Works of Honore De Balzac

by Honoré de Balzac

  “Then comes the finale, the gambling scene in which Bertram tortures his son by rousing him to tremendous emotions. Robert, beggared, frenzied, searching everything, eager for blood, fire, and sword, is his own son; in this mood he is exactly like his father. What hideous glee we hear in Bertram’s words: ‘Je ris de tes coups!’ And how perfectly the Venetian barcarole comes in here. Through what wonderful transitions the diabolical parent is brought on to the stage once more to make Robert throw the dice.

  “This first act is overwhelming to any one capable of working out the subjects in his very heart, and lending them the breadth of development which the composer intended them to call forth.

  “Nothing but love could now be contrasted with this noble symphony of song, in which you will detect no monotony, no repetitions of means and effects. It is one, but many; the characteristic of all that is truly great and natural.

  “I breathe more freely; I find myself in the elegant circle of a gallant court; I hear Isabella’s charming phrases, fresh, but almost melancholy, and the female chorus in two divisions, and in imitation, with a suggestion of the Moorish coloring of Spain. Here the terrifying music is softened to gentler hues, like a storm dying away, and ends in the florid prettiness of a duet wholly unlike anything that has come before it. After the turmoil of a camp full of errant heroes, we have a picture of love. Poet! I thank thee! My heart could not have borne much more. If I could not here and there pluck the daisies of a French light opera, if I could not hear the gentle wit of a woman able to love and to charm, I could not endure the terrible deep note on which Bertram comes in, saying to his son: ‘Si je la permets!’ when Robert had promised the princess he adores that he will conquer with the arms she has bestowed on him.

  “The hopes of the gambler cured by love, the love of a most beautiful woman, — did you observe that magnificent Sicilian, with her hawk’s eye secure of her prey? (What interpreters that composer has found!) the hopes of the man are mocked at by the hopes of hell in the tremendous cry: ‘A toi, Robert de Normandie!’

  “And are not you struck by the gloom and horror of those long-held notes, to which the words are set: ‘Dans la foret prochaine’? We find here all the sinister spells of Jerusalem Delivered, just as we find all chivalry in the chorus with the Spanish lilt, and in the march tune. How original is the alegro with the modulations of the four cymbals (tuned to C, D, C, G)! How elegant is the call to the lists! The whole movement of the heroic life of the period is there: the mind enters into it; I read in it a romance, a poem of chivalry. The exposition is now finished; the resources of music would seem to be exhausted; you have never heard anything like it before; and yet it is homogeneous. You have had life set before you, and its one and only crux: ‘Shall I be happy or unhappy?’ is the philosopher’s query. ‘Shall I be saved or damned?’ asks the Christian.”

  With these words Gambara struck the last chord of the chorus, dwelt on it with a melancholy modulation, and then rose to drink another large glass of Giro. This half-African vintage gave his face a deeper flush, for his passionate and wonderful sketch of Meyerbeer’s opera had made him turn a little pale.

  “That nothing may be lacking to this composition,” he went on, “the great artist has generously added the only buffo duet permissible for a devil: that in which he tempts the unhappy troubadour. The composer has set jocosity side by side with horror — a jocosity in which he mocks at the only realism he had allowed himself amid the sublime imaginings of his work — the pure calm love of Alice and Raimbaut; and their life is overshadowed by the forecast of evil.

  “None but a lofty soul can feel the noble style of these buffo airs; they have neither the superabundant frivolity of Italian music nor the vulgar accent of French commonplace; rather have they the majesty of Olympus. There is the bitter laughter of a divine being mocking the surprise of a troubadour Don-Juanizing himself. But for this dignity we should be too suddenly brought down to the general tone of the opera, here stamped on that terrible fury of diminished sevenths which resolves itself into an infernal waltz, and finally brings us face to face with the demons.

  “How emphatically Bertram’s couplet stands out in B minor against that diabolical chorus, depicting his paternity, but mingling in fearful despair with these demoniacal strains.

