Dovesky made to
certain bird songs which recalled to his mind passages in operas, in
secular and sacred productions, his rendition of the wild music, and then
the human notes, his comparison of the two, and his remarks on different
composers, his mastery of the violin, and his ability to play long
passages preceding and following the parts taken from the birds, were
intensely absorbing and educative to all of them. Then Mr. Tower would add
the description and history of each bird in question. Mr. Minturn started
the boys' library with interesting works on ornithology, everything that
had been written concerning strains in bird and human music; the lives and
characters of the musicians in whose work the bird passages appeared, or
who used melodies so like the birds it made the fact apparent the
feathered folk had inspired them. This led to minute examination of the
lives of the composers, in an effort to discover which of them were
country born and had worked in haunts where birds might be heard. The
differing branches of information opened up seemed endless.
Pages:
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639