ML COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Set up and electrotyped. Published January, 1920. THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY PREFACE In overlooking a lifetime one may overlook many things in it; I have forgotten some, I suppose; it is often convenient to have a memory that forgets, but how inconvenient not to have one that remembers! Memoirs - they are what may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil; Reminiscences the word is too high-sounding, unless one sings it; but Recollections may be spoken; they belong more to the present. Recollections, then, let these be. Some of mine are subconscious, as of times far and far away, when my ancestors were, as Professor Huxley said, "sitting in trees and painting themselves blue"; or of a later time when Christianity brought Rome, her art and her language, again to Britain; or of a nearer day, when Freedom was demanded for the folk; or of that time still more near, when for Freedom's sake my own kindred sought a freer life in a newer world. These things are ever present in my thought, and of my life it should be an easy thing to tell; yet it is not, for am I not the concentrated essence of the experiences of my ancestors, as well as of myself? And so of my own self to tell the plain, unvarnished tale, I find it hard. Friends are a necessity for an artist: without them, be he never so good, he fails; with them, he stands at least a chance of success. It has been my good fortune to be blessed with many friends in private, and I owe nothing but thanks to the encouragement of the critical fraternity; but to the public after all I owe everything, for to it, in the last analysis, is an artist beholden most. At present, however, I wish to express my gratitude to those who have so kindly helped me with this little volume, not the least among these being my good friend Wallace Rice, to whom I owe my delivery from the toils and fascinations of the obiter dicta-phone. In this book I have refrained from going into many particulars of my artistic career, preferring to give a general survey of its principal points, for my object is not only to interest music lovers by giving them a glimpse into an artist's life, but to provide a stimulus for amateurs who contemplate entering the professional arena, and to show them how necessary it is to have, in the first place, the natural ability, then the inner urge to prosecute their studies intelligently, the impulse to continue against opposition, and the determination to endure to the end. To the profession of music, many are called but few are chosen. Of those who do achieve success, some are born to the purple, and so have the avenues of approach thrown open to them. But most of us are obliged to struggle in the press of those who throng the Muse even to touch the hem of her garment, and we may be thankful if she stretches forth her hand to help us on our way. New York, DAVID BISPHAM. |