his face still buried in the earth. he received no answer. surprised by the silence, he raised his head, and began to repeat his joke. he saw gottfried's face lit up by the last beams of the setting sun cast through golden mists. he swallowed down his words. gottfried smiled with his eyes half closed and his mouth half open, and in his sorrowful face was an expression of sadness and unutterable melancholy. jean-christophe, with his face in his hands, watched him. the night came; little by little gottfried's face disappeared. silence reigned. jean-christophe in his turn was filled with the mysterious impressions which had been reflected on gottfried's face. he fell into a vague stupor. the earth was in darkness, the sky was bright; the stars peeped out. the little waves of the river chattered against the bank. the boy grew sleepy. without seeing them, he bit off little blades of grass. a grasshopper chirped near him. it seemed to him that he was going to sleep.
suddenly, in the dark, gottfried began to sing. he sang in a weak, husky voice, as though to himself; he could not have been heard twenty yards away. but there was sincerity and emotion in his voice; it was as though he were thinking aloud, and that through the song, as through clear water, the very inmost heart of him was to be seen. never had jean-christophe heard such singing, and never had he heard such a song. slow, simple, childish, it moved gravely, sadly, a little monotonously, never hurrying—with long pauses—then setting out again on its way, careless where it arrived, and losing itself in the night. it seemed to come from far away, and it went no man knows whither. its serenity was full of sorrow, and beneath its seeming peace there dwelt an agony of the ages. jean-christophe held his breath; he dared not move; he was cold with emotion. when it was done he crawled towards gottfried, and in a choking voice said:
"uncle!"
gottfried did not reply.
"uncle!" repeated the boy, placing his hands and chin on gottfried's knees.
gottfried said kindly:
"well, boy…"
"what is it, uncle? tell me! what were you singing?"
"i don't know."
"tell me what it is!"
"i don't know. just a song."
"a song that you made."
"no, not i! what an idea!… it is an old song."
"who made it?"
"no one knows…."
"when?"
"no one knows…."
"when you were little?"
"before i was born, before my father was born, and before his father, and before his father's father…. it has always been."
"how strange! no one has ever told me about it."
he thought for a moment.
"uncle, do you know any other?"
"yes."
"sing another, please."
"why should i sing another? one is enough. one sings when one wants to sing, when one has to sing. one must not sing for the fun of it."
"but what about when one makes music?"
"that is not music."
the boy was lost in thought. he did not quite understand. but he asked for no explanation. it was true, it was not music, not like all the rest. he went on:
"uncle, have you ever made them?"
"made what?"
"songs!"
"songs? oh! how should i make them? they can't be made."
with his usual logic the boy insisted:
"but, uncle, it must have been made once…."
gottfried shook his head obstinately.
"it has always been."
the boy returned to the attack:
"but, uncle, isn't it possible to make other songs, new songs?"
"why make them? there are enough for everything. there are songs for when you are sad, and for when you are gay; for when you are weary, and for when you are thinking of home; for when you despise yourself, because you have been a vile sinner, a worm upon the earth; for when you want to weep, because people have not been kind to you; and for when your heart is glad because the world is beautiful, and you see god's heaven, which, like him, is always kind, and seems to laugh at you…. there are songs for everything, everything. why should i make them?"
"to be a great man!" said the boy, full of his grandfather's teaching and his simple dreams.
gottfried laughed softly. jean-christophe, a little hurt, asked him:
"why are you laughing?"
gottfried said:
"oh! i?… i am nobody."
he kissed the boy's head, and said:
"you want to be a great man?"
