THE ONE TALENT.
"Then he which had received the one talent came."--_Matthew, XXV:
24._
Some day, when you read about the great composers, you will be
delighted with the pictures of their home-life. You will see how they
employed music every day. In all cases, as we study them, we learn how
very much they have sacrificed for the music they love, studying it
daily because of the joy which it yields them. We see them as little
children, eager to be taught, wanting to listen to music, and to hear
about it. Many of the composers whose child-life is thus interesting
were children in very poor families, where things were neither fine
nor beautiful, where the necessary things of life were not plentiful,
and where all had to be careful and saving so that every bit should be
made to go as far as possible. The eagerness and determination of some
children in music-history is really wonderful. It is the true
determination. And you are not surprised, in following it, to note
that it leads the children who have it into lives of great usefulness.
All through the life of Handel we find determination running like a
golden thread. He was just as determined to be a musician as Lincoln
was to get an education when he read books by the firelight. Handel's
father was a surgeon, and knew so little about music that he failed
entirely to understand the child. He not only forbade the boy to study
music, but even kept him away from school that he might not by any
chance learn to read the notes. But one who was in future years to
befriend homeless children and to write wondrous music for all the
world could not be held back by such devices. By some means, and with
friendly assistance (perhaps his mother's), he succeeded in smuggling
into the garret a spinet, which is a kind of piano. By placing cloth
upon the strings he so deadened the wires that no one downstairs could
hear the tones when the spinet was played. And day after day this
little lad would sit alone in his garret, learning more and more about
the wonders which his heart and his head told him were in the tiny
half-dumb spinet before him. Not the more cheerful rooms down-stairs
nor the games of his playmates drew him away from the music he loved,
the music which he felt in his heart, remember.
One would expect such determination to show itself in many ways. It
did. Handel does not disappoint us in this. All through his life he
had strong purposes and a strong will--concentration--which led him
forward. You know how he followed his father's coach once. Perhaps it
was disobedience,--but what a fine thing happened when he reached the
duke's palace and played the organ. From that day every one knew that
his life would be devoted to music. Sometimes at home, sometimes in
foreign lands, he was always working, thinking, learning. He is said,
in his boyhood, to have copied large quantities of music, and to have
composed something every week. This copying made him better acquainted
with other music, and the early habit of composition made it easy for
him to write his thoughts in after years. Indeed, so skilled did he
become, that he wrote one opera--"Rinaldo"--in fourteen days, and the
"Messiah" was written in twenty-four days.[63]
Yet parts of his great works he wrote and rewrote until they were
exactly as they should be. _It will do_ is a thought that never comes
into the head of a great artist. How do you imagine such a man was to
his friends? We are told that, "he was in character at once great and
simple." And again it has been said that, "his smile was like heaven."
We have seen Handel as the great composer, but he was not so busy in
this that his thoughts were not also dwelling upon other things. If
ever you go to London, you should of a Sunday morning hear the service
at the Foundling Hospital. You will see there many hundreds of boys
and girls grouped about the organ. Their singing will seem beautiful
to you, from its sweetness and from the simple faith in which it is
done. After the service you may go to the many rooms of this home for
so many otherwise homeless ones.
There are for you to visit: the playroom, the schoolroom, the long
halls with the pretty white cots, and the pleasant dining-room. Here
it will please you to see the little ones march into dinner, with
their similar dresses, and all looking as happy as possible. But the
picture you will, no doubt, longest keep, is that of the children
about the organ.
They will tell you there that it was Handel who gave this organ to the
chapel, and who, for the benefit of the children who might come here,
gave concerts, playing and conducting, which were so successful that
they had to be repeated. A "fair copy" of the "Messiah" will be shown
you as one of the precious possessions.
It will very plainly be present in your mind how the little boy sat
alone playing day after day in the garret, wishing no better pastime
than to express the feelings of his heart in tones. Perhaps you will
think of his words: "Learn (of) all there is to learn, then choose
your own path." He will appeal to you as having possessed an "early
completeness of character," which abided always with him. It is
evident in following the life of Handel, and it would be equally plain
with any other composer, that great talent is developed out of a small
beginning, and if small, is yet earnest and determined. From the first
days of a great man's life to the last we find constant effort. "I
consider those live best who study best to become as good as
possible."[64] Music helps us to keep the upper windows open; that is
why it does so much for us even if we have but one talent.
To develop our one talent is a duty, just as it is a duty to develop
two or five talents. It is given to us to increase. And no one knows
how much joy may come to us and to others from the growing of that
talent. We gain much in power to give pleasure to others, if the
talent we have be made stronger by faithful effort. As we have seen
good come forth from the story of the man with many talents, we can
see how, similarly, he with one talent has also great power with which
he may add unto himself and others.
In all of our Talks it has been evident from what we have said, that
music is a beautiful art to us, even though we may have but little of
it. But equally we have learned, that for ever so little we must prove
ourselves worthy. We must honestly give something for all we get. This
is the law, and the purpose of all our Talks is to learn it.
We have, likewise, learned that true music, _out of the heart_, may
not at the first please us, but within it there is a great deal and we
must seek it. The history of all who have faithfully studied the works
of the great masters is, that for all the thought and time one spends
in studying master works a great gain comes. On the other hand,
everybody's experience with common music is, that while it may please
much at first and even captivate us, yet it soon tires us so that we
can scarcely listen patiently to it.
Still a further lesson is, that working with many talents or with one
is the same. Talents, one or many, are for increase and faithful
development. Handel's life was a determined struggle to make the most
of his power. It should be ours.