  “Then comes the delightful transition of Alice’s reappearance, with the ritornel in B flat. I can still hear that air of angelical simplicity — the nightingale after a storm. Thus the grand leading idea of the whole is worked out in the details; for what could be more perfectly in contrast with the tumult of devils tossing in the pit than that wonderful air given to Alice? ‘Quand j’ai quitte la Normandie.’

  “The golden thread of melody flows on, side by side with the mighty harmony, like a heavenly hope; it is embroidered on it, and with what marvelous skill! Genius never lets go of the science that guides it. Here Alice’s song is in B flat leading into F sharp, the key of the demon’s chorus. Do you hear the tremolo in the orchestra? The host of devils clamor for Robert.

  “Bertram now reappears, and this is the culminating point of musical interest; after a recitative, worthy of comparison with the finest work of the great masters, comes the fierce conflict in E flat between two tremendous forces — one on the words ‘Oui, tu me connais!’ on a diminished seventh; the other, on that sublime F, ‘Le ciel est avec moi.’ Hell and the Crucifix have met for battle. Next we have Bertram threatening Alice, the most violent pathos ever heard — the Spirit of Evil expatiating complacently, and, as usual, appealing to personal interest. Robert’s arrival gives us the magnificent unaccompanied trio in A flat, the first skirmish between the two rival forces and the man. And note how clearly that is expressed,” said Gambara, epitomizing the scene with such passion of expression as startled Andrea.

  “All this avalanche of music, from the clash of cymbals in common time, has been gathering up to this contest of three voices. The magic of evil triumphs! Alice flies, and you have the duet in D between Bertram and Robert. The devil sets his talons in the man’s heart; he tears it to make it his own; he works on every feeling. Honor, hope, eternal and infinite pleasures — he displays them all. He places him, as he did Jesus, on the pinnacle of the Temple, and shows him all the treasures of the earth, the storehouse of sin. He nettles him to flaunt his courage; and the man’s nobler mind is expressed in his exclamation:

  “Des chevaliers de ma patrie

  L’honneur toujours fut le soutien!

  “And finally, to crown the work, the theme comes in which sounded the note of fatality at the beginning. Thus, the leading strain, the magnificent call to the deed:

  “Nonnes qui reposez sous cette froide pierre,

  M’entendez-vous?

  “The career of the music, gloriously worked out, is gloriously finished by the allegro vivace of the bacchanalian chorus in D minor. This, indeed, is the triumph of hell! Roll on, harmony, and wrap us in a thousand folds! Roll on, bewitch us! The powers of darkness have clutched their prey; they hold him while they dance. The great genius, born to conquer and to reign, is lost! The devils rejoice, misery stifles genius, passion will wreck the knight!”

  And here Gambara improvised a fantasia of his own on the bacchanalian chorus, with ingenious variations, and humming the air in a melancholy drone as if to express the secret sufferings he had known.

  “Do you hear the heavenly lamentations of neglected love?” he said. “Isabella calls to Robert above the grand chorus of knights riding forth to the tournament, in which the motifs of the second act reappear to make it clear that the third act has all taken place in a supernatural sphere. This is real life again. This chorus dies away at the approach of the hellish enchantment brought by Robert with the talisman. The deviltry of the third act is to be carried on. Here we have the duet with the viol; the rhythm is highly expressive of the brutal desires of a man who is omnipotent, and the Princess, by plaintive phrases, tries to win her lover back to moderation. The musician has here placed himself in
a situation of great difficulty, and has surmounted it in the loveliest number of the whole opera. How charming is the melody of the cavatina ‘Grace pour toi!’ All the women present understood it well; each saw herself seized and snatched away on the stage. That part alone would suffice to make the fortune of the opera. Every woman felt herself engaged in a struggle with some violent lover. Never was music so passionate and so dramatic.

  “The whole world now rises in arms against the reprobate. This finale may be criticised for its resemblance to that of Don Giovanni; but there is this immense difference: in Isabella we have the expression of the noblest faith, a true love that will save Robert, for he scornfully rejects the infernal powers bestowed on him, while Don Giovanni persists in his unbelief. Moreover, that particular fault is common to every composer who has written a finale since Mozart. The finale to Don Giovanni is one of those classic forms that are invented once for all.