"yes," said jean-christophe proudly. he thought gottfried would admire him.
but gottfried replied:
"what for?"
jean-christophe was taken aback. he thought for a moment, and said:
"to make beautiful songs!"
gottfried laughed again, and said:
"you want to make beautiful songs, so as to be a great man; and you want to be a great man, so as to make beautiful songs. you are like a dog chasing its own tail."
jean-christophe was dashed. at any other time he would not have borne his uncle laughing at him, he at whom he was used to laughing. and, at the same time, he would never have thought gottfried clever enough to stump him with an argument. he cast about for some answer or some impertinence to throw at him, but could find none. gottfried went on:
"when you are as great as from here to coblentz, you will never make a single song."
jean-christophe revolted on that.
"and if i will!…"
"the more you want to, the less you can. to make songs, you have to be like those creatures. listen…."
the moon had risen, round and gleaming, behind the fields. a silvery mist hovered above the ground and the shimmering waters. the frogs croaked, and in the meadows the melodious fluting of the toads arose. the shrill tremolo of the grasshoppers seemed to answer the twinkling of the stars. the wind rustled softly in the branches of the alders. from the hills above the river there came down the sweet light song of a nightingale.
"what need is there to sing?" sighed gottfried, after a long silence. (it was not clear whether he were talking to himself or to jean-christophe.) "don't they sing sweeter than anything that you could make?"
jean-christophe had often heard these sounds of the night, and he loved them. but never had he heard them as he heard them now. it was true: what need was there to sing?… his heart was full of tenderness and sorrow. he was fain to embrace the meadows, the river, the sky, the clear stars. he was filled with love for his uncle gottfried, who seemed to him now the best, the cleverest, the most beautiful of men. he thought how he had misjudged him, and he thought that his uncle was sad because he, jean-christophe, had misjudged him. he was remorseful. he wanted to cry out: "uncle, do not be sad! i will not be naughty again. forgive me, i love you!" but he dared not. and suddenly he threw himself into gottfried's arms, but the words would not come, only he repeated, "i love you!" and kissed him passionately. gottfried was surprised and touched, and went on saying, "what? what?" and kissed him. then he got up, took him by the hand, and said: "we must go in." jean-christophe was sad because his uncle had not understood him. but as they came to the house, gottfried said: "if you like we'll go again to hear god's music, and i will sing you some more songs." and when jean-christophe kissed him gratefully as they said good-night, he saw that his uncle had understood.
thereafter they often went for walks together in the evening, and they walked without a word along by the river, or through the fields. gottfried slowly smoked his pipe, and jean-christophe, a little frightened by the darkness, would give him his hand. they would sit down on the grass, and after a few moments of silence gottfried would talk to him about the stars and the clouds; he taught him to distinguish the breathing of the earth, air, and water, the songs, cries, and sounds of the little worlds of flying, creeping, hopping, and swimming things swarming in the darkness, and the signs of rain and fine weather, and the countless instruments of the symphony of the night. sometimes gottfried would sing tunes, sad or gay, but always of the same kind, and always in the end jean-christophe would be brought to the same sorrow. but he would never sing more than one song in an evening, and jean-christophe noticed that he did not sing gladly when he was asked to do so; it had to come of itself, just when he wanted to. sometimes they had to wait for a long time without speaking, and just when jean-christophe was beginning to think, "he is not going to sing this evening," gottfried would make up his mind.
one evening, when nothing would induce gottfried to sing, jean-christophe thought of submitting to him one of his own small compositions, in the making of which he found so much trouble and pride. he wanted to show what an artist he was. gottfried listened very quietly, and then said:
"that is very ugly, my poor dear jean-christophe!"
jean-christophe was so hurt that he could find nothing to say. gottfried went on pityingly:
"why did you do it? it is so ugly! no one forced you to do it."
hot with anger, jean-christophe protested:
"my grandfather thinks my music fine."
"ah!" said gottfried, not turning a hair. "no doubt he is right. he is a learned man. he knows all about music. i know nothing about it…."
and after a moment:
"but i think that is very ugly."
he looked quietly at jean-christophe, and saw his angry face, and smiled, and said:
"have you composed any others? perhaps i shall like the others better than that."
jean-christophe thought that his other compositions might wipe out the impression of the first, and he sang them all. gottfried said nothing; he waited until they were finished. then he shook his head, and with profound conviction said:
"they are even more ugly."
jean-christophe shut his lips, and his chin trembled; he wanted to cry.
gottfried went on as though he himself were upset.
