Ole Bull Part 8

OLE BULL.

The renowned historian, Professor Gustaf Geijer, now wrote to Ole Bull, urging him to come to Upsala. He cordially consented, and to his first concert he invited the whole body of students. Each selection played by the violinist was warmly applauded, and the excitement culminated in the wildest enthusiasm, when, at the request of Professor Geijer, he improvised variations on the popular Swedish melody, "Lille Karen." At the close of the concert he was met in the vestibule by the students, who escorted him with songs and cheers to his hotel, where they finally dispersed after giving a hearty cheer in response to his few words of thanks. At six o'clock a "s.e.xa" was given in the large University Hall.

A letter published at this time, said:-

The artist, whose frank, attractive manner won him all hearts, in responding to the toast proposed in his honor, dwelt especially on the goodwill which in his person had been shown the brother kingdom and Norse people, and when lifted on the "golden chair,"[12] proposed from his elevated seat the toast, "Sweden for ever!" while from the same height Professor Geijer emptied his gla.s.s to "his boys."

[12] The recipient of this honor is lifted on the shoulders of two men, two more supporting the legs in front, and two the arms behind, and he is carried in triumphal procession, the flaming punch bowl held aloft, while the students, each with a gla.s.s in one hand and a lighted taper in the other, follow in order.

Sentiment after sentiment was given, and the guest of the evening at last expressed his happiness at the misadventure of his first visit, which had caused him to know better possibly than he would otherwise have done, the students of Upsala. After midnight the company followed him to his door, and he promised another concert in the University Hall, where he said he had received the greatest honor of his life. No other artist has been the recipient of such homage.

His second concert was, if possible, a greater success than the first, and both Bishop Faxe and Professor Geijer thanked him in behalf of the Upsala people.

From Upsala Ole Bull returned to Stockholm. There he had very serious trouble, to which he refers in a letter to his wife, January 26, 1843, as follows:-

Pratte wrote his dear friend Mr. R., who five years since published that pamphlet against me in Copenhagen, and told him that I had spoken ill of the king and royal family, of the royal orchestra and its leader, of the Swedes in general, and of Stockholm in particular. He also sent a criticism to be published in the papers. Mr. R. circulated these rumors, and succeeded in making many enemies for me everywhere; but the affair in Upsala, where I showed much moderation, has already disarmed many people, and the public begin to know how matters stand. To R.'s published attacks I have made no reply. _Qui s'excuse s'accuse_-and he is getting to be too well known to lead people astray longer. Pratte wrote to R. that Henrik Wergeland was the author of the critique.

It is simply absurd to impute to him such meanness. We must hope that all will turn out for the best.

February 6, 1843, he writes:-

Intrigue against me has exhausted itself; but he who endures slavery deserves to live a slave. I have thus far been able to turn circ.u.mstances that seemed against me to my advantage.

Ole Bull was deeply hurt and put to great inconvenience by the illwill of the musicians of Stockholm, and had been obliged to call in an orchestra from a neighboring town; but in the end his vindication was complete, and the weapons of his a.s.sailants recoiled upon themselves. He gave a concert at the palace, arranged by the queen in honor of the king's birthday, and was received more warmly than ever. His detractors had only helped to establish him more firmly in the esteem of the people of the Swedish capital.

The twentyfifth anniversary of Karl Johan's accession to the throne was also Ole Bull's birthday, and he invited the Norwegians in Stockholm to celebrate the royal festivities, and played the national melodies.

He soon received letters from Henrik Wergeland, in whose house Pratte lived, and who was indignant to find that his name should have been used against his friend. It was to destroy this vexatious fabrication that he determined to write the sketch of Ole Bull's life which is quoted so often in the present memoir.

On his way from Upsala to Stockholm, Ole Bull met at Jonkoping his old teacher Lundholm, who, it will be remembered, had prophesied that his pupil would in time become as good a fiddler as himself. It was at the close of a snowy day, and the northern lights were shooting up the sky.

Lundholm, m.u.f.fled in a bear skin, came along in a sleigh, and unwrapping his face called out to Ole Bull's driver to stop. Then he shouted to the artist: "Now that you are a celebrated violinist remember that, when I heard you play Paganini, I predicted your career would be a remarkable one." "You were mistaken," cried Ole Bull, jumping up; "I did not read Paganini at sight; I had played it before." "It makes no difference-goodby," and Lundholm urged on his horse and in a moment was out of sight.

