Page:Notes of a Pianist.djvu/63

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CONCERT FOR THE POOR.
45

place, he was seized with a putrid fever at Les Rousses, and was obliged to send for his friends, who came immediately, and it was not until six weeks afterwards that he was in a fit condition to be transported by them to Grandson. Miss M. D——, on his arrival, bestowed upon him the care of a sister. After he had recovered sufficiently he set out for Geneva, from which place delegations had been sent to him, inviting him to play. Everywhere he was greeted with the greatest applause and admiration. Notwithstanding, however, the honours which awaited him, he never appears to have become vainglorious, or to have been carried away by the adulations which surrounded him on all sides. It was one of the most beautiful traits in his character that he never forgot the poor and the suffering; his hand was ever open to their wants, and his talents were always at their disposal. At Geneva, he gave concerts for the poor, and at Yverdon one for the benefit of a hospital for the aged, which enabled them to add another wing to the building, to which wing they gave the name of Gottschalk—which it still bears.

At the period of this visit, Gottschalk was only twenty-one. As displaying his progress in art, and the reputation which he had achieved, we prefer to give some contemporaneous criticisms which marked the appreciation of his style, talents, and genius as artist and composer. We select only those which were written by acknowledged authorities in musical science.

(From La France Musicale, 18 August, 1850.)

Gottschalk had no other reason for going to Switzerland than to seek rest, far from the world, and above all from Paris, that great city. He has arrived in the canton de Vaud, and will remain there for some days, silent and unknown, in the midst of a friend's family, happy to have him. But notwithstanding he had taken every possible precaution to escape from the cares of celebrity, his name quickly escaped from the valley in which he was resting on all its echoes, and deputation after deputation has been sent to him from Geneva inviting him to come there that he may he heard at least once. The celebrated pianist resisted as far as he could all the seductions of which he has been the object. For nearly a month he alleged the suffering state in which he found himself since his arrival; his strength was enfeebled; his chest, owing to the coolness of the climate, experienced a difficulty of respiration, in one word, he dragged himself along rather than walked. Thanks to God, and to the great care bestowed upon him, Gottschalk has regained his health and strength; but, as all is