The amateurs were
transported, and to the uninitiated it was interesting to observe how
his inspirations were reflected in his countenance. He revelled rather
in bold, stormy moods than in soft and gentle ones. The muscles of his
face swelled, his veins were distended, his eyes rolled wildly, his
mouth trembled convulsively, and he had the appearance of an enchanter
mastered by the spirit he had himself conjured."
Russell was probably one of the witnesses of whom Richard Wagner
remarked, in his essay on Beethoven, that they have testified to the
incomparable impression which Beethoven made by his improvisations at
the piano. And Wagner adds the following suggestive words: "The
regrets that there was no way of writing down and preserving these
instantaneous creations cannot be regarded as unreasonable, even in
comparing these improvisations with the master's greatest works, if we
bear in mind the fact, taught by experience, that even _less_ gifted
musicians, whose written compositions are not free from stiffness and
inelegance, sometimes positively amaze us by the quite unexpected and
fertile inventiveness which they display while improvising.
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