English. Vladimir de Pachmann, that king of all Chopin players,
once bore characteristic testimony to the fact--I think it was in
London. The program was heavy with the etudes and ballades, and Huneker
sat in the front row of fanatics. After a storm of applause de Pachmann
rose from the piano stool, levelled a bony claw at Huneker, and
pronounced his dictum: "_He_ knows more than _all_ of you." Joseffy
seems to have had the same opinion, for he sought the aid of his old
pupil in preparing his new edition of Chopin, the first volume of which
is all he lived to see in print.... And, beyond all the others, Huneker
disdains writing for the kindergarten. There is no stooping in his
discourse; he frankly addresses himself to an audience that has gone
through the forms, and so he avoids the tediousness of the A B C
expositors. He is the only American musical critic, save Van Vechten,
who thus assumes invariably that a musical audience exists, and the only
one who constantly measures up to its probable interests, supposing it
to be there. Such a book as "Old Fogy," for all its buffoonery, is
conceivable only as the work of a sound musician. Its background is one
of the utmost sophistication; in the midst of its wildest extravagances
there is always a profound knowledge of music on tap, and a profound
love of it to boot. Here, perhaps, more than anywhere else, Huneker's
delight in the things he deals with is obvious. It is not a seminary
that he keeps, but a sort of club of tone enthusiasts, and membership in
it is infinitely charming.

Sec. 6

This capacity for making the thing described seem important and
delightful, this quality of infectious gusto, this father-talent of all
the talents that a critic needs, sets off his literary criticism no less
than his discourse on music and musicians. Such a book as "Iconoclasts"
or "Egoists" is full of useful information, but it is even more full of
agreeable adventure. The style is the book, as it is the man. It is
arch, staccato, ironical, witty, galloping, playful, polyglot,
allusive--sometimes, alas, so allusive as to reduce the Drama Leaguer
and women's clubber to wonderment and ire. In writing of plays or of
books, as in writing of cities, tone-poems or philosophies, Huneker
always assumes that the elements are already well-grounded, that he is
dealing with the initiated, that a pause to explain would be an affront.
Sad work for the Philistines--but a joy to the elect! All this