"how ugly they are!"
jean-christophe, with tears in his voice, cried out: "but why do you say they are ugly?"
gottfried looked at him with his frank eyes.
"why?… i don't know…. wait…. they are ugly … first, because they are stupid…. yes, that's it…. they are stupid, they don't mean anything…. you see? when you wrote, you had nothing to say. why did you write them?"
"i don't know," said jean-christophe, in a piteous voice. "i wanted to write something pretty."
"there you are! you wrote for the sake of writing. you wrote because you wanted to be a great musician, and to be admired. you have been proud; you have been a liar; you have been punished…. you see! a man is always punished when he is proud and a liar in music. music must be modest and sincere—or else, what is it? impious, a blasphemy of the lord, who has given us song to tell the honest truth."
he saw the boy's distress, and tried to kiss him. but jean-christophe turned angrily away, and for several days he sulked. he hated gottfried. but it was in vain that he said over and over to himself: "he is an ass! he knows nothing—nothing! my grandfather, who is much cleverer, likes my music." in his heart he knew that his uncle was right, and gottfried's words were graven on his inmost soul; he was ashamed to have been a liar.
and, in spite of his resentment, he always thought of it when he was writing music, and often he tore up what he had written, being ashamed already of what gottfried would have thought of it. when he got over it, and wrote a melody which he knew to be not quite sincere, he hid it carefully from his uncle; he was fearful of his judgment, and was quite happy when gottfried just said of one of his pieces: "that is not so very ugly…. i like it…."
sometimes, by way of revenge, he used to trick him by giving him as his own melodies from the great musicians, and he was delighted when it happened that gottfried disliked them heartily. but that did not trouble gottfried. he would laugh loudly when he saw jean-christophe clap his hands and dance about him delightedly, and he always returned to his usual argument: "it is well enough written, but it says nothing." he always refused to be present at one of the little concerts given in melchior's house. however beautiful the music might be, he would begin to yawn and look sleepy with boredom. very soon he would be unable to bear it any longer, and would steal away quietly. he used to say:
"you see, my boy, everything that you write in the house is not music. music in a house is like sunshine in a room. music is to be found outside where you breathe god's dear fresh air."
he was always talking of god, for he was very pious, unlike the two kraffts, father and son, who were free-thinkers, and took care to eat meat on fridays.
suddenly, for no apparent reason, melchior changed his opinion. not only did he approve of his father having put together jean-christophe's inspirations, but, to the boy's great surprise, he spent several evenings in making two or three copies of his manuscript. to every question put to him on the subject, he replied impressively, "we shall see; …" or he would rub his hands and laugh, smack the boy's head by way of a joke, or turn him up and blithely spank him. jean-christophe loathed these familiarities, but he saw that his father was pleased, and did not know why.
then there were mysterious confabulations between melchior and his father. and one evening jean-christophe, to his astonishment, learned that he, jean-christophe, had dedicated to h.s.h. the grand duke leopold the pleasures of childhood. melchior had sounded the disposition of the prince, who had shown himself graciously inclined to accept the homage. thereupon melchior declared that without losing a moment they must, primo, draw up the official request to the prince; secondo, publish the work; tertio, organize a concert to give it a hearing.
there were further long conferences between melchior and jean michel. they argued heatedly for two or three evenings. it was forbidden to interrupt them. melchior wrote, erased; erased, wrote. the old man talked loudly, as though he were reciting verses. sometimes they squabbled or thumped on the table because they could not find a word.
