Your loving Nell : notes from Vienna and Paris music studios ...

Appendix

Piano Exercises . . . .211

Exercises Given by Frau Bree . 213

Lessons Given by Leschetiszki . 217

Technical Exercises . . . 229

ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

Mrs. Nellie Gore . Frontispiece

Professor Leschetiszki .... 44 Professor Moszkowski . . . .164

Grave of Mrs. Nellie Gore . . 207

Introduction

INTRODUCTION

With an " open grave/' by strange coincidence casually mentioned in the first letter of this collection, and a closed grave pictured at the end, the imaginative reader can almost see the hand of Fate propelling the pen of the writer. Every word seems to converge toward the tragedy which occurred only two days after the last " Good-by, dear," was written to her aunt by cc Your loving Nell," and which was announced in our daily papers by the following head-lines :

AMERICAN LADY SHOT IN PARIS IN THE APARTMENT OF A RUSSIAN BARYTONE

This seemed to suggest a scandal ; but those who followed the particulars of " Mrs. Gore's death," which remained prominent in the papers for more than a week, were gradually convinced that their first surmise was erroneous.

It developed that the " barytone " had been ill for several days, and the lady had presumably called out of sympathy.

"An accidental discharge of a revolver," which had been lying on the table at his bedside, was the

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verdict finally accepted by the court, after suicide had been proved impossible.

The Americans in Paris unanimously protested against any aspersions on Mrs. Gore's name, and attested their regard for her by attending her funeral en masse — a demonstration of unusual import. Aside from this, it was almost, if not quite, convincing to read a eulogy, in the strongest terms, of her character and disposition indited by her divorced husband.

But there was one final fact which, to those who knew, left no shadow of doubt as to Mrs. Gore's purity of life and purpose :

She was studying the piano with Moskowski.

To say that she was a musician would convey little impression, or that she studied singing, or even piano, would not denote much, for there are many phases and degrees of art ; but to be working with Moskowski meant everything.

The woman who has advanced herself enough as a pianist to be accepted for tuition by a teacher of such rank has no time or strength for anything ignoble. Only an abiding ambition and determined effort along one path could have brought her to such a point in her art.

Read these letters, which were penned with no thought of publication, and you will know how

INTRODUCTION xiii

earnestly she worked, and how deeply she had learned that, as she herself expresses it, "to be a great pianist means absolute self-mastery." Her account of the discouragement and loneliness, which often followed after weeks of nervestraining work, depicts the experience of countless students in the capitals of Europe to-day. Her life in Vienna, under Leschetiszki's regime, and her struggles to master his method, are told with minute and peculiar power.

To the casual reader it might seem that her ambition and efforts were, after all, in vain ; but on further thought we realize that it was her ceaseless work and "self-mastery" which, all-unconscious to herself, had made the impression on those who met her which so redounded to her credit when her memory was assailed.

With circumstances all against her — no parents to uphold her, alone in Paris, divorced, and, last but not least, of exceeding beauty, dying in a tragic way, the mystery of which will never be fully solved — she was yet saved from condemnation by the earnest purpose which had dominated her life and made itself felt wherever she went. A growing pathos pervades her final letters, in spite their constant theme of "work, work, work."

Startling as a prophecy is the unaccountable dexiv INTRODUCTION

pression she describes in her very last letter — her despairing thoughts of death.

"It is the first time I was ever so troubled," she adds. "All our efforts and endless striving seem so petty and vain."

Poor Nelly Gore !

Blighted ambition is ever a source of pathetic interest. This accounts for the many visitors to the massive mausoleum of Marie BashkirtsefF, and with equal sentiment they may some day go to the grave of Nelly Gore.

Mabel Wagnalls