was brought to the house. The first note that was sounded,
of course, brought him up. He was permitted to indulge his
curiosity by running his fingers over and smelling the keys,
and was then taken out of the parlor. As long as any one was
playing, he was contented to stay in the yard, and dance and
caper to the music; but the moment it ceased, having
discovered whence the sounds proceeded, and how they were
produced, he was anxious to get to the instrument to
continue them. One night the parlor and the piano had been
left open: his mother had neglected to fasten her door, and
he had escaped without her knowledge. Before day the young
ladies awoke, and, to their astonishment, heard Tom playing
one of their pieces. He continued to play until the family
at the usual time arose, and gathered around him to witness
and wonder at his performance, which, though necessarily
very imperfect, was marvellously strange; for,
notwithstanding this was his first known effort at a tune,
he played with both hands, and used the black as well as the
white keys.
"After a while he was allowed free access to the piano, and
commenced playing every thing he heard. He soon mastered
all of that, and commenced composing for himself. He would
sit at the piano for hours, playing over the pieces he had
heard; then go out, and run and jump about the yard a little
while, and come back and play something of his own. Asked
what it was, he replied, 'It is what the wind said to me;'
or, 'What the birds said to me;' or, 'What the trees said to
me;' or what something else said to him. No doubt what he
was playing was connected in his mind with some sound, or
combination of sounds, proceeding from those things; and not
unfrequently the representation was so good as to render the
similarity clear to others.
"There was but one thing which seemed to give Tom as much
pleasure as the sound of the piano. Between a wing and the
body of the dwelling there is a hall, on the roof of which
the rain falls from the roof of the dwelling, and runs
thence down a gutter. There is, in the combination of sounds
produced by the falling and running water, something so
enchanting to Tom, that from his early childhood to the time
he left home, whenever it rained, whether by day or night,
he would go into that passage, and remain as long as the
rain continued. When he was less than five years of age,
having been there during a severe thunder-storm, he went to
the piano and played what is now known as his 'Rain Storm,'
and said it was what the rain, the wind, and the thunder
said to him. The perfection of the representation can be
fully appreciated by those only who have heard the sounds by
the falling of the water upon the roofs, and its running off
through the gutters.
"There was in the city of Columbus a German music-teacher
who kept pianos and music for sale. The boys about the city,
having heard much of Tom, sometimes asked the boys of the
family to take him to town, that they might hear him. Upon
these occasions they asked permission of this man to use one
of his pianos; and, though he would grant the permission, he
would not hear him. If he was engaged, he would send them to
the back part of the store, which was a very deep one; if he
had nothing to do, he would walk out into the street. When
Tom was about eight years of age, a gentleman, having
obtained permission to exhibit him, hired a piano of this
man, and invited him to visit his concert. He indignantly
rejected the invitation.
"The man, however, succeeded in awakening the curiosity of
the wife of the musician sufficiently to induce her to
attend; and she gave her husband such accounts, that he went
the next night. After the performance was over, he
approached the man, and said,--
"'Sir, I give it up: the world has never seen such a thing
as that little blind negro, and will never see such
another.'
"Encouraged by this, the exhibiter the next day applied to
him to undertake to teach Tom. His reply then was,--
"'No, sir; I can't teach him any thing: he knows more of
music than we know, or can learn. We can learn all that
great genius can reduce to rule and put in tangible form: he
knows more than that. I do not even know what it is; but I
see and feel it is something beyond my comprehension. All
that can be done for him will be to let him hear fine
playing: he will work it all out by himself after a while;
but he will do it sooner by hearing fine music.'
"It has been stated that Tom was born blind. In his infancy
and for years the pupils of his eyes were as white and
apparently as inanimate as those of a dead fish. But nature
pointed out to him a remedy which gradually relieved him
from total darkness, and in process of time conferred upon
him, to a limited extent, the blessings of vision.
