d forwarded to him. It seemed
that nothing could have given Buelow greater pleasure than to receive
this relic.

[Illustration: DR. WILLIAM MASON]

The first work taken up in class was Brahms' Variations on a Handel
theme. Von Buelow was in perfect sympathy with this noble work of Brahms
and illumined many passages with clear explanations. He was very exact
about the phrasing, "What cannot be sung in one breath cannot be
played in one breath," he said; "many composers have their own terms for
expression and interpretation; Brahms is very exact in these
points--next to him comes Mendelssohn. Beethoven not at all careful
about markings and Schumann extremely careless. Brahms, Beethoven, and
Wagner have the right to use their own terms. Brahms frequently uses the
word _sostenuto_ where others would use _ritardando_."

Of the Clavier Stuecke, Op. 76, Von Buelow said: "The Capriccio, No. 1
must not be taken too fast. First page is merely a prelude, the story
begins at the second page. How wonderfully is this melody formed, so
original yet so regular. Compare it with a Bach gigue. Remember, andante
does not mean dragging (_schleppando_), it means going (_gehend_)." To
the player who gave the Capriccio, No. 5 he said: "You play that as if
it were a Tarantelle of Stephan Heller's. Agitation in piano playing
must be carefully thought out; the natural sort will not do at all. We
do not want _blind_ agitation, but _seeing_ agitation (_aufregung_). A
diminuendo of several measures should be divided into stations, one each
for F, MF, M, P, and PP. Visit the Zoological Gardens, where you can
learn much about legato and staccato from the kangaroos."

The Ballades were taken up in these lessons, and the light thrown upon
their poetical content was often a revelation. The gloomy character of
the _Edward Ballade_, Op. 10, No. 1, the source of the Scottish poem,
the poetic story, were dwelt upon. The opening of this first Ballade is
sad, sinister and mysterious, like the old Scotch story. The master
insisted on great smoothness in playing it--the chords to sound like
muffled but throbbing heartbeats. A strong climax is worked up on the
second page, which dies away on the third to a _pianissimo_ of utter
despair. From the middle of this page on to the end, the descending
chords and octaves were likened to ghostly footsteps, while the broken
triplets in the left hand accompaniment seem to indicate drops of blood.

The third Ballade als