then jean-christophe was called, made to sit at the table with a pen in his hand, his father on his right, his grandfather on his left, and the old man began to dictate words which he did not understand, because he found it difficult to write every word in his enormous letters, because melchior was shouting in his ear, and because the old man declaimed with such emphasis that jean-christophe, put out by the sound of the words, could not bother to listen to their meaning. the old man was no less in a state of emotion. he could not sit still, and he walked up and down the room, involuntarily illustrating the text of what he read with gestures, but he came every minute to look over what the boy had written, and jean-christophe, frightened by the two large faces looking over his shoulder, put out his tongue, and held his pen clumsily. a mist floated before his eyes; he made too many strokes, or smudged what he had written; and melchior roared, and jean michel stormed; and he had to begin again, and then again, and when he thought that they had at last come to an end, a great blot fell on the immaculate page. then they pulled his ears, and he burst into tears; but they forbade him to weep, because he was spoiling the paper, and they began to dictate, beginning all over again, and he thought it would go on like that to the end of his life.
at last it was finished, and jean michel leaned against the mantelpiece, and read over their handiwork in a voice trembling with pleasure, while melchior sat straddled across a chair, and looked at the ceiling and wagged his chair and, as a connoisseur, rolled round his tongue the style of the following epistle:
"most noble and sublime highness! most gracious lord!
"from my fourth year music has been the first occupation of my childish days. so soon as i allied myself to the noble muse, who roused my soul to pure harmony, i loved her, and, as it seemed to me, she returned my love. now i am in my sixth year, and for some time my muse in hours of inspiration has whispered in my ears: 'be bold! be bold! write down the harmonies of thy soul!' 'six years old,' thought i, 'and how should i be bold? what would the learned in the art say of me?' i hesitated. i trembled. but my muse insisted. i obeyed. i wrote.
"and now shall i,
"o most sublime highness!
"—shall i have the temerity and audacity to place upon the steps of thy throne the first-fruits of my youthful labors?… shall i make so bold as to hope that thou wilt let fall upon them the august approbation of thy paternal regard?…
"oh, yes! for science and the arts have ever found in thee their sage mæcenas, their generous champion, and talent puts forth its flowers under the ægis of thy holy protection.
"in this profound and certain faith i dare, then, approach thee with these youthful efforts. receive them as a pure offering of my childish veneration, and of thy goodness deign,
"o most sublime highness!
"to glance at them, and at their young author, who bows at thy feet deeply and in humility!
"from the most submissive, faithful, and obedient servant of his most noble and most sublime highness,
"jean-christophe krafft."
jean-christophe heard nothing. he was very happy to have finished, and, fearing that he would be made to begin again, he ran away to the fields. he had no idea of what he had written, and he cared not at all. but when the old man had finished his reading he began again to taste the full flavor of it, and when the second reading came to an end melchior and he declared that it was a little masterpiece. that was also the opinion of the grand duke, to whom the letter was presented, with a copy of the musical work. he was kind enough to send word that he found both quite charming. he granted permission for the concert, and ordered that the hall of his academy of music should be put at melchior's disposal, and deigned to promise that he would have the young artist presented to himself on the day of the performance.
melchior set about organizing the concert as quickly as possible. he engaged the support of the hof musik verein, and as the success of his first ventures had blown out his sense of proportion, he undertook at the same time to publish a magnificent edition of the pleasures of childhood. he wanted to have printed on the cover of it a portrait of jean-christophe at the piano, with himself, melchior, standing by his side, violin in hand. he had to abandon that, not on account of the cost—melchior did not stop at any expense—but because there was not time enough. he fell back on an allegorical design representing a cradle, a trumpet, a drum, a wooden horse, grouped round a lyre which put forth rays like the sun. the title-page bore, together with a long dedication, in which the name of the prince stood out in enormous letters, a notice to the effect that "herr jean-christophe krafft was six years old." he was, in fact, seven and a half. the printing of the design was very expensive. to meet the bill for it, jean michel had to sell an old eighteenth-century chest, carved with faces, which he had never consented to sell, in spite of the repeated offers of wormser, the furniture-dealer. but melchior had no doubt but the subscriptions would cover the cost, and beyond that the expenses of printing the composition.
