One of my correspondents, writing to me on the subject of this article,
says that he thinks I have undertaken a "tough job," and I fancy he
is partly right. I trust, however, that my efforts have not been
altogether futile, and that I have, in a measure, overcome most of the
"toughness."
It has always appeared to me a curious fact that whereas one so often
sees facsimile reproductions of the MSS. of famous authors and others,
it is a comparatively rare occurrence to come across the compositions
of musical composers treated in the same way, and I therefore
determined to undertake the work of placing before the readers of this
magazine portions of the MSS. of some of the foremost composers of the
day, together with their opinions relative to that art of which they
are the masters.
It may interest my readers still further to learn that the MSS. were,
in most instances, re-written for me by the composers, with the object
of their being produced in THE STRAND MAGAZINE. They are given here
as specimens of their compositions _when ready for publication_, for
the first jottings of a composer are, as a rule, intelligible only to
himself.