  “At last religion wins the day, uplifting the voice that governs worlds, that invites all sorrow to come for consolation, all repentance to be forgiven and helped.

  “The whole house was stirred by the chorus:

  “Malheureaux on coupables

  Hatez-vous d’accourir!

  “In the terrific tumult of raving passions, the holy Voice would have been unheard; but at this critical moment it sounds like thunder; the divine Catholic Church rises glorious in light. And here I was amazed to find that after such lavish use of harmonic treasure, the composer had come upon a new vein with the splendid chorus: ‘Gloire a la Providence’ in the manner of Handel.

  “Robert rushes on with his heartrending cry: ‘Si je pouvais prier!’ and Bertram, driven by the infernal decree, pursues his son, and makes a last effort. Alice has called up the vision of the Mother, and now comes the grand trio to which the whole opera has led up: the triumph of the soul over matter, of the Spirit of Good over the Spirit of Evil. The strains of piety prevail over the chorus of hell, and happiness appears glorious; but here the music is weaker. I only saw a cathedral instead of hearing a concert of angels in bliss, and a divine prayer consecrating the union of Robert and Isabella. We ought not to have been left oppressed by the spells of hell; we ought to emerge with hope in our heart.

  “I, as musician and a Catholic, wanted another prayer like that in Mose. I should have liked to see how Germany would contend with Italy, what Meyerbeer could do in rivalry with Rossini.

  “However, in spite of this trifling blemish, the writer cannot say that after five hours of such solid music, a Parisian prefers a bit of ribbon to a musical masterpiece. You heard how the work was applauded; it will go through five hundred performances! If the French really understand that music — — ”

  “It is because it expresses ideas,” the Count put in.

  “No; it is because it sets forth in a definite shape a picture of the struggle in which so many perish, and because every individual life is implicated in it through memory. Ah! I, hapless wretch, should have been too happy to hear the sound of those heavenly voices I have so often dreamed of.”

  Hereupon Gambara fell into a musical day-dream, improvising the most lovely melodious and harmonious cavatina that Andrea would ever hear on earth; a divine strain divinely performed on a theme as exquisite as that of O filii et filioe, but graced with additions such as none but the loftiest musical genius could devise.

  The Count sat lost in keen admiration; the clouds cleared away, the blue sky opened, figures of angels appeared lifting the veil that hid the sanctuary, and the light of heaven poured down.

  There was a sudden silence.

  The Count, surprised at the cessation of the music, looked at Gambara, who, with fixed gaze, in the attitude of a visionary, murmured the word: “God!”

  Andrea waited till the composer had descended from the enchanted realm to which he had soared on the many-hued wings of inspiration, intending to show him the truth by the light he himself would bring down with him.

  “Well,” said he, pouring him out another bumper of wine and clinking glasses with him, “this German has, you see, written a sublime opera without troubling himself with theories, while those musicians who write grammars of harmony may, like literary critics, be atrocious composers.”

  “Then you do not like my music?”

  “I do not say so. But if, instead of carrying musical principles to an extreme — which takes you too far — you would simply try to arouse our feelings, you would be better understood, unless indeed you have mistaken your vocation. You are a great poet.”

  “What,” cried Gambara, “are twenty-five years of study in vain? Am I to learn the imperfect language of men when I have the key to the heavenly tongue? Oh, if you are right, — I should die.”

  “No, no. You are great and strong; you would begin life again, and I would support you. We would show the world the noble and rare alliance of a rich man and an artist in perfect sympathy and understanding.”

  “Do you mean it?” asked Gambara, struck with amazement.

  “As I have told you, you are a poet more than a musician.”

  “A poet, a poet! It is better than nothing. But tell me truly, which do you esteem most highly, Mozart or Homer?”

  “I admire them equally.”

  “On your honor?”

  “On my honor.”

  “H’m! Once more. What do you think of Meyerbeer and Byron?”