one other question occupied his mind: how to dress jean-christophe on the day of the concert. there was a family council to decide the matter. melchior would have liked the boy to appear in a short frock and bare legs, like a child of four. but jean-christophe was very large for his age, and everybody knew him. they could not hope to deceive any one. melchior had a great idea. he decided that the boy should wear a dress-coat and white tie. in vain did louisa protest that they would make her poor boy ridiculous. melchior anticipated exactly the success and merriment that would be produced by such an unexpected appearance. it was decided on, and the tailor came and measured jean-christophe for his little coat. he had also to have fine linen and patent-leather pumps, and all that swallowed up their last penny. jean-christophe was very uncomfortable in his new clothes. to make him used to them they made him try on his various garments. for a whole month he hardly left the piano-stool. they taught him to bow. he had never a moment of liberty. he raged against it, but dared not rebel, for he thought that he was going to accomplish something startling. he was both proud and afraid of it. they pampered him; they were afraid he would catch cold; they swathed his neck in scarves; they warmed his boots in case they were wet; and at table he had the best of everything.
at last the great day arrived. the barber came to preside over his toilet and curl jean-christophe's rebellious hair. he did not leave it until he had made it look like a sheep-skin. all the family walked round jean-christophe and declared that he was superb. melchior, after looking him up and down, and turning him about and about, was seized with an idea, and went off to fetch a large flower, which he put in his buttonhole. but when louisa saw him she raised her hands, and cried out distressfully that he looked like a monkey. that hurt him cruelly. he did not know whether to be ashamed or proud of his garb. instinctively he felt humiliated, and he was more so at the concert. humiliation was to be for him the outstanding emotion of that memorable day.
the concert was about to begin. the hall was half empty; the grand duke had not arrived. one of those kindly and well-informed friends who always appear on these occasions came and told them that there was a council being held at the palace, and that the grand duke would not come. he had it on good authority. melchior was in despair. he fidgeted, paced up and down, and looked repeatedly out of the window. old jean michel was also in torment, but he was concerned, for his grandson. he bombarded him with instructions. jean-christophe was infected by the nervousness of his family. he was not in the least anxious about his compositions, but he was troubled by the thought of the bows that he had to make to the audience, and thinking of them brought him to agony.
however, he had to begin; the audience was growing impatient. the orchestra of the hof musik verein began the coriolan overture. the boy knew neither coriolan nor beethoven, for though he had often heard beethoven's music, he had not known it. he never bothered about the names of the works he heard. he gave them names of his own invention, while he created little stories or pictures for them. he classified them usually in three categories: fire, water, and earth, with a thousand degrees between each. mozart belonged almost always to water. he was a meadow by the side of a river, a transparent mist floating over the water, a spring shower, or a rainbow. beethoven was fire—now a furnace with gigantic flames and vast columns of smoke; now a burning forest, a heavy and terrible cloud, flashing lightning; now a wide sky full of quivering stars, one of which breaks free, swoops, and; dies on a fine september night setting the heart beating. now; the imperious ardor of that heroic soul burned him like fire. everything else disappeared. what was it all to him?—melchior in despair, jean michel agitated, all the busy world, the audience, the grand duke, little jean-christophe. what had.' he to do with all these? what lay between them and him? was that he—he, himself?… he was given up to the furious will that carried him headlong. he followed it breathlessly, with tears in his eyes, and his legs numb, thrilling from the palms of his hands to the soles of his feet. his blood drummed! "charge!" and he trembled in every limb. and as he listened so intensely, hiding behind a curtain, his heart suddenly leaped violently. the orchestra had stopped short in the middle of a bar, and after a moment's silence, it broke into a crashing of brass and cymbals with a military march, officially strident. the transition from one sort of music to another was so brutal, so unexpected, that jean-christophe ground his teeth and stamped his foot with rage, and shook his fist at the wall. but melchior rejoiced. the grand duke had come in, and the orchestra was saluting him with the national anthem. and in a trembling voice jean michel gave his last instructions to his grandson.