We must pa.s.s by pleasant incidents at various cities and hurry on to Copenhagen, where he gave three concerts to audiences numbering several thousands. At the last concert he played his new composition, "Siciliano e Tarantella," which he was obliged to repeat, and then to acknowledge the ringing plaudits by playing a Norse and Danish national song. He was so happy in uniting these melodies, that the audience, when he had finished, rose to their feet with cries of "Viva Ole Bull!" While in Copenhagen he visited the Students' Union, and on his entrance was greeted by a song set to one of his own melodies:-

"Thanks for thy giving Our spirits their freedom; Thanks for thy greeting From Sigtuna town.

Bend but thy bow and Send forth thy arrows, Bleeds not the bosom With lovelier wound."

Here too the students escorted him to his hotel; and the king gave him a handsome ring in brilliants.

The celebrated violinist Ernst and the pianist Dohler were in Copenhagen at this time, and all three artists were living at the same hotel. They were old friends and heartily enjoyed the reunion. Ole Bull used to relate an amusing story of his early acquaintance with Ernst in Paris in 1836. He had been engaged by the Princess Damerond to arrange and take part in some quartette music at one of her soirees, and had secured the aid of Ernst and the brothers Boucher. As the musicians descended the stairs some white Polish dogs followed them, snarling and barking, to the salon. Ernst, who had on silk stockings and low shoes, began to retreat, thus encouraging one of the little brutes to bite him. The cur then rushed at Ole Bull, who deliberately lifted it on his toe and sent it up among the lights of the great chandelier. The attendant found on picking it up that the fall had killed it. The princess, raised on a sort of dais at the end of the apartment, had seen her pet's mishap, and in her agitation sent a messenger to request the musicians to leave immediately. Ole Bull expressed his willingness to comply with the gracious request, so soon as the compensation of the artists he had engaged should be handed him. Her feelings were somewhat mollified at this suggestion, but as three of the quartette had already left, there was no other course but to pay him the twentyfive louis d'or, which the four friends spent in a supper at the PalaisRoyal.

In April Ole Bull left Copenhagen, and gave concerts in Kiel, Hamburg, Bremen, and Oldenburg, returning to Hamburg. He there met f.a.n.n.y Elssler, who had just returned from the United States. She urged him to try a season in that country, and he decided to make the trip at the earliest moment possible. Just at this time, he saw a malicious attack upon himself written by the secretary of Ernst and Dohler, but, as he discovered, without their knowledge. To meet this attack, so far as it denounced his compositions, he gave Schubert three of his pieces for publication-the first and last he ever published. These were, "Variazioni di Bravoura," "La Preghiera d'una Madre" (Adagio Religioso), and "Il Notturno." They were all received with great favor by the critics at the time.

On the 19th of May, he wrote his wife from Hamburg of his happiness that a daughter had been born to them. He also referred to the attack made upon him by Ernst's secretary. "If artists will make light of and ignore calumny and censure," he said, "they are sure to repent it in the end. They may keep their n.o.bility of soul, but they will lose the respect of the public, and confidence in their own merits will be weakened. As I am about to go abroad I desire to leave behind some remembrance of myself, and have given Schubert certain pieces to publish."

In June he returned again to Copenhagen, and the enthusiasm then was, if possible, greater than ever. Ole Bull and his compositions became the universal topic of the newspaper paragraphers and of the people. Before the end of the month he went again to Christiania, and the ill.u.s.trious Danish poet, Adam ohlenschlager, happened to be a fellowpa.s.senger on the steamer. In his "Reminiscences" the latter says:-

In 1843 I went with my youngest son, William, to Norway. One of our fellowtravelers was the violinist, Ole Bull, who, because of his own talent, has acquired not only a European but a worldwide celebrity. He had often awakened my admiration as well as my astonishment. His life is remarkable. He came as a poor unknown musician to Paris, and had suffered the most extreme want, when he was recognized, heard, appreciated, loved, married, and soon acquired by his concerts a considerable fortune. His musical performances were an expression of his own character, a peculiar combination of a charming, childlike goodnature and tenderness, often interrupted by a restless excitement. Thus the most beautiful, ravis.h.i.+ng tones and most genial fancies alternated with sudden piercing shrieks. It seemed as if Ole Bull with capricious fickleness delighted in destroying the tenderest and loftiest sentiment which he had evoked, and in offending those whom he had charmed, with oddities which did not control himself, but which he in a proud mood called forth whenever he pleased. He frequently appeared to me like a painter, who shows us a beautiful picture which he has just finished, and just as we are about to examine it more closely he draws his brush over it and blots it all out again. Still, justice must be done him. We heard many a charming piece that was not thus interrupted, and it is quite probable that this manner of his has been entirely abandoned in his riper years.

