d chords, as
if he were afraid of being caught doing something foolish; but he soon
forgot his surroundings, and for about half an hour lost himself in an
improvisation, the style of which was exceedingly varied, and
especially distinguished by sudden transitions. The amateurs were
transported, and to the uninitiated it was interesting to observe how
his inspirations were reflected in his countenance. He revelled rather
in bold, stormy moods than in soft and gentle ones. The muscles of his
face swelled, his veins were distended, his eyes rolled wildly, his
mouth trembled convulsively, and he had the appearance of an enchanter
mastered by the spirit he had himself conjured."

Russell was probably one of the witnesses of whom Richard Wagner
remarked, in his essay on Beethoven, that they have testified to the
incomparable impression which Beethoven made by his improvisations at
the piano. And Wagner adds the following suggestive words: "The
regrets that there was no way of writing down and preserving these
instantaneous creations cannot be regarded as unreasonable, even in
comparing these improvisations with the master's greatest works, if we
bear in mind the fact, taught by experience, that even _less_ gifted
musicians, whose written compositions are not free from stiffness and
inelegance, sometimes positively amaze us by the quite unexpected and
fertile inventiveness which they display while improvising."

A similar remark was made by De Quincey, in pointing out the
spontaneous origin of some of his essays: "Performers on the organ,"
he says, "so far from finding their own _impromptu_ displays to fall
below the more careful and premeditated efforts, on the contrary have
oftentimes deep reason to mourn over the escape of inspirations and
ideas born from the momentary fervors of inspiration, but fugitive and
irrevocable as the pulses in their own flying fingers."

By way of illustrating this thesis a few more cases may be cited.
Mozart used to sit up late at night, improvising for hours at the
piano, and, according to one witness, "these were the true hours of
creation of his divine melodies," a statement which, however, we shall
presently see reason to modify somewhat. Schubert never improvised in
public like Mozart, but only "in the intervals of throwing on his
clothes, or at other times when the music within was too strong to be
resisted," as Mr. Grove remarks. What an inestimable privilege it must
have been to witne