"When he was three or four years of age, it was observed
that he passed most of his time with his face upturned to
the sun, as if gazing intently upon it, occasionally passing
his hand back and forth with a rapid motion before his eyes.
That was soon followed by thrusting his fingers into his
eyes with a force which appeared to be almost sufficient to
expel the eyeballs from their sockets. From this he
proceeded to digging into one of them with sticks, until the
blood would run down his face. All this must have been
pleasant to him, or he would not have done it; and there is
no doubt that he is indebted to the stimulus thus applied to
his eyes for the measure of sight he now enjoys. When five
or six years of age, a small, comparatively clear speck
appeared in one of his eyes; and it was discovered that
within a very small space he could see any bright object.
That eye has continued to clear, until he is now able to see
luminous bodies at a distance, and can distinguish small
bodies by bringing them close to his eye. Persons that he
knows well he can distinguish at the distance of a few feet;
and it is hoped that in process of time his sight will so
far improve as to relieve him from many of the difficulties
to which he is subject.
"The mere technicalities of music Tom learns without
difficulty. Its substance he seems to comprehend
intuitively. To teach him the notes, it was necessary only
to sound them, and tell him their names. With the elements
and principles of music he seemed to be familiar long before
he knew any of the names by which they were indicated; as a
man going into a strange country may be perfectly acquainted
with the appearance and nature of the material objects which
meet his view, without knowing the names applied to them by
the people.
"Considering that in early life he learned nothing, and
later but little from sight, that he is possessed by an
overmastering passion, which so pervades his whole nature as
to leave little room for interest in any thing else, and the
gratification of which has been indulged to the largest
extent, it is not surprising that to the outside world he
should exhibit but few manifestations of intellect as
applicable to any of the ordinary affairs of life, or that
those who see him only under its influence should conclude
that he is idiotic.
"The elegance, taste, and power of his performances, his
wonderful power of imitation, his extraordinary memory,--not
only of music, but of names, dates, and events,--his strict
adherence to what he believes to be right, his uniform
politeness, and his nice sense of propriety, afford, to
those who know him well, ample refutation of this opinion.
"Tom sometimes indulges in some strange gymnastics upon the
stage, which are considered by many a part of his stage
training. So far from this being the case, it is but a
slight outcropping of his usual exercises. If those who see
him upon the stage could witness his performances in his
room, and the enjoyment they afford him, they would perhaps
regret the necessity of his restraint in public. He never
engaged in the plays of children, or manifested any interest
in them. His amusements were all his own. With a physical
organization of great power and vigor, and an exuberance of
animal spirits, he naturally sought physical exercise.
Compelled by want of sight to limit himself to a small
space, he put himself in almost every conceivable posture,
and resorted to those exercises which required the most
violent physical exertion. They are now necessary certainly
to his enjoyment, perhaps to his health.
"Tom has been seen probably by more people than any one
living being. He has played in almost every important city
in the United States and in a great many of the smaller
towns, in Paris, and in most of the principal cities of
England and Scotland.... Those who have observed him most
closely, and attempted to investigate him, pronounce him a
'living miracle,' unparalleled, incomprehensible, such as
has not been seen before, and probably will never be seen
again."
I find, in reading his biography, that in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh,
in England and Scotland, scientists were asked to give an opinion as
to "Blind Tom's" musical genius. I select only one from these
opinions. The others (from Charles Halle, I. Moscheles, and Professor
H.S. Oakley, all very eminent musicians) agree with this one, and need
not be given.
PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 16, 1865.
DEAR SIR,--The undersigned desire to express to you their
thanks for the opportunity afforded to them of hearing and
seeing the wonderful performances of your _protégé_, the
blind boy pianist, Tom. They find it impossible to account
for these immense results upon any hypothesis growing out of
the known laws of art and science.
In the numerous tests to which Tom was subjected in our
presence, or by us, he invariably came off triumphant.
