health. The laws which regulate the life and health of the emotions are exactly similar, and these laws prescribe regular, steady exercise, rest, recreation, and sometimes tension. In itself the habitual exercise and discipline of the emotions in music has not an evil effect, but quite the reverse; it is the very condition of health."
But to return to our statistics. Out of the 100 most prominent musicians, composers, and performers, of all ages and countries, I find sixty-nine who have passed the age of 60, and eighty-nine who have passed 50 years. And this does not include those veterans who are still working, viz.: St. Saëns at 59, Brahms at 61, Joachim at 63, good old Verdi at 81, or Ambroise Thomas, now 83, who lately witnessed the 1000th production of his opera, "Mignon" the first circumstance of its kind in history.
In our select hundred, I find Hucbald reached 90 years; Auber, 89; Cramer and Fetis, 87; Lachner, 86; Zingarelli, 85; Cherubini and Dufay, 82; Matheson and Ockenheim, 83; Rameau, 81; Clementi and Palestrina, 80; Tartini, 79; Haydn, 77; Moscheles and Rossini, 76; Spohr, Liszt, and Gounod, 75; Lassus, Händel, Em. Bach, Zelter, and Pleyel, 74; Gade and Gluck, 73; Meyerbeer and Wagner, 70; Scarlatti, Czerny, and Berlioz, 66; John Sebastian Bach and Rubinstein, 65; Corelli and Raff, 60; Hummel, 59; Beethoven, 57; Paganini, 56; De Beriot, 50.
And, incidentally, we might note that some of the master works in musical composition have been composed after their authors have passed the span of life usually allotted to musicians. Händel was 56 when he wrote the "Messiah" and 61 when he wrote "Judas Maccabaeus;" Gluck composed "Iphigenia in Tauris" at the age of 65; Haydn penned the "Creation" in his 69th and the "Seasons" in his 72d year; Verdi at 79 produced "Falstaff;" while Auber wrote his "Reves d'Amour" in his 87th (some say 85th) year.
Of these hundred musicians, the average age was
