"Sometimes," says Jacques Blumenthal, "I compose at the piano, at
other times away from it. I am in the habit of reading a good deal of
poetry, and when any poem strikes my fancy and seems adapted to musical
treatment, I copy it into one of my MS. books, of which I always keep
several, in English, French, German, and Italian. These verses all lie
patiently there till their time comes to be set to music. Some have to
wait for years, some are composed almost at once; it all depends on the
mood in which I happen to be, for according to my mood I look out for
some verses corresponding to it, and then the song comes forth with
ease; in fact, it takes much less time to compose the music than to
write it down, but I invariably try to improve upon it, and file down
or add almost up to the time of going into print. Sometimes I feel more
attracted towards one language than towards another, and then I am apt
to compose for some time nothing but songs in that language. This is
the origin of my French and German albums, and as you ask me which I
consider my best work, I must say in my estimation it is the album of
twenty German songs with English version by Gwendoline Gore."
As to whether the art of composition can be acquired or learned and
cultivated, Mr. Blumenthal says:--
"There is no doubt that the rules, or what we may call the grammar
of composition, can be acquired by clear heads just as the rules of
any other grammar can be. But just as little as knowing the rules of
language can make you write _one_ phrase worth remembering, so will the
life work of a mere musical scholar be cast into the shade by a few
bars from the pen of a man of genius."
[Illustration]
The two or three bars of music in the composer's autograph are taken
from his well-known song "The Message."