Whether in deciding the pitch or component parts of chords
the most difficult and dissonant; whether in repeating with
correctness and precision any pieces, written or impromptu,
played to him for the first and only time; whether in his
improvisations, or performances of compositions by Thalberg,
Gottschalk, Verdi, and others; in fact, under every form of
musical examination,--and the experiments are too numerous
to mention or enumerate,--he showed a power and capacity
ranking him among the most wonderful phenomena recorded in
musical history.
Accept, dear sir, the regards of your humble servants,
B.C. CROSS,
JAMES M. BECK,
G. BLANDNER,
J.A. STERN,
J.H. REDNOR,
CARL ROESE,
C. BLANCGAUR,
J.A. GETZA,
And several others.
Here are some clippings from American and English newspapers.
From "The Public Ledger," Philadelphia, Sept. 27, 1865:--
"Many professors of music of great eminence have been ready,
after listening to him, to declare that they would never
touch the piano again. What he has done in public in the way
of playing the most difficult pieces after hearing them but
once, and with a perfection that years of practice could not
usually apply, is known to all the lovers of music in this
city.
"The secret of this wonderful power is the most perfect ear
for the harmonies of sound ever observed,--'only this, and
nothing more.' To him every thing is music. Discords do not
seem to disturb him; but his ear catches every harmony, and
his whole being seems entranced and controlled by it. Let
him stand with his back to a piano, and any number of chords
be struck, and he will instantly tell every note sounded,
showing that he has been able to discriminate, and his
memory to retain distinctly and perfectly, each sound. The
phrenologists say that memory is in proportion to clearness
and strength of the impression produced at first; and this
must be the case with him. From two years old this
remarkable power of sound over him has been noticed. He has
been blind from birth; and it would seem here, as often
observed before, that, by a compensative law of our being,
in proportion as one sense is defective, the expenditure of
vital energy thus saved is absorbed by some other sense.
Probably all our sensations are the result of vibrations;
and the pulsations of light that usually enter and give all
their exquisite pleasure through the eye-ball are in his
case compensated for by the pulsations of sound, which
strike on an ear possessed of nerves of double delicacy and
vital energy from the absorption and concentration of two
senses in one.
"'Blind Tom' is not, however, the senseless being that most
imagine him, but rather like one completely guided and
governed by this one sense alone. As a lad, the song of a
bird would lead him to wander off into the woods; and then
the sound of the flute would bring him to those who went in
search of him....
"Perhaps a proper study of the case of this lad might show
to what extent all (though in less degree) might be educated
through music. It is certainly this alone that can be most
easily developed. Probably the highest and best emotions
might be thus permanently excited within him; while the
desire for those pleasures leads him to put forth
intellectual efforts that nothing else can.... But his
performances in music show how the highest results of art
and study are most easily reached by this lad in his
one-sided culture and development,--that of the ear alone.
It is with him a sort of inspiration. The science of music
he will probably never be able to master; but we must
remember that the art of it preceded the science in Egypt,
in Palestine, in Greece, and in Rome, by long ages. Indeed,
it was the music of the Hebrews, and then of the Christian
Church, that gave birth to scientific music, and alone
developed it, until that of the opera gave rise to a
distinct branch of the culture. This re-acted powerfully on
sacred music itself. 'Blind Tom' at present likes operatic
music best."
