is the anna ls of English music there have been many
more megrims, but few more engaging figures than Edward and Waiter Bache, the story of whose lives has been told with admirable tact and sympathy and most judicious brevity by their sister Constance, herself an accomplished musician and genial writer. Severely critical the work could hardly be meted be be __, but it is laudably free from the taint of indis- creet panegyric. Miss Backs, refrains from any dogmatic obtrusion of her own preferences, being content, for the most part, to let her brothers reveal themselves in their own letters, and confining her share in the work to a concise narrative. supelemented by such comments and elucidations as are demanded in the interests of the general reader. The sons of a Unitarian minister in Birmingham, Edward and Walter Bache, though united by their high ideals and disinter- ested devotion to art, were separated by at least 50 years in their istic sympathies, though only by nine in age. Edward's life art (1833-58) synchronised with the period of Mendelssohn's pre- daminant influence in English music, and the most significant fact of his boyhood was that he-played amongst the violins at the first performance of Elijah at Birmingham in 1846. Highly gifted, but exceedingly self-critical, he prosecuted his studies in the most thoroughgoing and conscientious manner, and in his student days in London cultivated the Muse, if not " on a little oatmeal," at least with such rigorous self-denial as to impair a naturally delicate constitution. He was a favourite pupil of Sterndale Bennett, and at Leipzig, where he continued his studies, won by his diligence and ability the cordial recognition of so fastidious a master as Moritz Hanptmann. Yet much as he appreciated the educa- tional value of his sojourn in Germany, he was entirely out of touch with the tendencies of the time. Berlioz and Wagner were equally "abominable," Schumann's "new paths" in his view only led into a jungle, and Beethoven in his later works seemed to him to be striving after the un- attainable. His idols were Handel and Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, and Auber. He would have echoed Nietzsehe's saying, Ii faut Mediterraniser la musique, and his great ambition was to proceed to Italy, steep himself in the sweet- ness and light of what he held to be the best musical atmosphere, and then indulge his genius by composing English opera for the English stage. At the advice of his friends, however, he resolved to postpone his Italian campaign, returned to England early in 1855, and though de- pressed by the sudden death of his mother, he appeared with gratifying success at a number of concerts in Hamp- stead, Liverpool, and Birmingham. But towards the end of the year consumptive tendencies declared themselves, and though a trip to Algiers so far restored his health as to enable him to resume his pianoforte studies at Leipzig, and to proceed to Rome for the winter of 1856-57, where his talents as a composer and pianist began to secure him remunerative recognition, a further serious recurrence of lung trouble drove him home. In the late autumn of 1857 he went to Torquay, where he played for the last time in public in February, 1858, and returned in May to Birmingham. There he was present at a farewell concert of his own music on August 5th, and passed away less than three weeks later. The record of his simple and blameless life is enlivened with many interesting anecdotes of the eminent musicians with whom he came in contact, and contains a letter addressed to his brother, on the pains and penalties attached to the career of an instrumental musician, which deserves the careful attention of any one intending to make a livelihood by that arduous calling. By way of an appendix Miss Bache has printed a very interesting article in which her brother sketched out a scheme for the organisation and encouragement of provincial orchestras.
The life of Walter Bache, whose memory is still green in
the minds of those whom he inspired by his generous example, Presents many features of vivid contrast with that of his elder brother. With less of the creative impulse, and less inborn talent, he had a robuster physique, higher animal spirits, and -altogether a larger stock of vitality to draw upon. Yet he too, exhausted by his distil' terested endeavours to convert his countrymen to the cult of Liszt, broke down and died when Braker If wietaiu : Bentiniseernces oliklioard and Walter Bache. By Constance Mete. London : Methuen and Co. [6s.]
barely past his prime. In his early student days at Leipzig he showed no especial industry, but from the
moment he came under the magnetic influence of Liszt he laboured with unflagging zeal to fit himself for the role of interpreting and popularising his hero. There is a touching and illuminating anecdote of his first interview with Liszt. Bache was so nervous that he could not speak, and Liszt, arguing from past experience, thought he had come to borrow money, and asked him Brauchen sie Geld ? The chivalrous character of Walter Bache's devotion to Liszt is revealed in a letter in which he frankly admits that Liszt's orchestral and choral works could never be immortal like those of Bach, Beethoven, and Wagner. But then, so he would have put it, Bach and Beethoven were every. where recognised. To champion their cause was to force an open door. Wagner, again, was backed by hosts of devoted friends, by the patronage and purse of a King. Liszt the serious composer—as opposed to Liszt the incomparable virtuoso —was unrecognised or dismissed as impossible. And thus it came about that out of a mixture of genuine admiration, deep gratitude, and the sportsmanlike desire to secure his master fair play, Walter Bache devoted his life to the Lisztian propaganda. To his abiding credit be it noted that he never made Liszt a stalking-horse on which to advertise himself. Whenever he could secure the services of a great conductor like Hans von Billow or Mr. Manna, he cheerfully resigned the baton, and practised what he himself preached about the duty of playing second fiddle. Except for an occasional visit to the Continent, he worked bard teaching the pianoforte all the year round, devoting his leisure to the preparation of works to be performed at his annual concerts, which never paid their expenses, and generally swallowed up in a single evening a third of his total income. There was a curious poetic fitness in Walter Bache's end, which followed closely on that of his hero. Liszt died in August, 1886—the indifference of the musical world struck Bache at the time as something "fearful "—and eighteen months later his devoted champion passed away in his fifty, sixth year, after only three days' illness. It is good to think that by the happy thought of adding to the parent fund and renaming the Liszt Scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music the "Liszt-Bache Schclarship," his unselfish devotion has been commemorated in precisely the way that, be woulci have liked best. The value of this unpretending but most interesting record is enhanced by several portraits of tho Bashes and other musicians, by a list of the works of Liszt performed at Walter Bache's thirteen orchestral concerts between 1871 and 1886, and by an excellent index. Miss Bache is to be congratulated not only on the spirit but the work- manlike manner in which she has fulfilled her pious task. The book, we may add, is appropriately dedicated to Mr. A. J. Hipkins, a man whom all musicians delight to honour, and who enjoyed the intimate friendship and affection of both; brothers.
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