the overture began again, and this time was finished. it was now jean-christophe's turn. melchior had arranged the programme to show off at the same time the skill of both father and son. they were to play together a sonata of mozart for violin and piano. for the sake of effect he had decided that jean-christophe should enter alone. he was led to the entrance of the stage and showed the piano at the front, and for the last time it was explained what he had to do, and then he was pushed on from the wings.
he was not much afraid, for he was used to the theater; but when he found himself alone on the platform, with hundreds of eyes staring at him, he became suddenly so frightened that instinctively he moved backwards and turned towards the wings to go back again. he saw his father there gesticulating and with his eyes blazing. he had to go on. besides, the audience had seen him. as he advanced there arose a twittering of curiosity, followed soon by laughter, which grew louder and louder. melchior had not been wrong, and the boy's garb had all the effect anticipated. the audience rocked with laughter at the sight of the child with his long hair and gipsy complexion timidly trotting across the platform in the evening dress of a man of the world. they got up to see him better. soon the hilarity was general. there was nothing unkindly in it, but it would have made the most hardened musician lose his head. jean-christophe, terrified by the noise, and the eyes watching, and the glasses turned upon him, had only one idea: to reach the piano as quickly as possible, for it seemed to him a refuge, an island in the midst of the sea. with head down, looking neither to right nor left, he ran quickly across the platform, and when he reached the middle of it, instead of bowing to the audience, as had been arranged, he turned his back on it, and plunged straight for the piano. the chair was too high for him to sit down without his father's help, and in his distress, instead of waiting, he climbed up on to it on his knees. that increased the merriment of the audience, but now jean-christophe was safe. sitting at his instrument, he was afraid of no one.
melchior came at last. he gained by the good-humor of the audience, who welcomed him with warm applause. the sonata began. the boy played it with imperturbable certainty, with his lips pressed tight in concentration, his eyes fixed on the keys, his little legs hanging down from the chair. he became more at ease as the notes rolled out; he was among friends that he knew. a murmur of approbation reached him, and waves of pride and satisfaction surged through him as he thought that all these people were silent to listen to him and to admire him. but hardly had he finished when fear overcame him again, and the applause which greeted him gave him more shame than pleasure. his shame increased when melchior took him by the hand, and advanced with him to the edge of the platform, and made him bow to the public. he obeyed, and bowed very low, with a funny awkwardness; but he was humiliated, and blushed for what he had done, as though it were a thing ridiculous and ugly.
he had to sit at the piano again, and he played the pleasures of childhood. then the audience was enraptured. after each piece they shouted enthusiastically. they wanted him to begin again, and he was proud of his success and at the same time almost hurt by such applause, which was also a command. at the end the whole audience rose to acclaim him; the grand duke led the applause. but as jean-christophe was now alone on the platform he dared not budge from his seat. the applause redoubled. he bent his head lower and lower, blushing and hang-dog in expression, and he looked steadily away from the audience. melchior came. he took him in his arms, and told him to blow kisses. he pointed out to him the grand duke's box. jean-christophe turned a deaf ear. melchior took his arm, and threatened him in a low voice. then he did as he was told passively, but he did not look at anybody, he did not raise his eyes, but went on turning his head away, and he was unhappy. he was suffering; how, he did not know. his vanity was suffering. he did not like the people who were there at all. it was no use their applauding; he could not forgive them for having laughed and for being amused by his humiliation; he could not forgive them for having seen him in such a ridiculous position—held in mid-air to blow kisses. he disliked them even for applauding, and when melchior did at last put him down, he ran away to the wings. a lady threw a bunch of violets up at him as he went. it brushed his face. he was panic-stricken and ran as fast as he could, turning over a chair that was in his way. the faster he ran the more they laughed, and the more they laughed the faster he ran.