  “You have measured them by naming them together.”

  The Count’s carriage was waiting. The composer and his noble physician ran down-stairs, and in a few minutes they were with Marianna.

  As they went in, Gambara threw himself into his wife’s arms, but she drew back a step and turned away her head; the husband also drew back and beamed on the Count.

  “Oh, monsieur!” said Gambara in a husky voice, “you might have left me my illusions.” He hung his head, and then fell.

  “What have you done to him? He is dead drunk!” cried Marianna, looking down at her husband with a mingled expression of pity and disgust.

  The Count, with the help of his servant, picked up Gambara and laid him on his bed.

  Then Andrea left, his heart exultant with horrible gladness.

  The Count let the usual hour for calling slip past next day, for he began to fear lest he had duped himself and had made this humble couple pay too dear for their improved circumstances and added wisdom, since their peace was destroyed for ever.

  At last Giardini came to him with a note from Marianna.

  “Come,” she wrote, “the mischief is not so great as you so cruelly meant it to be.”

  “Excellenza,” said the cook, while Andrea was making ready, “you treated us splendidly last evening. But apart from the wine, which was excellent, your steward did not put anything on the table that was worthy to set before a true epicure. You will not deny, I suppose, that the dish I sent to you on the day when you did me the honor to sit down at my board, contained the quintessence of all those that disgraced your magnificent service of plate? And when I awoke this morning I remembered the promise you once made me of a place as chef. Henceforth I consider myself as a member of your household.”

  “I thought of the same thing a few days ago,” replied Andrea. “I mentioned you to the secretary of the Austrian Embassy, and you have permission to recross the Alps as soon as you please. I have a castle in Croatia which I rarely visit. There you may combine the offices of gate-keeper, butler, and steward, with two hundred crowns a year. Your wife will have as much for doing all the rest of the work. You may make all the experiments you please in anima vili, that is to say on the stomach of my vassals. Here is a cheque for your traveling expenses.”

  Giardini kissed the Count’s hand after the Neapolitan fashion.

  “Excellenza,” said he, “I accept the cheque, but beg to decline the place. It would dishonor me to give up my art by losing the opinion of the most perfect epicures, who are certainly to be found in Paris.”

  When Andrea arrived at Gambara’s lodg
ings, the musician rose to welcome him.

  “My generous friend,” said he, with the utmost frankness, “you either took advantage, last evening, of the weakness of my brain to make a fool of me, or else your brain is no more capable of standing the test of the heady liquors of our native Latium, than mine is. I will assume this latter hypothesis; I would rather doubt your digestion than your heart. Be this as it may, henceforth I drink no more wine — for ever. The abuse of good liquor last evening led me into much guilty folly. When I remember that I very nearly — — ” He gave a glance of terror at Marianna. “As to the wretched opera you took me to hear, I have thought it over, and it is, after all, music written on ordinary lines, a mountain of piled-up notes, verba et voces. It is but the dregs of the nectar I can drink in deep draughts as I reproduce the heavenly music that I hear! It is a patchwork of airs of which I could trace the origin. The passage ‘Gloire a la Providence’ is too much like a bit of Handel; the chorus of knights is closely related to the Scotch air in La Dame Blanche; in short, if this opera is a success, it is because the music is borrowed from everybody’s — so it ought to be popular.

  “I will say good-bye to you, my dear friend. I have had some ideas seething in my brain since the morning that only wait to soar up to God on the wings of song, but I wished to see you. Good-bye; I must ask forgiveness of the Muse. We shall meet at dinner to-night — but no wine; at any rate, none for me. I am firmly resolved — ”

  “I give him up!” cried Andrea, flushing red.

  “And you restore my sense of conscience,” said Marianna. “I dared not appeal to it! My friend, my friend, it is no fault of ours; he does not want to be cured.”

  Six years after this, in January 1837, such artists as were so unlucky as to damage their wind or stringed instruments, generally took them to the Rue Froid-Manteau, to a squalid and horrible house, where, on the fifth floor, dwelt an old Italian named Gambara.