(The following is a brief plan of the exercises, as sketched by Mme. Schnitzer)

[Illustration:  EXERCISES]

“Pugno wished the thirty-seconds and sixty-fourths to be played with the utmost quickness.  This idea is not alone applicable to all scales, but can be used with any difficult passage found in a composition.

“Pugno took a keen interest in my work, my progress and career.  A few sentences culled here and there from the many letters of his which I have preserved, may serve to throw more light on the inner nature of the man: 

“’I have endeavored to make clear to your young mind the thoughts expressed in music, so that your understanding and your emotions also might grow; all this has created a link of gratitude in you and an affection within me.  I have opened the windows for you and have given you light, and I have reaped the satisfaction of my sowing.’

“’Hear all the music you can—­do not miss any of the pianists either good or bad; there is always something to be learned, even from a poor player—­if it is only what to avoid!  Study great works, but even in those there are some figures and phrases which need not be brought into the foreground, lest they attain too much significance.’

“(After playing with Hans Richter’s Orchestra):  ’What intoxication of sound—­what exhilaration and collaboration in music!  What a force within us, which sways us and throbs through us, developing and expressing each sentiment and instinct!  What art can be compared to music, which finds expression through this medium, called an orchestra.  I feel myself greater amid the orchestra, for I have a giant to converse with.  I keep pace with him, I lead him where I will—­I calm him and I embrace him.  We supplement each other; in a moment of authority I become his master and subdue him.  The piano alone is too small for me; it does not tempt me to play it except under such conditions—­with a grand orchestra!’”

XV

THUEL BURNHAM

THE “MELODY” AND “COLORATURA” HAND

A prominent figure in the musical life of Paris is Thuel Burnham, pianist and teacher.

Mr. Burnham is an American, who for a number of years has made his home in Paris.  He has studied with the greatest masters of his instrument on both sides of the water.  More than this he is a musical thinker who has worked out things for himself, amalgamating what he has found best in other methods with what he has discovered in his own experience.  He has been able to simplify the whole fabric of technical material, so there is no time lost in useless labor.