at last he reached the exit, which was filled with people looking at him. he forced his way through, butting, and ran and hid himself at the back of the anteroom. his grandfather was in high feather, and covered him with blessings. the musicians of the orchestra shouted with laughter, and congratulated the boy, who refused to look at them or to shake hands with them. melchior listened intently, gaging the applause, which had not yet ceased, and wanted to take jean-christophe on to the stage again. but the boy refused angrily, clung to his grandfather's coat-tails, and kicked at everybody who came near him. at last he burst into tears, and they had to let him be.
just at this moment an officer came to say that the grand duke wished the artists to go to his box. how could the child be presented in such a state? melchior swore angrily, and his wrath only had the effect of making jean-christophe's tears flow faster. to stop them, his grandfather promised him a pound of chocolates if he would not cry any more, and jean-christophe, who was greedy, stopped dead, swallowed down his tears, and let them carry him off; but they had to swear at first most solemnly that they would not take him on to the platform again.
in the anteroom of the grand ducal box he was presented to a gentleman in a dress-coat, with a face like a pug-dog, bristling mustaches, and a short, pointed beard—a little red-faced man, inclined to stoutness, who addressed him with bantering familiarity, and called him "mozart redivivus!" this was the grand duke. then, he was presented in turn to the grand duchess and her daughter, and their suite. but as he did not dare raise his eyes, the only thing he could remember of this brilliant company was a series of gowns and uniforms from, the waist down to the feet. he sat on the lap of the young princess, and dared not move or breathe. she asked him questions, which melchior answered in an obsequious voice with formal replies, respectful and servile; but she did not listen to melchior, and went on teasing the child. he grew redder and redder, and, thinking that everybody must have noticed it, he thought he must explain it away and said with a long sigh:
"my face is red. i am hot."
that made the girl shout with laughter. but jean-christophe did not mind it in her, as he had in his audience just before, for her laughter was pleasant, and she kissed him, and he did not dislike that.
then he saw his grandfather in the passage at the door of the box, beaming and bashful. the old man was fain to show himself, and also to say a few words, but he dared not, because no one had spoken to him. he was enjoying his grandson's glory at a distance. jean-christophe became tender, and felt an irresistible impulse to procure justice also for the old man, so that they should know his worth. his tongue was loosed, and he reached up to the ear of his new friend and whispered to her:
"i will tell you a secret."
she laughed, and said:
"what?"
"you know," he went on—"you know the pretty trio in my minuetto, the minuetto i played?… you know it?…" (he hummed it gently.) "… well, grandfather wrote it, not i. all the other airs are mine. but that is the best. grandfather wrote it. grandfather did not want me to say anything. you won't tell anybody?…" (he pointed out the old man.) "that is my grandfather. i love him; he is very kind to me."
at that the young princess laughed again, said that he was a darling, covered him with kisses, and, to the consternation of jean-christophe and his grandfather, told everybody. everybody laughed then, and the grand duke congratulated the old man, who was covered with confusion, tried in vain to explain himself, and stammered like a guilty criminal. but jean-christophe said not another word to the girl, and in spite of her wheedling he remained dumb and stiff. he despised her for having broken her promise. his idea of princes suffered considerably from this disloyalty. he was so angry about it that he did not hear anything that was said, or that the prince had appointed him laughingly his pianist in ordinary, his hof musicus.
he went out with his relatives, and found himself surrounded in the corridors of the theater, and even in the street, with people congratulating him or kissing him. that displeased him greatly, for he did not like being kissed, and did not like people meddling with him without asking his permission.
