He is excessively nervous, and silhouette caricatures
of him, representing him as a cat in convulsions in the conductor's
desk, are very popular in Germany.
[Footnote 193: This essay was written in 1905.]
He was born at Kalischt in Bohemia, and became a pupil of Anton
Bruckner at Vienna, and afterwards _Hofoperndirecktor_ ("Director of the
Opera") there. I hope one day to study this artist's work in greater
detail, for he is second only to Strauss as a composer in Germany, and
the principal musician of South Germany.
His most important work is a suite of symphonies; and it was the fifth
symphony of this suite that he conducted at the Strasburg festival. The
first symphony, called _Titan_, was composed in 1894. The construction
of the whole is on a massive and gigantic scale; and the melodies on
which these works are built up are like rough-hewn blocks of not very
good quality, but imposing by reason of their size, and by the obstinate
repetition of their rhythmic design, which is maintained as if it were
an obsession. This heaping-up of music both crude and learned in style,
with harmonies that are sometimes clumsy and sometimes delicate, is
worth considering on account of its bulk.
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