Daniel Gregory Mason
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publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1903 Excerpt: ...English musical public always showed him a boundless, and we may think somewhat undiscriminating, admiration. The cheerfulness and gaiety of his music, his melodic power, his conservatism, his sincerity, his quality of good-breeding, even his slight tendency to sentimentality, all appealed to them; and they loved him as they have loved no musician, except perhaps Handel, before or since. In Scotland, where he went after visiting England, he was much impressed by the wild and beautiful ocean scenery. It was here that he conceived the idea of the work in which his poetic imagination finds perhaps its happiest and most perfect expression,--the 'Hebrides' Overture. This delightful work, which was not finished until ten years later, is more fully described in the following Notes on the Selections. Continuing his journey in leisurely fashion through South Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, he returned home in 1832 by way of Paris and a second visit to London. It was on his third visit to the latter city, a year later, that his ' Italian Symphony' was first performed. At the close of his travels, in 1833, he settled down in Germany, devoting himself in many ways and in various places to the service of classical music. At first he engaged himself for three years to take charge of the entire musical arrangements of the town of Dusseldorf, where he entered on his work with his customary enthusiasm, introducing into the church service masses by Beethoven and Cherubini, motets by Palestrina, and cantatas by Bach. In August, 1835, he accepted an invitation to go to Leipsic as conductor of the famous Gewandhaus orchestra. During the following winter he finished his oratorio 'St. Paul,' which was produced with great success at a festival in Dusseldorf in May, 1836. He was t...
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