Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. Arrival in Milan.?Verdi presents himself to the Conservatoire, where he is not admitted.?He becomes a pupil of Lavigna, chef iforckestre of the theatre of La Scala.?He writes marches, overtures, cantatas, etc. Scarcely arrived in Milan, having had time only to get such information as was necessary, Verdi presented himself at the entrance examinations of the Conservatoire, at that time directed by the veteran Francesco Easily. Whatever may have been the worth of that distinguished artist, it is well known that he was absolutely deficient in fire, imagination, and musical passion, and that he was much more of a dry professor and rigid theorist, than an artist in the high and noble sense of the word. We must not, therefore, be unreasonably astonished to learn that he was incapable of discovering the aptitude of the future composer; and, in fact, young Verdi found himself repulsed without ceremony, on the pretext that he showed no musical disposition. Fetis, unwilling to allow that Easily could be mistaken in these circumstances, has given REJECTION BY CONSERVATOIRE OF MILAN. 25 reasons in justification of his decision which are at least remarkable.
It is almost certain, says he, that Easily sought for some indication of artistic faculties in the appearance of Verdi; for it is by suck indications that the principal of a school can in most cases form an opinion on the chances of the future of a candidate. But it is evident to any person who has seen the composer of Rigoletto and Trovatore, or even a portrait of him, that never did the physiognomy of a composer in a less degree reveal talent. That icy exterior, that impassibility of feature and bearing, those thin lips, that ensemble of steel, might well indicate intelligence; a diplomatist might be hid…