at last they reached home, and then hardly was the door closed than melchior began to call him a "little idiot" because he had said that the trio was not his own. as the boy was under the impression that he had done a fine thing, which deserved praise, and not blame, he rebelled, and was impertinent. melchior lost his temper, and said that he would box his ears, although he had played his music well enough, because with his idiocy he had spoiled the whole effect of the concert. jean-christophe had a profound sense of justice. he went and sulked in a corner; he visited his contempt upon his father, the princess, and the whole world. he was hurt also because the neighbors came and congratulated his parents and laughed with them, as if it were they who had played, and as if it were their affair.
at this moment a servant of the court came with a beautiful gold watch from the grand duke and a box of lovely sweets from the young princess. both presents gave great pleasure to jean-christophe, and he did not know which gave him the more; but he was in such a bad temper that he would not admit it to himself, and he went on sulking, scowling at the sweets, and wondering whether he could properly accept a gift from a person who had betrayed his confidence. as he was on the point of giving in his father wanted to set him down at once at the table, and make him write at his dictation a letter of thanks. this was too much. either from the nervous strain of the day, or from instinctive shame at beginning the letter, as melchior wanted him to, with the words, "the little servant and musician—knecht und musicus—of your highness …" he burst into tears, and was inconsolable. the servant waited and scoffed. melchior had to write the letter. that did not make him exactly kindly disposed towards jean-christophe. as, a crowning misfortune, the boy let his watch fall and broke it, a storm of reproaches broke upon him. melchior shouted that he would have to go without dessert. jean-christophe said angrily that that was what he wanted. to punish him, louisa, said that she would begin by confiscating his sweets. jean-christophe was up in arms at that, and said that the box was his, and no one else's, and that no one should take it away from him! he was smacked, and in a fit of anger snatched the box from his mother's hands, hurled it on the floor, and stamped on it he was whipped, taken to his room, undressed, and put to bed.
in the evening he heard his parents dining with friends—a magnificent repast, prepared a week before in honor of the concert. he was like to die with wrath at such injustice. they laughed loudly, and touched glasses. they had told the guests that the boy was tired, and no one bothered about him. only after dinner, when the party was breaking up, he heard a slow, shuffling step come into his room, and old jean michel bent over his bed and kissed him, and said: "dear little jean-christophe!…" then, as if he were ashamed, he went away without another word. he had slipped into his hand some sweetmeats which he had hidden in his pocket.
that softened jean-christophe; but he was so tired with all the day's emotions that he had not the strength to think about what his grandfather had done. he had not even the strength to reach out to the good things the old man had given him. he was worn out, and went to sleep almost at once.
his sleep was light. he had acute nervous attacks, like electric shocks, which shook his whole body. in his dreams he was haunted by wild music. he awoke in the night. the beethoven overture that he had heard at the concert was roaring in his ears. it filled the room with its mighty beat. he sat, up in his bed, rubbed his eyes and ears, and asked himself if he were asleep. no; he was not asleep. he recognized the sound, he recognized those roars of anger, those savage cries; he heard the throbbing of that passionate heart leaping in his bosom, that tumult of the blood; he felt on his face the frantic heating of the wind; lashing and destroying, then stopping suddenly, cut off by an herculean will. that titanic soul entered his body, blew out his limbs and his soul, and seemed to give them colossal proportions. he strode over all the world. he was like a mountain, and storms raged within him—storms of wrath, storms of sorrow!… ah, what sorrow!… but they were nothing! he felt so strong!… to suffer—still to suffer!… ah, how good it is to be strong! how good it is to suffer when a man is strong!…
he laughed. his laughter rang out in the silence of the night. his father woke up and cried:
"who is there?"
his mother whispered:
"ssh! the boy is dreaming!"
all then were silent; round them all was silence. the music died away, and nothing sounded but the regular breathing of the human creatures asleep in the room, comrades in misery, thrown together by fate in the same frail barque, bound onwards by a wild whirling force through the night.
(jean-christophe's letter to the grand duke leopold is inspired by beethoven's letter to the prince elector of bonn, written when he was eleven.)