"The Albany (N.Y.) Argus" of January, 1866, said,--
"Now test the power of analysis. Three pianos are opened: at
two of them persons present hammer away, with the design of
producing the most perfect discord imaginable; at the third
piano, the professor makes a run of twenty notes. The
confusion ceases, and Tom repeats in a moment each of the
twenty notes sounded. Still another test. Tom takes the
stool himself. With his right hand he plays 'Yankee Doodle'
in B flat. With his left hand he performs 'Fisher's
Hornpipe' in C. At the same time he sings 'Tramp, tramp,' in
another key,--maintaining three distinct processes in that
discord, and apparently without any effort whatever. 'Most
marvellous!' you say; 'but can he express as well as he
perceives?' The gentlemanly director will let you see. He
asks Tom to render 'Home, Sweet Home,' by Thalberg. You
know, that, of all productions in the current _repertoire_,
there are none which have finer or more difficult shades
than this. 'Blind Tom' proceeds; and, were you to close your
eyes, you could not tell but Thalberg himself was at the
instrument, so perfect and so exquisite is the conception
and the touch. Then you have renderings in imitation from
Chopin, from Gottschalk, from Vieuxtemps, from anybody you
will mention who has been deemed a master of the art; and
you turn away convinced, surfeited with marvels, satisfied
that you have witnessed one of the most incomprehensible
facts of the time."
From "The Manchester (Eng.) Courier," Sept. 26:--
"'Prodigies' of all kinds are presented ever and anon to the
public nowadays; but we have had nothing yet produced so
truly marvellous as the negro phenomenon known as 'Blind
Tom,' who appeared for the first time in Manchester, at the
Theatre Royal, last night. In order to test 'Blind Tom's'
powers of memory, Mr. Joule gave a short impromptu, avoiding
any marked rhythm or subject, but which was imitated very
cleverly. To test his powers of analyzing chords, Mr. Joule
played him the following discordant combinations: the chord
of B flat in the left hand, with the chord of A with the
flat fifth and sharp sixth in right hand; the chord of E in
the left hand, and the chord of D, two sharps, in the right;
the chord of A, three flats, in the left hand, with that of
A, three sharps, in the right. All these chords were at once
correctly named by enumerating each note in succession from
the lowest. Mr. Seymour subsequently was called upon, and
gave a subject, which he reproduced upon the piano-forte
with great success."
From "The Glasgow (Scotland) Daily Herald," Jan. 2, 1867:--
"'Blind Tom,' the wonderful negro-boy pianist, made his
_début_ in Glasgow yesterday, when he gave three of his
entertainments, or rather musical exhibitions, in the
Merchants' Hall,--two during the day, and one in the
evening. He is, without doubt, an extraordinary lad; born
blind, though he is now able to distinguish light from
darkness; and having a defect in some of his mental
faculties, though what that defect is it is very difficult
to say. Nature seems to have made up for these deficiencies
by endowing him with a marvellously acute ear and a
retentive memory. It is not uncommon to find blind people
with their other senses much more highly developed, and much
more susceptible of impression, than in people possessing
all their faculties; but in no case have we ever heard or
known of one with auditory nerves so fine, or with memory so
powerful, as 'Blind Tom.' Mozart, when a mere child, was
noted for the delicacy of his ear, and for his ability to
produce music on a first hearing; but Burney, in his
'History of Music,' records no instance at all coming up to
this negro boy for his attainments in phonetics, and his
power of retention and reproduction of sound.... He plays
first a number of difficult passages from the best
composers; and then any one is invited to come forward and
perform any piece he likes, the more difficult the more
acceptable, and, if original, still more preferable. Tom
immediately sits down at the piano, and produces _verbatim
et literatim_ the whole of what he has just heard. To show
that it is not at all necessary that he should be acquainted
with any piece beforehand to reproduce it, he invites any
one to strike a number of notes simultaneously with the
hand, or with both hands; and immediately, as we heard him
do yesterday, he repeats at length, and without the
slightest hesitation, the whole of the letters, with all
their inflections, representing the notes. Nor are his
wondrous powers confined to the piano, on which he can
produce imitations of various instruments, and play two
different tunes--one in common time, and a second in
triple--while he sings a third; but he can with the voice
produce, with the utmost accuracy, any note which his
audience may suggest. Yesterday afternoon, for instance, he
was asked to sing B flat, F sharp, and the upper A,--a very
difficult combination; and, beginning with the latter, he at
once satisfied his auditors of his success. One very funny
feat he executed, which, as much as any thing else, showed
what he could do. When at Aberdeen, as Dr. Howard explained,
Tom heard, in a large ante-room adjoining the hall where he
was, a teacher of dancing tuning his fiddle, the strings of
which apparently had been rather difficult to get tightened
up to proper tune. Tom had but to listen, and he retained
every sound which the dancing-master produced. Tom's
imitation on the piano--first of the striking of the
violin-strings with the fingers for some time, after the
manner of violinists, then seeing if they chorded well,
again touching up the strings, anon giving a little bit of a
polka, and once more adjusting the strings, and so on, all
exactly as he heard it--was as amusing as it was
astonishing. No one with an ear for music should miss the
opportunity of going to hear him ere he leaves."