No one ever played so charmingly as he an adagio of Mozart. In it he was able to subdue completely those grating features of a too violent individuality. I say he was precisely thus in his life. He sometimes spoiled the good he had done, but, with a childlike nature that was most becoming to the strong, fair young Norseman, it cost him no effort, on the other hand, to make amends for the harm he had done.

When he at one time, on board the steamer, had caused my displeasure by a too severe criticism of the Swedes and I had taken my seat on a bench, he came leaping toward me on his hands and feet and barked at me like a dog. This was a no less original than amiable manner of bringing about a reconciliation. He often visited me in Copenhagen. In Christiania, where his young and beautiful wife resided, who as a Parisian did not find life in the North very agreeable, we dined with him, and on leaving he was kind enough to offer us one of his carriages for the journey to Bergen, his native town, whither he also soon was going. He was very strong, his arms were like steel, and it is very possible that it was his excessive physical strength which occasionally interrupted the tender tones, while he shook his head so that his hair fell down into his beautiful brown eyes.... When he played for the king in Copenhagen, and Frederick VI. asked him who had taught him to play, he answered "The Mountains of Norway, your majesty."

From Christiania Ole Bull went to Trondhjem, and at his concerts there, and in all the Norse towns the enthusiasm was unbounded. On the 12th of July, 1843, he writes:-

I have been on the Dovrefjeld since yesterday evening. It commands a splendid view, being the highest mountain in Norway, eight thousand feet above the level of the sea. As we ascended it began to rain, then to snow and hail very hard. The thunder and lightning had a weird effect. I was from the noon of one day until four the next morning ascending and descending the mountain from Jerkind. G., who was unused to mountain climbing, failed to reach the summit; he was almost buried in the snow. Some Englishmen were of the party. I outwalked the guide, and reached the top before the others. A pa.s.sing traveler does me the kindness to forward this to you.

From Trondhjem he writes:-

Gertner will remain here to paint the cathedral, which is a splendid structure and eight hundred years old. I gave a concert without any a.s.sistance, playing nearly two hours without cessation. It was very fatiguing, but, at least, nothing was ruined by a bad accompaniment, and the audience was pleased.

On the way from Bergen to Christiania, he stopped at several points to play for the peasants. Especially memorable to him was the scene in Sogn. He found many of the people in their Sunday dress, a.s.sembled in the quaint Borgund church, which has stood there some eight hundred years; and, with a driving storm outside, he played for them the folksongs, as old, probably, as the edifice which sheltered them. Ole Bull visited this church again in 1879. On this, his last trip over the mountains, knots of workingmen had a.s.sembled to greet him. Every hat was lifted and hearty cheers were given as the carriage rolled past.

Wergeland says:-

Ole Bull's power, exercised through his violin over an audience, was truly wonderful. Once, on a journey in Norway, he played for a number of peasants whom he incidentally found gathered in an inn.

When he finished playing the deepest silence prevailed. Only the ticking of the big watches in their pockets was heard, when suddenly one of the men struck out his hand, and with great emphasis cried aloud, "This is a lie." If true mental power consists in lifting the unconscious forces of life into the light of the conscious, giving them form and shape, converting them into thought and will, Ole Bull's playing was not a lie. His tones fell on his hearers, like the first warm rain of spring, with a blessing.

His last months in Norway were spent in making preparations for the great journey to America. August found him again in Christiania. On the 11th of September he gave his farewell concert, and left with his wife and three children on the 16th, for Copenhagen. Wergeland, writing of his departure, says: "He left for America, preceded by his fame, and followed by thousands and thousands of grateful farewells from his countrymen."