From "The Edinburgh Scotsman:"--
"'BLIND TOM.'--Last night this negro boy, of whose
remarkable performances so much has been said and written of
late, made his first appearance here in the Operetta House.
There was a crowded audience, among whom were a number of
the musical _cognoscenti_ of Edinburgh, whose curiosity had
been excited by the reputation he had gained in America, as
well as by the favorable notices of the press in this
country, and the testimony of such men as Moscheles and
Halle.... It is only when he sits down to the instrument,
that he becomes, as it were, inspired. He played several
pieces on this occasion from memory, and displayed great
execution, and a greater amount of feeling and expression
than we were prepared to expect. One of the best of these
was the fantasia on the Hundredth Psalm, which was
brilliantly executed. One of his most extraordinary feats is
the reproduction of any piece once played over to him. On
this occasion, Mr. Laurie, who was present, at the
invitation of the manager ascended the platform, and played
a composition by R. Muller, which occupied nearly five
minutes. He no sooner left the instrument than 'Blind Tom'
took his seat, and gave a correct imitation. His ability to
name any combination of notes, no matter how disconnected
and puzzling the intervals, was fully proved. The
professional gentleman we have named struck simultaneously
no less than twenty notes on the piano; and these 'Blind
Tom' named without a single mistake."
From "The Dundee Advertiser:"--
"'BLIND TOM.'--This extraordinary musical prodigy gave two
performances in Dundee yesterday, and on each occasion the
powers displayed by him were so marvellous as to verge upon
the miraculous. Our readers must not suppose that his
proficiency is merely of an ordinary kind, or that his
notoriety is another species of Barnumism. The letter we
published yesterday from a private friend, in whose opinions
we place the greatest confidence, shows that it is not so;
and we believe the opinions of all who yesterday heard him
will be found to be those of astonishment and admiration.
History affords no parallel to 'Blind Tom.' His ability
would be marvellous, even if he had his eyesight; but, as we
have before remarked, when it is considered that he is
blind, it is beyond measure strange. Unless one sees or
hears him play, he is unable properly to understand the
extent of his ability. Test him how you may, he never fails.
His memory is as miraculous as his musical powers; and he
plays over a piece he has never heard before with almost
infallible exactitude. Yesterday several gentlemen went to
the platform, and played over pieces; and, during the time
they were so occupied, it was amusing to witness Tom's
contortions of his body, and his movements generally. He
swayed himself about, his eyeballs rolled, his fingers
twitched involuntarily, and he seemed like one possessed;
and, on being allowed to seat himself at the piano, he
repeated from memory the various pieces which had been
played to him. In the evening, Mr. Hirst played over a
number of pieces of the most difficult character, all of
which Tom produced with fidelity.
"On inquiry, we find that his proficiency is a natural gift.
From his earliest infancy he betrayed the utmost interest in
musical sounds of every kind,--the cries of animals, the
moaning of the wind, the rushing of waters, and the like;
and when he was allowed to go out in the fields, if he heard
a bird sing, he rushed off towards it with frantic delight.
We publish a letter we received the other day from an
intimate friend in another town,--a gentleman of great
musical taste, and no little executive ability,--who is well
qualified to give an opinion on such matters. He says,--