On the 3d of October he gave a concert in Luneburg, which was attended by the King of Hanover and other royal personages; and, sending his family to Paris, he went himself, by way of Amsterdam and London, to Liverpool, where he took pa.s.sage. He wrote his wife from Liverpool, November 4, 1843:-

Schubert has published the "Adagio Religioso," which will be sent you at Paris. You will find _your_ name on the t.i.tlepage. The "Bravura Variations" are dedicated to King Karl Johan (Bernadotte) as follows: "Variazioni di Bravoura, Fantasy on a theme of Bellini, dedicated to Karl Johan, King and Benefactor of my native land, Norway." It will be sent you, too....

I am well now, but in a fever of anxiety concerning you and our children, whom I am about to leave. I must have patience. With a firm will, talent, and G.o.d's blessing, all will be well.... I embrace you very tenderly. Kiss our children for me.

Wergeland's celebrated poems to Ole Bull were published at this time, and, like Welhaven's, are valued as among the finest lyrics in the Norse literature.[13]

[13] They are printed in the Appendix.

Ole Bull landed in Boston, in November, 1843, and went directly on to New York. His belief in the st.u.r.dy common people of his own country and his love of freedom made him antic.i.p.ate with great interest an acquaintance with a people who governed for themselves, and this acquaintance resulted in giving him greater hopes for his own land, which he proudly felt was able to show already the most liberal const.i.tution of all the European monarchical governments. He was then and ever zealous to the utmost, that every precedent which had been favorable to the growing power of the Norse people, through their const.i.tution, should be jealously guarded. He insisted that their only safety and good lay in a demand for a fuller sovereignty of the people, and in their better education for such power. To him, therefore, the interest of his first visit and sojourn in the American Republic was not confined to his profession. He was from the first, and to the last, an earnest student of republican government and inst.i.tutions.

His friend R. B. Anderson writes of him:-

Extremes meet. Ole Bull was at once the most perfect cosmopolitan and the most zealous patriot. Having spent much of his time abroad in the various European countries and in America, he had thoroughly learned the peculiarities of all nationalities. He was a keen observer. Mastering quickly the various European vernaculars, and winning easily the hearts of the people, he became conversant with the political and social questions that agitate the different nations. He was earnest in proclaiming their merits, but usually silent as to their faults. His face would brighten at every evidence he found of progress toward freedom of thought and the establishment of liberal governments in the various monarchical countries of Europe.

Ole Bull's best thoughts were given to his own country, to Norway.

During all the years of conquest in his profession, and all the honors bestowed upon him in foreign lands, he never forgot his dear "Gamle Norge." He ever talked with loving tenderness of Norway's gray mountains. He was but four years old when the young Norway was born. When he went out into the world the names Norway and Norwegian were scarcely to be found in the European vocabularies, these terms having previously been absorbed by Denmark and Dane. With his fame and name, attention was everywhere called to the fact that Norway had cast off the yoke of Denmark, and a.s.serted her right to exist as an independent nation; and when people saw Ole Bull they said, "A land that can foster such sons has an inalienable right to its independence."

His name was now to become a household word through the length and breadth of the United States. At first circ.u.mstances seemed unfavorable.

There were already two violinists in New York-Vieuxtemps, who was a.s.sisted by the famous singer Madame Damoreau, and Artot. The French, loyal to their countrymen, made a formidable opposition, and many difficulties had to be encountered. Ole Bull gave his first concert as early as the 23d of November. The contest between the parties continued with much vigor; the fact that not a Frenchman was present at the Norwegian's first concert made it now a question between the French and Americans. The papers were filled with contributions in prose and in verse, witty epigrams, and cartoons. Victory soon inclined to Ole Bull.

With his first concert, he won the goodwill of the Americans, and ever afterwards held it. His audiences kept growing, until he was obliged to play in larger halls than were intended for concert purposes, and oftentimes many were unable to gain admission. The rapidity with which he traveled, and the frequency of his performances, were also remarkable. As an ill.u.s.tration of this, we will give a list of his concerts for the month of December, 1843. After appearing in New York again on the 29th of November, he gave the following concerts in December:-

December 1. Philadelphia.

3. New York.

5. New York.

7. Philadelphia.

9. Philadelphia.

12. New York.

15. Philadelphia.

16. Philadelphia.

18. New York.